Zambia, Kenya to grace July 6 celebrations

Zambia President Edgar Lungu and Kenya’s Vice-President William Ruto are among the high profile guests expected to grace Malawi’s 51st Independence Anniversary Celebrations at Kamuzu Stadium in Blantyre today Monday July 6.

Minister of Finance, Economic Planning and Development Goodall Gondwe said on Saturday evening Kenya President Uhuru Kenyatta will not be in attendance as reports on the social media platforms such as Facebook indicated.

Briefing journalists in Blantyre, Gondwe, who is chairing the event’s main organising committee, said all is set for the celebrations to be held under the theme Towards Transformation for Inclusive Development in Malawi.

Said Gondwe: “The theme has been strategically chosen in consideration with what government would like to achieve in the first five years into the second jubilee of Malawi’s independence. Government would like to see that by the time we [Democratic Progressive Party-DPP] leave, we have done something positive for the country.

“If you look at the last budget, you will find that we have a lot of projects concerned with communications such as roads. We have a lot of money that we are devoting to improvement of schools, particularly primary schools and day secondary schools.”

He said there are a number of exciting activities lined up for the celebrations, including military displays and an international friendly football match between Malawi’s Flames and the Cranes of Uganda.

The minister said apart from inviting foreign dignitaries, government is also counting on all leaders of opposition parties and their people in the country to attend as invitations have been sent to them.

On why governing DPP flags were being planted side-by-side with the National Flag for the national event, Kondwani Nankhumwa, Minister of Information, Tourism and Culture who is heading the celebrations’ media and publicity sub-committee, justified the development saying it is unfortunate that it is only here in Malawi where people tend to downplay the presence of a ruling party at a government function.

After the briefing, Nankhumwa, led by Blantyre City Council Mayor Noel Chalamanda, commissioned the Independence Anniversary Celebrations lights at Clock Tower Roundabout in Blantyre.