Michael Sata’s unusual populist presidency

Image courtesy of Bongoweekend

African presidents continue to display a preference for pomp and ceremony over practical action. Sata (president of Zambia) suggests an alternative approach — and is backing up his rhetoric with action. On a recent trip to the historic Zambian city of Livingstone, near the border with neighboring Zimbabwe, Sata traveled by public bus to a meeting with president Robert Mugabe — and then afterwards, even more improbably, settled his own hotel bill.