Africa-Press – Zambia. 1. When a President is elected into office for the first time, they have a mammoth task to take time and understand the various facets of Government. They need to understand where the country stands in terms of its economy, bilateral trade with various other countries, foreign relations with other countries, health challenges, tourism opportunities, administration of justice etcetera. In order to obtain the necessary understanding of all these facets of Government, a President needs to be briefed by his Ministers. Not once, not twice but on several occasions.
2. Once a President has had a strong grasp of where his Government stands with regard to its various facets, then they are ready to go and engage in bilateral or multilateral meetings with other countries. That is the reason why most serious Presidents do not go out of the country to hold bilateral meetings until after at least 3 months. In the case of Donald Trump he took about a year, and Joe Biden took 5 months, having undertaken his first foreign visit on 20th June 2021 when he visited Cornwall in the United Kingdom for the G7 summit.
3. With regard to President Hakainde Hichilema, l was shocked to learn that the he is launching his maiden foreign trip to the US on 22nd September 2021, barely a month after being sworn into office, and just days after he appointed his cabinet. Clearly, his Ministers have not even settled into their respective ministries, let alone have a solid grasp of challenges and opportunities that exist in their ministries so that they can brief the President.
4. What this means is that President Hichilema is going for this foreign trip to the US not to conduct business of the State, but for his own personal aggrandizement. He is going on a joy ride. And he is doing it at taxpayers expense. If President Hichilema was serious about conducting business of the State on his foreign trip, he should’ve first waited for his Ministers to settle into their offices so that they can be able to properly brief him on various facets of Government, from the economy to bilateral trade with various other countries, foreign relations with other countries, health challenges, tourism opportunities, administration of justice etcetera. Such knowledge about the state of the nation will allow President Hichilema to ably represent Zambia when he meets with President Biden at the White House and other US Leaders at the Capitol.
5. This brings to the fore the inevitable question; how serious a President is HH and how different is he from Lungu? What will he really be capable of doing for this country? Not much, not much /// END SET 11.09.2021
