HH is the minister of foreign affairs – Kalaba

HH is the minister of foreign affairs – Kalaba

By Fanny Kalonda (The Mast)

CITIZENS First leader Harry Kalaba says the country is losing out on international relations because of delay by the President to appoint a foreign affairs minister.

Kalaba said President Hakainde Hichilema should have appointed another minister the moment Stanely Kakubo resigned if he understood the role such a minister plays.

He told The Mast that even if Mulambo Haimbe, the Minister of Justice, can be acting the one who is carrying out the duty is the President himself.

“The President is the Commander-In-Chief of the armed forces, meaning that all army chiefs report to the President. The President is now currently the acting Minister of Foreign Affairs because when a minister is travelling out, as per Vienna convention, there are only two figures that can allow for a minister to go for meeting outside Zambia and represent Zambia, that is the President and the foreign affairs minister,” he said. “So currently, even if minister Haimbe can be acting, the one who is carrying out that duty is the President himself. So he is acting foreign affairs minister and instead of him dealing with all those papers, he should have been dealing with more pressing matters in the nation. Clearly, showing that the President does not have depth, doesn’t understand the enormous task before him as Head of State.”

Kalaba said the need for the country to have a substantive foreign minister can never be over emphasised.

“The impact that this has first of all it is a strong sign showing that Zambia is very unstable in terms of its foreign relations. The fact that we cannot have a substantive foreign minister who will anchor all our interests and bring them to our advantage clearly shows you that there is problem with Zambia’s foreign policy. And because there is that problem, it is very difficult for Zambia now to asset herself in many other issues in COMESA, in SADC and the African Union, the United Nations. Both bilateral, multilateral levels because the foreign minister is the one that lays the foundation for any other activities to be done. But apparently the President has not understood that Zambia is living in a global village and the need for us to have a substantive foreign minister can never be over emphasised,” said Kalaba. “Therefore, yes we are losing out on international relations and it shows the lack of depth on the part of our country. But also it clearly shows that the President does not understand the role that the foreign affairs minister plays. Because if he understood, he would have appointed him the very day that guy resigned. He would have found someone else so that Zambia’s imagine is kept intact.”

In late December 2023, Kakubo quit after he was allegedly caught on video receiving a stack of cash from a Chinese businessman.

He did not deny he was in the video.

The video shows two men sitting by a table counting the neatly stacked cash, both US dollars and Zambian kwacha.

Their faces are not visible, but it led to a frenzy of speculation on social media that the men were Kakubo and businessman of Chinese origin.

Unverified images of signed handwritten notes also surfaced on social media. One said that $100,000 had been “exchanged” between a Zambian and a Chinese mining company. Another, dated 8 July 2022, mentioned a total sum of $200,000.

In his resignation letter, Kakubo did not dispute the authenticity of the video or the handwritten notes.

Instead, he said he was the victim of “malicious claims over a business transaction between my private family business and our business partner with whom we still have good relations”.

He said he had resigned as a minister to ensure that the government was not “distracted” from its efforts to improve the lives of Zambians, but he would remain an MP.

President Hichilema accepted his resignation, saying he acknowledged Mr Kakubo’s “commendable work and leadership”.