 Republikana Zambian, Mr. Hakain de Hitchilema, was this weekend at the Vatican where he visited the Holy Father Pope Francis. We caught up with Mr. Hitchilema to find out a little more about his visit to the Vatican. Mr. President, thank you very much and welcome to Rome the Vatican. This morning you met the Holy Father. Could you share with us what this encounter, what were your sentiments as you met the Holy Father this morning, what does this mean to you? In the first place, thank you very much for the interview. We truly had a momentous meeting with the Pope, Pope Francis. We covered a lot of range issues and very fundamental to humanity. We had a good meeting with the Vatican and the establishment for giving us this opportunity to meet the Pope early into our Presidents. We are still less than six months into office, we are literally five months and three weeks to be precise from the time we were inaugurated. Mr. President, what message would you be taking to the people of Zambia after this encounter with Pope Francis? I think the message is very clear, as I said we covered a range of issues, primarily the message that the Board of Christ is one. The world needs unity, our country needs unity as the church itself needs unity. Because unity anchored on stability, peace, equity, fairness is critical to advancement of societal needs and diversity in society, different needs that we covered for society and that the Pope and the church remains committed to advancing social justice, advancing opportunities for which is shared by our government of Zambia, UPND government. I think that's one line of the message. The other message that we really discussed with the Pope is that we as a government will embrace all religious organizations in our country. They all have space, they all have a right to basically promote the evangelical work freely. We covered a few issues around, if you like, the importance of canceling each other. First the church on one side, then the government on another, working together for the same constituents, citizens across the world in our country. But canceling each other, advising each other, praying for each other is important so that we can serve Zambians, we can serve God's people in individual countries as well as in the global community, global village. I was impressed that the Pope is alive to issues of development, education, health. And we shared the UPND policies around health, around education. I was very impressed that he is aware of our education policies offering education to all, including those that are disadvantaged. And I did tell him that I am a beneficiary of that myself, born in a village. And education made a difference, the rest is history. So he understands that we shared common interest in that area in the issues of employment for the youth, young people. Very important as well and keeping values, Christian values as we run the country in terms of societal behavior, which is a critical ingredient to keep our population, especially young people, to get them to do gain for activities. And that's why school education was important, jobs, business opportunities and obviously support as you know, support social support to the weak, to the old, to the differently able and indeed to if you like disadvantaged communities. Very important and I think we shared a lot in common around those issues. You have been president as you said yourself for about six months now. And in these months already you have set priorities in the economy, education, unity, among other things, among other many things. And you did take a bold step in your first budget as a government, abolishing school fees, making education available to all students. You have spoken about unity among Zambia regardless of ethnicity of tribe. Could you talk to us about these priorities of your government and of your presidents indeed? I think the important thing is to understand that we are only implementing our policy offerings to the people of Zambia. When we went out to seek election to the people of Zambia, we made the people of Zambia aware. We made it known to them that the things that we believe are important, are fundamental and are basics. These include education. It is the best investment and we are working that talk. That is why in our first budget, remember this is February, we are just in our second month of the UPND budget which commenced in January. And we have delivered on our promise of education for all, for the disadvantaged family members, alongside private school systems for those that are able to afford. But society cares more for those that are disadvantaged. That is why we offered education for all free education grade 1 up to 12 as the beginning. We are looking at attending to college to university although we are now but partially not fully. So because of the value of education, society without education, without skills, how can it develop? How can you deliver economic development without skills? How can you produce more food in a more efficient way without know how in agriculture, irrigation, genetics in terms of seed and husbandry? So this is important, this is fundamental, it changes society. You look at Singapore, they focus on education. Clearly it has made a difference, it has paid dividends. So what else did we say to the people of Zambia who do? We say to the people of Zambia, we work on ensuring that we reunite the country and that is our priority for us. Because on the platform of unity, equity, fair treatment, we will be able to continue binding and bonding ourselves as one Zambia, one nation, one people. And you see in our cabinet, we criticized the previous government's cabinet which was lopsided. Cabinet came from a few regions only and we mandated ourselves publicly that when we are in office we will ensure that cabinet is a reflection of the diversity in our country. And truly today, all provinces of Zambia, ten of them are represented on the UPND government cabinet table. I think that's important, it sends a clear message that this is your government, this is our government. And what else have we done? We have backed the subject, very very old inequitas subject of distribution of national resources to all our people across the country. We have fundamentally increased the constituents development fund in short court CDF, delivered to the constituencies to allow local communities to decide their developmental priorities. Again in education, health, clean water supply, sanitation and obviously income generating activities. And the 25.7 million kwacha father we have given to each constituent equally across the country is unprecedented. It's never happened before in the history of our country. So we have taken away resources from the center where wastage is the order of the day and we have taken part of that money to the owners, the people of Zambia. Back there decisions with financial support were very very delighted about this and this is only the beginning again. So the story goes on. The issue of divisions if I may return to this was diabolical. It was dehumanizing to our people. And I think Zambians are now saying at least those who are in the country that this is another independence. This is another form of freedom. And I think we are happy to see Zambians enjoy that freedom including issues of ending violence, lawlessness in our country are all part of the menu of commitments we made to the people of Zambia. And we are very delighted that we are walking the path that we chose. We are walking the talk, as I so say. The many more things I could say, but I think at this stage that is what I would say. So these are issues paramount to us. And as you know, if I may extend, if you allow me, we are afflicted with COVID-19. It's a very serious issue. When we came into office, the vaccination levels were only 3% national vaccination levels. In the relaunch of the COVID pandemic control to bring it under control, if I may say so, we've now gone to almost 25% within a very short space of time. So putting effort, putting resources, mobilizing vaccines. You know the adage even at the EU, meeting in Brussels that there must be equity in vaccine access. Because if we don't do that, no one is safe because COVID does not recognize boundaries. Equally in our country, we have taken this program across the country or the provinces. Extremely important, very important to us. Any last word, Mr. Hilewa? We simply say thank you to Pope Francis and his team and the church in Zambia. And also to remind Zambians that we are a Christian nation. But we must live like Christians. We must walk the talk of living Christian values. And that reminds me to tell the people, ask the people of Zambia and others across the world that corruption is something we must uphold. And we must fight corruption. Corruption takes resources away from those who need it, young people, the sick, the old. We must restore integrity in our country. We must know that public office is not for self-acgrandizement, is for service to the people. Otherwise, I'm very grateful for the interview for giving me this opportunity. God bless you. Thank you for a visit and wish you a self-journey, you and your delegation and other people back home. Many thanks, many thanks. And please greet other Zambians who live in this city, if you hold seat of Rome and other places. We haven't had the time to meet them, but we are grateful that they are representing us well in this country and in other parts of Europe. We must always remember how we conduct ourselves when we are outside Zambia, is a reflection of what Zambia should be. Zambian president, Mr. Hakain Dehichlema, on family today.