Vice President, Guy Scott, is expected to arrive in Nairobi tomorrow to attend the inauguration of Kenya’s fourth President, Uhuru Kenyatta, on Tuesday April 9, 2013.
Dr Scott is scheduled to arrive at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport around 17.00 hours local time.
Zambia’s High Commissioner to Kenya, Mary Zambezi, confirmed when she briefed the advance delegation of the Vice President at the Zambian Mission in Nairobi today that Dr Scott will attend the swearing-in ceremony of Kenya’s President-elect, Uhuru Kenyatta, at the Kasarani Sports Complex in the capital.
Uhuru Kenyatta is the son of Kenya’s first President, Jomo Kenyatta, and won the March 4 Presidential polls by 50.07 per cent, eliminating the possibility of a run-off against his closest rival, Raila Odinga of the Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD) who scored 43.2 per cent in an election which recorded 86 per cent voter turn-out.
Uhuru Kenyatta is currently the Deputy Prime Minister of Kenya under the ruling National Alliance Party and has previously served as Finance Minister.
The inauguration of Mr Kenyatta was delayed following a Supreme Court petition by Mr Odinga but the bench upheld the election of Kenyatta on March 30 as the country’s next president.
Meanwhile, High Commissioner Zambezi, who recently presented her credentials to Seychells and Israel to which she is also designated, says there is great potential for business opportunities between Zambia and the two countries.
High Commissioner Zambezi presented her credentials to Israeli President, Shimon Perez, on March 28 and to Seychelles President, James Michel, last week on April 2.
She extended invitations to both presidents to visit Zambia with their respective business delegations to explore the southern African country’s huge investment potential in agriculture, tourism and other emerging sectors of the economy.
Israel has one of the world’s most advanced irrigation technology systems and offers training expertise in various fields of agriculture which High Commissioner Zambezi says should be brought to Zambia to help further improve the new farming blocks created by government in some selected parts of the government.
High Commissioner Zambezi also said there is a lot that Zambia can learn from both Israel and Seychelles in terms of economic development through agriculture and tourism which the two countries boast of respectively.
She also revealed that in terms of tourism, Zambia and Seychelles are further extending their mutual benefit from the natural resources where Seychelles is one of the world’s favoured tourist destinations while Zambia boasts of having one of the world’s seven wonders, the Victoria Falls.
High Commissioner Zambezi said in a few months time the Seychelles national carrier will increase flights between Nairobi and Johannesburg from Livingstone which hosts the Victoria Falls and a variety of animal parks which the tourists from that country could take advantage of to see by combining their trips to view both the falls and the wild life abundant in Zambia.
“It is incumbent upon us the political leadership not to merely pay lip service when we are appointed into foreign service but instead explore investment opportunities to help improve our economy back home,” said High Commissioner Zambezi.
Meanwhile, the Zambian Mission in Kenya has also held several meetings aimed at exploring business opportunities with the private sector in Nairobi to woo them to explore Zambia’s vast tourism potential.
Kenya has a vibrant tourism economy which draws millions of foreign tourists per annum and earns the country foreign exchange to support at least 95 per cent of the national budget.
The Patriotic Front (PF) government has put tourism at the centre of economic development as an emerging sector which can significantly contribute to the national treasury and job creation if well harnessed.
ZANIS