By Staff Reporter
I’m not going to Malawi for holiday, says newly sworn-in Zambia’s High Commissioner to Malawi Colonel Panji Kaunda.
Speaking with Daily Revelation after being sworn in, Col Panji thanked President Hakainde Hichilema for giving him the opportunity to serve as High Commissioner, given that there were so many people who are qualified to do what he has been given.
“The way to thank him is to work very hard and deliver the goods that he expects us to do. We are not going on holiday, we are going to work so by the end of our tenure there we must show cause why we are there. That’s what’s important,” Col Panji said. “As we have done wherever we have worked, we left a footprint at RATSA, left a footprint at the police. Even where we are going we are going to leave a footprint there to show that when I was there this is what we have done. It’s an honour to serve. There are many Zambians who would have been there but we have been chosen so we must appreciate that.”
Col Panji said the new government’s emphasis was on economics, saying he would therefore work on formalising the informal trade between Zambians and Malawians to counter smuggling. He also said he would work towards ensuring the operationalisation of the one stop border post and the railway line linking the two countries and on to the sea in Mozambique to increase the trade volume through that route.
Col Panji further said he would work with others towards realising the dry port in Chipata.
Asked if he was now done with politics following his appointment as a civil servant, Col Panji said: “There are dos and dons in diplomatic posts, I think that I can do. So I have to behave within the norms of the rules. It’s not that I am done with politics but my position, there are certain things which I can do and those which I can’t do. So that’s where we are. I am going to behave according to how my rules allow me to do…it’s a new game so to speak. Being a president’s son you are always a diplomat.”
