President Yoweri Museveni has expressed great admiration for 92 year-old Kenneth Kaunda, the founding father of Zambia, telling his guests and journalists about his great deeds.

“You are in the presence of a great man. If Mwalimu Nyerere and this man had not stood firm, history would be very different today. What you call history is our current affairs,” President Museveni said shortly after arriving at the 40 acre State Lodge facility where the retired former president stays with his family.

President Kaunda, who despite his age insisted on welcoming President Museveni to his home and even presented him with a bouquet, said he was delighted to host the Ugandan leader in his home. Museveni immediately held his hand and walked him slowly back to the house.

“He is my father. I’m a great follower of these old men. I’m their disciple,” Museveni said before the two leaders had a warm conversation about Kaunda’s retirement and the country’s independence.

President Museveni asked his host if he rears any animals; goats or anything on his vast land before both leaders had a hearty laugh.

He consoled the former freedom fighter on the death of his wife Betty Kaunda and took time off to pay his respects at her grave nearby.

On his return, he had a piece of grass that he had plucked along the way as he returned to the house and asked Mzee Kaunda if he knew what the grass was for. The two leaders talked cows and grass thatches like father and son. Shortly after President Museveni introduced the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Okello Oryem to Kaunda as the son of Gen. Tito Lutwa Okello, immediately bringing another smile to Kaunda’s face. Museveni also told him, he is working with the son of former President Milton Obote alongside that of Gen. Tito Okello. He later invited Mzee Kaunda to come to Uganda just to rest and relax.

“I want these people to know that African people fought for their freedom. By I963 when the Organisation of African Union was started in Addis Ababa, Zambia had not attained its independence. When Zambia got independence, Mwalimu and Mzee here spearheaded the fight in the south. Zambia suffered because the routes for goods were closed forcing them to use the hell run routes from Tanzania,” Museveni said.

Earlier in the morning, President Museveni now in Zambia on a two day state visit paid his respects to the country’s founding fathers and leaders, laying wreaths at the Freedom Statue in Lusaka in a colourful ceremony marking Zambia’s 52 Independence anniversary.

The President, accompanied by his host President Edgar Chagwa Lungu, also visited the Presidential Burial Site National Monument at Embassy Park in Lusaka where former President Fredrick Chiluba, President Levy Mwanawasa and President Micheal Sata are laid to rest, to pay his respects

The President later joined the nation at State House for the National celebrations.

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President Yoweri Museveni has saluted the former Zambian president Dr. Kenneth Kaunda for spearheading the struggle to fight for the liberation and independence of the Africa block alongside other past leaders in Tanzania, South Africa and Mozambique.

President Museveni, who was chief guest at celebrations to mark Zambia’s 52^nd Independence anniversary, was last evening speaking to the local media in Lusaka, Zambia before he was hosted to a state dinner by President Edgar Chagwa Lungu. The two leaders later held bilateral talks at State House in Lusaka.

“I congratulate President Edgar Lungu for winning the election. I salute the people of Zambia. I salute Kenneth Kaunda. For us, Dr. Kenneth Kaunda is hero in Uganda. He fought for African freedom. You people should know that the prevailing freedom you have is as a result of the fight and struggle by the past African leaders like Julius Nyerere, Kenneth Kaunda and what the apartheid fighters in South Africa went through,” Mr. Museveni said.

He urged the Zambians to follow the example of the heritage of the past leaders like Kenneth Kaunda and the current ones like Edgar Lungu. Dr. Kaunda, now aged 92, fought for Zambia to attain its independence in 1964.

“Don’t rubbish what was ahead of you. I am here to witness the past development in 1970s when you were two million people and today when the population Zambia stands at 15 million people with the existing general infrastructure and agricultural development that has turned the former vast open land into development,” said Mr. Museveni.

He added that he was happy to be invited by President Lungu to witness the 52th independence anniversary celebrations. “I thank God for a long life; to see a young baby borne. I am happy to be at home,” he said.

President Museveni assured his counterpart that they will discuss more on economic and other bilateral issues between the two countries, saying that Zambia has a big potential of land, a natural resource that is underexploited.

He urged the opposition leaders in the country to stop trouble and contribute towards the development of the country.

“To disturb means to cause ruin. If you are not in politics, you can be in agriculture. Politics is not the end of the world,” President Museveni said.

While speaking at dinner, the people of Zambia applauded Mr. Museveni for his comment that when he is in Zambia he comes to renew his cultural contacts.

On his part President Lungu thanked President Museveni for honoring the invitation.

Present at dinner was the former Zambian President Rupia Banda, the Vice President Inonge Wina, the Ugandan Minister of State for International Affairs Okello Oryem, Uganda Ambassador to Zambia based in Dar es Salaam Dorothy Hyuha, Annet Nyakecho the MP for Tororo county North and Peter Ogwang the MP Usuku County among others.

