By Merlyn Mwanza
Former Irish Ambassador to Zambia Bill Nolan says Zambia’s development partners became alarmed by Edgar Lungu’s PF government’s disdain for accountability and lack of integrity.
In his recent article in the Irish Press Today and seen by Daily Revelation, Amb Nolan stated that several European Union countries decided to close their embassies because of the lack of integrity in former president Edgar Lungu’s government.
“Like all countries, Zambia has had its good times and its troubled times. The last few years were especially challenging under the outgoing government. Many Zambia’s development partners became alarmed by that government’s disdain for accountability and lack of integrity,” Amb Nolan stated. “The country’s finances were in crisis. In the end, several EU countries decided to close their embassies and their support programmes. Happily the Irish Government did not take this drastic step. Having invested so much in their nation-building efforts, this was not the time for Ireland to give up on the people of Zambia.”
Amb Nolan stated that the decisive nature of the voters verdict in the 2021 general elections validates the Irish government’s stance handsomely.
He stated that enormous challenges as well as opportunities now awaited the people of Zambia under President Hakainde Hichilema, whom he described as a successful business person, saying expectations around the country were sky high.
“Pressure to deliver and get a lot done quickly will make life very difficult for the new government from the start. While the immediate picture is daunting, the long term prospects are highly promising,” Amb Nolan stated. “Zambia has valuable mining resources, a lot of underutilized fertile land, 40 percent of Southern Africa’s water resources and vast tourism potential. It is comparatively lightly populated in the African setting, with over half its population under the age of 20. Zambia has every ingredient required for serious, sustainable broad based economic and social advancement but it will need help, including external help, to realise the full potential of these resources.”
The Amb hailed Zambia for having demonstrated its democratic credential in such fine style, adding that a successful reform and rebuild programme is very important not just for Zambia but the entire region.
“Some of the region’s long-standing rulers do not like what Zambian voters have done; in their view, opposition parties are there to lose, not win elections,” Amb Nolan said. “President Hichilema, himself a long-time opposition leader, cannot expect unqualified support from such neighbours. That is why additional help from EU counties is essential. Voters must quickly begin to notice the government’s new way of doing business and feel the benefits right from the start.”
He stated that he wished the Irish government will be able to persuade those EU colleagues who gave up on Zambia in recent years that now is the moment to return, saying a great many poor, marginalised, unemployed Zambians depended on this.
“The voters of Zambia need and deserve the support of all its friends, particularly its European friends, as it opens a new, highly promising chapter, having just demonstrated the abiding value of genuinely free, open and fair elections,” stated Amb Nolan.
