HH MUST REVISIT FREE VISA AWARDS–HARRY KALABA
Harry Kalaba, the Citizens First President has advised President Hichilema and his government to slow down on dishing out ‘ free visa status’ to hundreds of countries without thinking the decision out thoroughly.
Kalaba, a respected former long term serving Minister of Foreign Affairs and lawmaker said Zambia needs to consider various issues such as economic and security before wantonly giving countries visa free entry status into the country.
“Some individuals from countries that have been granted visa free waivers into Zambia have troubled pasts of crime or mental they are running from,” said Kalaba, “you therefore need to build capacity to stop such characters from being offloaded into our peaceful country.”
The CF President was reacting to Hichilema’s administration’s decision to allow some 53 countries to enter Zambia without prior visa scrutiny or security check.
“Remember that this brings the total number of countries that can enter our country visa free to 167,” said Kalaba, “the question is what value are these nationals bringing to Zambia compared to the security risks.”
Kalaba adds that of the 167 countries, there is no evidence that Zambia is enjoying the same ‘ visa free status’ to enter Comoros Island, Laos or Brunei.
The CF President said it is premature for Hichilema to dish out 53 new visa status countries into Zambia when no study has been done to compute how much Zambia has economically gained from the initial 100 visa countries awarded thus far.
Kalaba said instead of rushing to increase the dubious number of visa free status countries, Hichilema should have shown Zambians what the gains have been so far for those already enjoying the status Zambians are not even enjoying.
“My humble view as a former Minister of Foreign Affairs is that we should have placed the rule of ‘ reciprocity’ above anything else,” said Kalaba, “we should have also exhaustively exploited our gains with SADC, COMESA and AU before opening ourselves to the entire world at zero gain and high security risk.”
Many in the international relations circles locally and abroad continue to wonder why Hichilema has opened up Zambia to the world from people coming from as far as Iceland and Liechtenstein that have no economic ties with Zambia in any way.
Home Affairs Minister of Zambia Jack Mwiimbu says the move will increase Zambia’s tourism potential gains without providing any scientific numbers.
SOURCE: Harry Kalaba, President of CF.