President Hichilema is no a man of mediocrity – Muchende
SOLICITOR General Marshal Muchende, SC says President Hakainde Hichilema has set the bar of economic diplomacy extremely high and that diplomats representing Zambia must live up to the challenge.And Mr Muchende SC says President Hichilema is not a man of mediocrity.
The Solicitor General is in London with a delegation of officials from the Ministry of Energy, Zesco and legal experts for talks with a company that wanted to establish a coal power plant in Zambia but differed with the previous government leading into a litigation.
Speaking on Friday afternoon when the delegation visited the chancery, Mr Muchende, SC advised the staff to align themselves with the New Dawn Government policies and the leadership of his Excellency President Hichilema.
“He (Dr Hichilema) is our chief marketing officer; he represents us very well when he goes on these international platforms. So, the bar is set very high by the man who is the captain of our ship; he has set the bar extremely high in negotiations, in economic diplomacy, so buy into his modus operandi, align yourselves with his ways.”
He said the UPND came into government on a ticket of change and a paradigm shift towards economic transformation.
“One of the things that we have been instructed to do is to resolve issues of out Court and (if you like) out of Arbitration…we don’t do business in Court, we don’t do mining in Court, we don’t generate electricity power in Arbitration, let’s sit down in the deal rooms and close transactions that unlock our resource endowments and spur economic development…” Mr Muchende, SC said. “We inherited a very huge debt of over US$32bn, both domestic and foreign; US$18bn from the Euro Bond, that is the deal that the President managed to secure a debt restructuring for US$6.3bn.”
Mr Muchende, SC said the government and Zambians should wait for the seeds sown by President Hichilema to germinate and pan out.
“We have work cut out for ourselves in the sense that we need to engage in economic diplomacy, ensuring that we foster economic development in our country. That’s your first and foremost mission,” he told the staff. “When we were flying here, there is a place we saw a lot of windmills covering a huge area, I was watching from up there…can you contact the company that did those windmills, your Excellency, Madam High Commissioner, make an appointment with the company that dealt with those windmills, have a conversation and tell them we love what they are doing and how they can help back home in Zambia.”
Mr Muchende, SC said such conversations and lines that would be opened could go as far as Cabinet.“…that’s what economic diplomacy means, so please let’s up our game,” he advised.