Alliance for Community Action Fact Checking Unit
Fact being checked: President Edgar Lungu travels much more frequently than President Michael Sata did.
Following repeated claims in the public, that President Lungu travels too frequently, the Alliance for Community Action Fact checking unit compared the travelling patterns of the two Presidents who have both come from the Patriot Front (PF).
Verification Process
A review of the Parliamentary Debates shows that Late President Sata made 21 trips during his tenure in office (Response 286, Presidential Trips). His tenure in office was from 23rd September 2011 to 28th October, 2014 which was a total of 1131 days. President Lungu on the other hand, has made a total of 55 trips as of 11th March 2018 (News Diggers, 14th March 2018). On 28th February 2018 his number of days in office was the same of that of the President Sata and he had made a total of 53 foreign trips. This is twice as many trips as President Sata made at 1131 days.
On average, each foreign trip by President Lungu has made has lasted 2.2 days. He has travelled for about 40 days each year. He spent about 10 percent of his first term on foreign trips.
Finding
It is evident that President Lungu has travelled more than his predecessor. He has made two times more foreign trip as compared to the Late President Sata.
We find the claim being made by commentators in the public sphere that President Lungu travels much more than his predecessor did to be TRUE
ACA Fact Checking Unit: Building a questioning public.
The ACA Fact checking Unit is part of the EU funded ‘Speak up Zambia Project’ implemented in collaboration with the Freepress Unlimited and the House of consciousness.