By JAMES KUNDA  –

KENYAN President Uhuru Kenyatta has said his visit to Zambia is a sublime step to reignite strong relations with his country.
President Kenyatta said this when he paid a courtesy call on First Republic President Kenneth Kaunda at his State Lodge residence in Lusaka yesterday.
Mr Kenyatta arrived in Zambia yesterday and is scheduled to officially open the 51st Zambia International Trade Fair (ZITF) in Ndola today.
President Kenyatta said he was optimistic that President Edgar Lungu would restore the relationship that existed between Zambia and Kenya as was the case between Dr Kaunda and that country’s founding father Jomo Kenyatta, who is his father.
“I am looking forward and hoping that my brother President Lungu will be able to restore the relationship that you had with Mzee Kenyatta,” he said.
Mr Kenyatta said Dr Kaunda had since independence of Kenya monitored a number of elections in that country.
Dr Kaunda in response said restoring the relationship of the two countries by the two leaders was a sound approach to strengthening bilateral relations.
President Kenyatta, who arrived in the country yesterday for a two-day State visit, held official talks with President Lungu at State House in Lusaka and was set to attend a State banquet hosted in his honour.
The visiting President is today expected to grace the Zambia International Trade Fair with his Zambian counterpart President Lungu in Ndola on the Copperbelt Province.