Visiting Zambia would be incomplete without getting to the place where the father of the country, Kenneth Kaunda, organized and commanded the struggle for its independence.

Because of this realisation, our hosts at the Zambian National Assembly made sure that we got to the house during the first days of our trip to the country early October. A colleague and I were spending a week in the Zambian capital, Lusaka, to see how their Parliament's Public Relations Office functions.

Our hosts informed us that a courtesy call on Kaunda would not be possible because of the old man's busy schedule. He is a vigorous anti-AIDS campaigner having lost a son to HIV/AIDS. So the nearest we would get to Kaunda was visiting Chilenje House 394, located in the south of Lusaka.

Kaunda lived in the house from January 1960 to December 1962. From here, he directed the struggle for independence and later became first President of Zambia in October 1964. Together with guides from the Zambia National Assembly, we got to Chilenje House in the afternoon hours and were met by one Sheila, who is in charge of the facility. Sheila informed us that we had to part with a fee before we could be taken around the house. Sheila however did not disclose the amount but kept on smiling with our guides. The lady did not have literature about the House. When we proposed to her that she comes up with written materials, we asked her to pay for our advice through letting us into the House. Failing to see what was special about the house, which only contained a few items like old furniture, we declined to pay. Instead, we posed for pictures and opted to peep through the windows.

In the clean compound, dotted with a few flowers, are the remains of Kaunda's burnt Land Rover. It was burnt during the food shortage riots in the country during the 1990s. There is also a family painting of Kaunda, wife and his nine children, who include a set of twins. The place is now well secured, and the former President usually comes around.

Chilenje House 394 is now a national monument protected under law.

We were in Zambia during political campaigns ahead of the presidential by-election following the death of President Levy Mwanawasa. During the campaigns, Kaunda, the founder of United National Independence Party (UNIP), said opposition Patriotic Front candidate Michael Sata would not make a good president. Kaunda said Sata was better off working as a minister under another president.

Sata's campaign team hit back at Kaunda, telling him to keep off politics, behave as an elderly statesman and wait only to be consulted.

In Zambia, a former president gets a residential house in an area of his or her choosing. Construction of the house starts after the president leaves office. Kaunda who left office in 1991 got his house almost two decades later, while Frederick Chiluba, who left office seven years ago, is yet to identify the venue for his house.

Four candidates were in the race to replace President Mwanawasa, including eventual winner Rupiah Banda (Movement for Multiparty Democracy, MMD), Michael Sata (Patriotic Front), Hakainde Hichilema (United Party for National Development, UPND) and Godfrey Miyanda (Heritage Party).

Dr. Kaunda was last year in Uganda to open the Cavendish University for which he is Chancellor.

The writer is an Information Officer at the Parliament of Uganda.