By MAIMBO MWEEMBA
The Zambian Embassy in Berlin in conjunction with the Zambia German Association, (ZGA) a voluntary body of Zambians living in Germany has held a virtual memorial service in honor of Dr Kenneth Kaunda who died on the 17th of June 2021.
In his opening remarks Zambia’s Ambassador to Germany, His Excellency Mr. Anthony Mukwita, shared some of his selected pivotal moments and personal practices of the First President.
Ambassador Mukwita said the meeting that President Kaunda held with China’s Chairman Mao Zedong in 1974 in Beijing marked a significant point in what has become one of the most enduring foreign relations Zambia has ever had with any nation in the world.
“Opening embassies in both countries on October 29, 1964, barely five days after Zambia’s independence, the relations that Dr. Kaunda established have seen hundreds of Zambians study in China with the latter investing millions in various sectors of the Zambian economy,” he said
ZGA Chairperson Enoch Chota said he remembers the impact of the educational policies of Dr. Kaunda that saw many other Zambians access a government-funded education program which gave a significant portion of the country’s poor people a fair chance in meeting the challenges of life.
And a Zambian based in Austria Dorothy Krammer, a Zambian said her late Austrian husband, Helmut Krammer was thoroughly impressed with Dr Kaunda that he bought the original recording of the First President singing his signature song Tiyende Pamodzi.
Even when we had moved to Austria in the 80s, my husband had expressed a firm desire to return to Zambia and settle in Livingstone. Ironically, it was on the day he died that the man he had tasked to find him land in Livingstone sent an email informing him that land had been found facing the Victoria Falls as he had wanted,” she said.
Since Dr Kaunda passed away, there has been an outpouring of grief, messages of condolences and tributes from different parts of the world with the majority remembering the contribution he made to the liberation struggle in Africa, particularly, southern Africa.
This Statement was issued In Berlin by First Secretary-Press and Public Relations, Kellys Kaunda and was approved By The Ministry Of Foreign Affairs
