‎Ambassador Gonzales’ remarks!

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‎Outgoing United States of America Ambassador to Zambia Michael Gonzales last Thursday delivered a scathing speech, in which he accused President Hakainde Hichilema and his administration of corruption, inaction and bureaucracy.
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‎In the speech, Amb Gonzales raised issues with the decision by the UPND administration to ram through Parliament a constitutional amendment bill that was unconstitutional, and which ignored the Constitutional Court’s ruling.
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‎He also wondered if the next constitutional amendment which the Attorney General has already announced is really just a guise for resetting term limits
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‎Amb Gonzales also said: “The rhetoric of ‘no sacred cows’ is rubbish when there aren’t any cows except those who are deemed to be disloyal. When only opponents are arrested, but not those in office engaged in the very same practices, the hollow rhetoric of ‘rule of law’ only further keeps investors away, preventing the creation of growth, jobs, and tax revenues to pay for public service commitments,”
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‎He argued that Zambia does not need money but leaders who govern for the people with integrity.
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‎He denounced the appointment of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) director general who was under an investigation, stating: “But, appointing a Director General of the Anti-Corruption Commission who was actively under investigation by the ACC, and her admonishment to her intentionally under-resourced agency not to investigate senior government officials, only cripples hopes that clean business can be done.”
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‎He also asserted that the  government had corruptly awarded Chinese owned AVIC the $650 million Lusaka-Ndola Dual Carriageway project. He added that the corruption of AVIC was well known.
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‎He denounced the bureaucracy in government, where he said it takes month to get a meeting that yields nothing, with officials drafting policies which they have no intention of implementing, saying generations of Zambian officials and leaders gain from the dysfunction.
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‎He raised a lot of issues. We know that Gonzales may have sounded unpalatable and undiplomatic. We are not sure if our own ambassadors and diplomats can even be allowed to speak in that manner and if they can be allowed to go scot-free by host governments and people’s if they did so. Probably, Gonzales and his colleagues from especially the donor countries feel they have earned the right to speak in that manner because of the huge resources they expend in this country, which isn’t the case with the Zambian diplomats abroad.
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‎This is where the realisation should actually dawn that it is terribly bad to be poor, because the one who feeds you will always call the shots and can speak to you anyhow they like. And there are only two options available to avoid that, either you develop yourselves sufficiently to avoid dependency on others, or find ways to avoid getting the aid. Only with that will you stop the talking. But if you are dependant on another country’s support for your livelihood then you better use the resources you are getting from that country wisely and prudently. And if they are not, then they literally earn the right to talk to ensure that you do things prudently, especially when they have noticed that repeated calls made to you have gone unheeded.
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‎This is where we find ourselves with Amb Gonzales. And we actually agree with most of the issues he raised because these are matters we have raised ourselves in the many editorial opinions we have written.
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‎For instance, we wrote about the government’s decision to ram through Parliament a constitutional amendment bill that ignored the judgment of the constitutional court.
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‎We have also reported about the hollowness in the President’s claim that there were no sacred cows in the fight against corruption when the only cows were those who were disloyal. We have noted that while there have been speedy prosecutions of opposition politicians who are believed to have been involved in corruption, there has been little to no action against the politicians in government. If anything, there have been speedy moves to clear the government officials of the alleged corruption they committed. This is contrary to the President’s own pronouncements. If he is honest with himself, he will find no difficulties agreeing with Amb Gonzales actually.
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‎Actually, what the President and his sympathisers need is to reflect seriously on the issues Amb Gonzales raised in order to figure out what improvements they should be making going forward. Being defensive and dismissive of the issues raised will not help them to improve actually. The issues Amb Gonzales raised are the issues many Zambians have been raising for a long time, which however, have been received with a dismissive attitude from the government.
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‎The time to right the ills observed is now. They should not wait until they have found themselves in a disadvantaged position for them to start admitting and regretting that they should have done something about the issues, in the same manner those in PF awakened to the realities of their impunity and abuses after being voted out of office.