Malawi-Kenya share common vision—Chakwera

President Lazarus Chakwera says Malawi and Kenya need to strengthen their relations because they share a common vision for prosperity.

In his address during Kenya’s Mashujaa (Heroes) Day Celebrations at Wanguru Stadiumin Kirinyaga County yesterday, he said the two countries share similar struggles and victories.

In a speech made available to The Nation, Chakwera said: “By celebrating this day together, we renew our brotherhood in the struggles we face and share. By celebrating this day together, we rekindle the flames of love and friendships between our peoples.

“By celebrating this day together, we reignite the solidarity our nations’ founders established between us. By celebrating this day together, we rejoice in the freedoms that light our path into the future.”

The Mashujaa Day is a public holiday in Kenya observed on October 20. It honours all Kenyans who contributed towards the struggle for that country’s independence.

Chakwera said the way Kenya and Malawi attained their independence from Britain, it is clear and undisputable that the struggle did not only take place simultaneously, but also symbiotically.

He said it is not accidental that after Kenya attained independence in December 1963, Malawi’s turn came barely seven months later on July 6 1964.

The President also said it is not accidental that within five years of Kenya and Malawi gaining independence, Kenya’s founding president Jomo Kenyatta hosted his Malawian counterpart Hastings Kamuzu Banda.

He said: “Even today, it is no accident that when my government was deciding which road in Malawi’s capital to upgrade to a multi-lane highway before any other, the obvious choice was the Kenyatta Drive that connects Malawi’s Parliament to Malawi’s largest hospital.

“Indeed, it is no accident that the city of Mzuzu in the North of Malawi, the city of Lilongwe in the Centre and the city of Blantyre in the South all have at least one road named after Kenyatta.”

Chakwera, who was the special guest at the commemoration, stressed that Malawians and Kenyans must unite to ensure that together they pursue a future with a common goal to achieve a lot.

In his address monitored on Kenya State House Facebook page, Kenya President Uhuru Kenyatta said while some of the country’s heroes died without holding any piece of land, they remain immortal as they live in the pillars of a strong nation that they built.

He said: “For us to become architects of the future, we must begin with protecting what was left behind by the heroes of our country and in particular, we were charged with responsibility of taking care of our territorial integrity.”

Chakwera is on a three-day visit to Kenya where, among others, he is expected to sign a bilateral agreement between Malawi and Kenya.

Hours after his arrival on Tuesday, he engaged Malawians living in Kenya and also held discussions with United Nations Human Settlements Programme executive director Maimuna Mohd Sharif.

From Kenya, Chakwera will proceed to the United Arab Emirates for the fifth Global Sustainable Technology and Innovation Community and then go to Glasgow, Scotland for the 26th session of the Conference of Parties (CoP).