Presidential Trips
By Dickson Jere
It is now entrenched custom that one who becomes President in Southern Africa need to visit all countries to meet and formally introduce himself to fellow Head of States. And President Hakainde Hichilema is no exception to that unwritten rule as others before him did the same. That is why some of us advocated, very strongly, for him to use the presidential aircraft as opposed to commercial. Just imagine if he had to use commercial going to DR Congo? He would either gone through Nairobi or Addis Ababa with night-stops and all. Simply, I support his trips to the neighboring countries just like I did with the rest of the Presidents before him.
In 2014, in my Book – Inside the Presidency – I wrote thus:
“When (Rupiah) Banda became President in November 2008, his first foreign policy priority was to strengthen bilateral relations with Zambia’s nine neighboring countries. His approach was of constructive engagement at presidential level informed by his experience as a former diplomat and Minister for Foreign Affairs. To actualize this, he visited all neighboring countries before embarking on visits to far-flung areas. Now as President, he was Zambia’s Chief Diplomat.”
And just recent, we had newly elected President of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa visit Zambia shortly after being elected as well as Botswana President Mokgweetsi Masisi. We later had Malawi new leader Lazarous Chakwera visit Zambia on the same mission. It is part of diplomacy!