Inonge's North Africa AU campaign trail
The Post Newspaper Zambia
By Dr. Kenneth D. Kaunda: Saturday January 05, 2008
At the recent breaking of ground for the new Lusaka central
hospital near Chainama Hospital, President Dr Levy Patrick
Mwanawasa, SC, whispered into my ear, saying there was
something he was trying to ask me to do for Zambia.
This "something" I was being asked to do for
Zambia was something I considered noble so I readily agreed.
It was a mission to take Dr Inonge Mbikusita-Lewanika
to four North African countries to get her introduced
to the heads of state and government and seek support
for her, Zambia's candidate, from each one of them. This
is something I have not done before.
Historians may recall that Inonge Mbikusita-Lewanika
is the daughter of one of our pioneer unionists and freedom
fighters. At one time, Godwin Mbikusita-Lewanika was president
of the Northern Rhodesia African Congress. He was later
to become the Litunga in our western province of Zambia.
During his reign, from 1948 to 1951 as founder president
of the party, I had operated as secretary of a branch
of the Northern Rhodesia African Congress. It was interesting
that, in December 2007, I was now leading the late Litunga's
daughter on a campaign trail to help her become the second
chairperson of the African Union, and the first female,
if successful, to become chairperson.
It was an extremely important mission not for Zambia
alone, but for Africa as a whole. I was grateful to President
Levy P Mwanawasa, SC, for showing confidence in me by
asking me to perform this function.
I was asked to introduce to Africa the young African
princess who had displayed so many qualities in the field
of education, diplomacy, and general human development.
She had shown qualities of leadership in various fields.
She is a princess who is also not only a nationalist,
but a true Pan-Africanist.
Our destinations were Ethiopia, Egypt, Libya, and Algeria.
The first country to visit was Ethiopia. From Lusaka,
we set off for Ethiopia on Wednesday December 19, 2007.
Due to flight difficulties, we were scheduled to spend
a night in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya.
There, we were very well received by our own High Commissioner,
Mrs. Lambert, who was strongly supported by Kenyan government
officials and protocol officers.
The following day, we left for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Our own High Commissioner, supported by the Kenyan officials,
saw us off.
Fortunately again, in Addis Ababa, the reception from
our own deputy ambassador Ngoma and Ethiopian protocol
people was simply fantastic.
An appointment with the prime minister of Ethiopia, Meles
Zenawi had already been arranged for that Thursday afternoon.
We were very well received by the prime minister and our
discussions went very well indeed. He, however, raised
one issue.
He said the office of the African Union, AU, Commission
in Addis Ababa had raised the possibility of once again
rescheduling the election of the chairperson from January
to July 2008. Many, like us, have been concerned about
this possibility because the election has already been
postponed before and they do not understand the need to
postpone it further.
In Addis Ababa, apart from the official functions, I
was very happy indeed to be given an opportunity to visit
two trees I had planted at the AU headquarters in May
1963. That was when the Organisation of African Unity,
OAU, was launched. In the company of many distinguished
African leaders, I had planted the two trees which are
still there now, in 2007.
In the field of trees, those who planted included Emperor
Haile Selassie, the host, and freedom fighters who included
Ben Bella, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, Gamal Abdel Nasser, Kwame
Nkrumah, Julius Kambarage Nyerere, and Sekou Toure.
I was also able to visit the trees planted by leaders
who met at the 2007 Summit there last year. I even planted
two trees near by.
In Ethiopia, we were happy with the discussion about
our candidate. After that very happy visit in Ethiopia,
we set off for Cairo, Egypt.
We found deputy Ambassador Alex Musanya and his colleagues
as well as senior Egyptian government officials and protocol
officers. Ambassador Cecil Holmes came in and also hosted
us well. On the first day, I visited the famous pyramids.
I have visited these Egyptian pyramids many times but
I have never ceased to wonder how human beings managed,
without the equipment we have today in this world, to
build such structures.
A stone weighs about one tonne. How did they lift these?
It is really a fantastic structure. It is little wonder
that there are thousands upon thousands of people from
all corners of this earth travelling to go and visit these
places.
Outside one of these pyramids is the construction of
what is called the sphinx. There is a mystery about the
missing nose of the sphinx, with some people saying it
was removed because of the annoyance of one person, who
destroyed it, and others saying there may be natural causes,
like wind, for it not being there now. Every evening,
a story is told about the pyramids to guests who go there.
At least in the night we were there, three languages were
used, English, French, and Spanish.
President Hosni Mubarak was still attending holy prayers
and could not meet us but we had an official meeting with
the minister of foreign affairs. Our meeting with the
foreign affairs minister went very well indeed. He told
us his government was agreeable with our candidate. And
Egypt is putting forward a candidate for vice-chairperson
of the AU.
The following day, Monday December 24, we left for Tripoli,
Libya. Here again, as in Ethiopia, and Egypt, we had an
extremely good welcome by our own ambassador Mbita Chitala,
with a high powered delegation from Libya's ministry of
foreign affairs. Mbita Chitala is also Zambia's ambassador
to Algeria.
The following day, in the morning, we met His Excellency
President Muammar Qaddafi. This time our meeting was in
Tripoli, not in the tents in the desert.
President Qaddafi received us very well, but, as expected,
he talked to us about Africa's handicap in moving towards
an African Union government. He is very passionate, very
genuinely, about an African government.
We told him we appreciated greatly his feelings about
the need for an African government for the continent.
I told him I was personally as passionate as he was about
this, as I also belonged to the Kwame Nkrumah belief that
without the whole continent of Africa being free and coming
together, we would not get the right situation for Africa.