Meanwhile, President Yoweri Museveni has today paid his respects to Zambia’s former Presidents: Michael Sata, Levi Mwanawasa and Fredrick Titus Jacob Chiluba at the Presidential burial site.

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Kenya president Uhuru Kenyatta’s fist son Jomo Kenyatta married his long-time girlfriend in a cultural Kikuyu wedding at an undisclosed location on Saturday.

Jomo got engaged to the woman, said to be from Nyanza, in June.

Before the quiet wedding that has remained a well kept secret, the two have been spotted together at several public events.

They have attended a past Jamuhuri Day celebration and also were seen together when US President Barack Obama visited Kenya as well as during the pope’s visit.

At the Saturday event, the bride, who is yet to be identified, and the groom were clad in traditional regalia.

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The head of the United Nations peacekeeping operation in South Sudan, Ellen Margrethe Løj, has informed Secretary General Ban Ki-moon that she will be stepping down at the end of November after more than two years of leading the mission.

Ms. Løj was appointed by the Secretary-General as his Special Representative and head of the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) in July 2014 and assumed her duties in Juba in September 2014.

“Although the road ahead will be challenging, I remain hopeful that peace will prevail and that this young nation will finally live out its great promise. I look forward to the day where the girls and boys of South Sudan will never know the trauma of war again and will be able to actualize their full potential,” Ms. Løj said in a statement released today by the Mission.

According to the statement, she had planned to retire at the end of her current contract, which expired at the end of August this year, but chose to remain at the helm of the Mission in the wake of the July crisis until the situation could stabilize.

Ms. Løj has also stated that it has been an honor for her to serve as the Secretary-General’s Special Representative in South Sudan for over two years and will continue to advocate for a bright future for the people of South Sudan, the statement said.

In New York, Mr. Ban’s spokesman, Stéphane Dujarric, told reporters on Friday that “the Secretary-General is deeply appreciative of her lifetime of service to further the cause of peace and development, especially during her distinguished career with UN Peacekeeping having headed both UNMISS and the UN Mission in Liberia.”

“He is particularly thankful to SRSG Løj for her dedication, commitment and important contributions at the helm of UNMISS during extremely challenging times,” the spokesman added.

Ms. Løj, a national of Denmark, also headed the UN Mission in Liberia from 2008 to 2012, having previously held a number of senior positions in the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including as Ambassador to the Czech Republic, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, and Ambassador to Israel.

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The Jubilee administration will this week renew its push to have Kenya withdraw from the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

Though the Executive is yet to act on two resolutions previously passed by Parliament, the National Assembly will seek to complete debate on a Bill to repeal the International Crimes Act.

State House yesterday said the Cabinet will consider the previous resolutions but did not give any time-frame. This comes only days after Burundi and South Africa formally informed the United Nations they are withdrawing from the ICC.

National Assembly majority leader Aden Duale said the Bill to repeal the International Crimes Act will be considered during tomorrow’s House Business Committee meeting.

“I will ask the House Business Committee to consider this Bill for debate in the coming week. Ultimately, our decision to leave the ICC is there. The spirit is there and I’m one of those who believe we have no business being in the ICC,” he said.

Parliament will now seek to repeal the Act, which incorporates the Rome Statute in the Kenyan Constitution and obligates the government to cooperate with the ICC.

A repeal would force the Cabinet to come up with a resolution, which will then be transformed into the withdrawal instruments.

Filing such instruments with the UN Security Council will mean Kenya will effectively have left the ICC after the end of a one-year period.

Yesterday, State House spokesman Manoah Esipisu said the Executive is yet to make any decision on the matter, hence the issue is pending.

The Bill by Bumula MP Boniface Otsiula was published on October 23 last year but is yet to come up for the second reading.

If the Bill is passed and assented to by the President, Kenya will become the third African country to withdraw from the ICC. Burundi was the first to do so last week after President Pierre Nkurunziza signed into law a Bill formalising the exit.

Two day’s later, South Africa notified the UN Security Council. It said the court is not in line with its efforts for peaceful conflict resolution.

In January this year, the African Union backed Kenya’s agenda for a mass walkout from the ICC during a Heads of State Summit in Addis Ababa.

Uhuru said Africa should make a powerful statement that reflects its refusal to be carried along in a system that has no regard for the sovereignty of nations and tramples on the security and dignity of Africans.

He said the court had subjected him and Deputy President William Ruto to “cases built on weak investigations and pursued with politicised zeal”.

Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda has since withdrawn the charges against Uhuru, while ICC judges ruled that Ruto and his co-accused Joshua Sang had no case to answer due to insufficient evidence.

On Saturday, the ICC urged Burundi and South Africa to reconsider their decisions. “Although withdrawing from a treaty is a sovereign act, I regret these decisions and invite South Africa and Burundi to reconsider their positions,” Assembly of States Parties President Sidiki Kaba said in a statement.

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