Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa has ordered the southern African country’s second-largest city, Bulawayo, to name a street after Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta ahead of his state visit later this month.
President Kenyatta will officially open the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair in Bulawayo on April 29.
A Bulawayo City Council confidential report shows that councillors expressed concern about the short notice given to the local authority to identify the street and were worried that the move could be legally challenged if residents are not consulted.
Local Government Minister July Moyo told the council that it must “treat this matter with the urgency it deserves.”
The minister said President Kenyatta will also plant a tree during his visit and the council was ordered to provide a location for the tree.
Zimbabwe’s High Court last year overturned a government directive to rename several roads in Bulawayo that were to be named after heroes of the country’s 1970s liberation war.
One of the cities was to be named after President Mnangagwa.
The High Court ruled that decisions such as the renaming of roads cannot be taken without public consultations.
Mnangagwa was in Kenya on a state visit last month where he invited Kenyatta to be the guest of honour at the ZITF, the country’s prime trade showcase.
Source: Nam News Network