While he played “akalambe” and “wider”, African leaders gathered in Namibia to Honour a Struggle Icon, like many others, that lived In Lusaka
Amb. Emmanuel Mwamba Wrote;
What is clear is that President Hakainde Hichilema has displayed no sense of history, urgency or regional and Africa perspective during the discharge of his international and diplomatic duties.
For example, while SADC leaders convened in Harare, Zimbabwe in an emergency and extra-ordinary Summit to resolve the escalating crisis in the DRC he chose to host US comedian Steve Harvey, while his Minister of Home Affairs at the sane time, was hosting a parked live press conference seeking the capture and extradition of Petauke Central Member of Parliament, Emmanuel JJ Banda from Harare!
President Hichilema has taken over 65 international trips in 3 years, far higher than any Zambian President during the same period.
A casual check of his tours reveals that he chooses more to to undertake foreign trips that usually take him to exhibitions and shows than those key meetings that bring development or peace to Zambia and the region.
While he was seeking debt restructuring, It was imperative that he visits China ,probably many times,as China was Zambia’s largest single creditor, holding a significant portion of the country’s external debt.
He chose to travel to United Kingdom and France more to pursue debt cancellation.
He only traveled to China two years later…and the results have been seen…insignificant…no debt cancellation,no debt forgiveness, and expensive rescheduling!
He has signed more double taxation agreements and treaties with tax haven countries to exempt multinationals escape tax obligations than pursue and seek agreements and treaties such as the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), a U.S. trade agreement that gives duty-free export access to the U.S. market for sub-Saharan African countries.
He has granted visa-free to more countries, not driven by tourism numbers, but for other interests..check the number of tax havens granted visa-free entrance into Zambia.
While countries like Ethiopia, Ghana and others are increasingly granting visa-free entry or on arrival for African countries, driven by the urgent need to honour the African Union’s (AU) Free Movement of Persons Protocol, Zambia’s focus is elsewhere.
Who would imagine, that Zambia’s head of state would be missing at the funeral of Sam Nujoma? Choosing to patronize and frolick with the Commonwealth Secretary-General?
Who or what is the Commonwealth?
What is clear is that there is nothing common about our wealth with our colonizer.
In Namibia, African leaders turned up to celebrate the life of Sam Nujoma.
Nujoma’s home was Lusaka!
I guess all their talks were peppered by their lives and times in Lusaka.
Remember Zambia hosted numerous liberation movements, political exiles and refugees than any other country in the sub-region.
Zambia hosted the African National Congress( South Africa), ZANU and ZAPU( Zimbabwe,), Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC) ( South Africa), Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola (MPLA) and South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO)( Namibia) among others.
Zambia also hosted liberation training camps and military wings of the struggke movements before the OAU approved the establishment of training camps in Tanzania.
Lusaka became the City of Accords, regularly hosting peace talks to find lasting peace and freedom.
Lusaka also became a hub of decolonisation to ensure that liberation movements achieved the struggle for black majority rule in Southern Africa.
We also hosted other liberation movements from Palestine and East Timor!
Apart from accommodating political exiles and liberation movements, Lusaka also hosted the Liberation Centre, a key institution that supported the liberation wars in the sub‑region.
Zambia also hosted the United Nations Institute for Namibia (UNIN), an educational institution established by the UN to prepare Namibians for roles in an independent Namibia.
Zambia holds the memories if the struggle and paid more sacrifices of liberation than any country I know in the region.
Clearly, priorities by the President are skewed!