I told him it is this belief in us that we sacrificed
so much for the independence of liberation movements in
Angola, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe.
Discussions went very well and, of course, in the end
I introduced our candidate and President Qaddafi's support
for her was real and genuine. He said he was supporting
her and would also ask a few other heads of state to support
our candidate.
It was therefore another very happy meeting. Here again,
full of joy, we ended our meeting with President Qaddafi.
The following day, Thursday December 27, we left for Algiers,
Algeria. We were seen off, as in any other place, by our
ambassador, in this case Mbita Chitala, his team, and
that from the ministry of foreign affairs.
In Algiers, from the government of Algeria we had the
Speaker of Parliament himself. It was a very warm reception
also. And they also brought out two flags, their own national
flag and the Zambian national flag.
As in all the other countries we visited, official transport
was provided, including police escort. They had arranged
for us to visit many places of historical importance.
And on the day of the meeting, the prime minister himself
came to meet us. He supported our candidate very fully.
He told us his government liked what we were doing in
the fight against HIV and AIDS and would be supportive
of our humble efforts. We were very impressed indeed and,
on Sunday December 30, 2007, left Algiers with very fond
memories of the city.
As we were going through these four countries, the question
of the candidate from Swaziland and Mauritius came up
throughout.
They argued, as we did, why should Swaziland, which is
within SADC, wish to contest? I promised that I would
report back to my head of state and if he decided to ask
me to visit my godson, that is King Mswati III of Swaziland,
I would readily agree to go and talk to my godson about
this.
As for Mauritius, I explained that Seewosagur Ramgoolam,
the father of the current Prime Minister Ravinchandra
Ramgoolam, had been a close friend of mine. We had worked
together at various levels of struggle and I am sure he
would understand and appreciate my country's request that
we go together as a team to the AU Summit.
I also learnt that a former prime minister of Gabon may
also be standing for the position.
As we flew back home, it was quite clear to me that this
mission on this young lady, Dr Inonge Mbikusita-Lewanika,
had certainly gone well, and thank God for that. She was
very well received.
Inonge Mbikusita-Lewanika, born in 1943, is, in my opinion,
an extremely suitable candidate for the African Union.
To begin with, she is a mother, a grandmother. She is
a very good parent. Her husband was a Nyirenda, testifying
to her spirit of nationalism and her beliefs in "One
Zambia, One Nation."
Her daughter Mwakawaza Sandi Nyirenda, or "Mwaka,"
is married to a young man, Tigerayesu, from Rwanda, and
her other daughter Nawina to Matshona from Zimbabwe, testifying
to Inonge's spirit of panAfricanism. Her daughters and
their families live in the USA.
Look at her record and see how many wonderful appointments
and services she has got and rendered with educational
institutions, civil society, parliament, United Nations,
international organisations, government, and Foreign Service!
She has taught at colleges and university. Besides her
excellent formal training in education and various fields
of social development, she has been practically involved
in many programmes that have benefited Africa and the
world. Based in Nairobi, Kenya, she has worked as senior
advisor and country representative with UNICEF, the United
Nations Children's Fund, in programmes covering 42 African
countries in all regions of Africa.
She has worked on programmes still benefiting children,
youth, women, and general populations. In the quest for
social development, she has closely interacted with communities,
in rural and urban areas, and at grassroots. She had done
a lot with other members of civil societies and NGOs in
Zambia, Africa, and other parts of the world. She is a
great mobiliser for action on common challenges.
Dr Inonge Mbikusita-Lewanika has been associated with
the OAU, the forerunner to the AU, since the 1970s. She
was involved in preparations for the Charter of the African
Child. She actively worked with the African Women Peace
Networks, FERFAP, leading to the Zanzibar Declaration
on Women's Involvement in the Peace Process.
She has been in Addis Ababa, at the AU Headquarters,
chairing a workshop on engendering the African Union.
She has been a member of the OAU's African Women Committee
on Peace and Development.
In fact, Inonge Mbikusita-Lewanika, as Special Envoy
and Ambassador of Zambia's President, has actively participated
in consultations and preparations on the establishment
of the African Union. She participated in the United Nations
Economic Commission for Africa's Millennium Hearings and
meetings and processes that contributed to NEPAD.
She has addressed members of the United Nations Security
Council in the preparation of Resolution 1325 on Women,
Peace, and Security.
Over the past two decades, she has chaired and participated
in many UN panels for social development. In the past
35 years, apart from UNICEF, she has worked on activities
involving various UN agencies, including UNESCO, UNDP,
WHO, UNFPA, and UNIFEM. These have provided her wide experience
in the development process.
She has been on peace missions to Burundi and Rwanda.
She has led the FERFAP Peace Missions to the Horn of Africa.
She was involved in the 1999 Hague Peace appeal. She has
been a founding member of AMANI Forum, Parliamentarians
for Peace in Eastern and Southern Africa.
After being Member of Parliament for ten years, from
1991 to 2001, where she even served on the Foreign Affairs
parliamentary committee, she has been ambassador. Based
in Washington DC, as Zambia's ambassador to the United
States, she has been Zambia's representative to the multilateral
institutions World Bank and International Monetary Fund.
Inonge Mbikusita Lewanika has been given many international
awards for her diplomatic and leadership roles.
Inonge has reached out to Africa in the Diaspora. And
when I was in Boston, Massachusetts in the United States
as president-in-residence at Boston University, and she
was Zambia's ambassador to the USA, I was able to see
her great interaction with others. She will make the AU
Commission a great team.
I hope and pray that Africa will support her. I can only
leave her in the Hands of the Good Lord God Almighty.
God has brought her up to where she is now. May God continue
to bless and guide her.
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