Thanks America for exposing, denouncing “methodical” thefts in Zambia

By Daily Revelation Editor

We are eagerly awaiting to see what President Hakainde Hichilema is going to post on his social media pages after watching US Ambassador to Zambia Michael Gonzales shed tears yesterday as he announced that President Donald Trump’s government had decided to cut US $50 million (or K1.4 billion) in aid towards Zambia’s annual medical supplies.

Zambians will recall that Hichilema assumed the Presidency of this country in August 2021 on the platform and promise of rooting out corruption, public thefts and plunder of national resources which he said had become synonymous with the PF government. No wonder the US government, among others, supported regime change in favour of the UPND.

But from the beginning, many Zambians had doubted the UPND government’s commitment to the fight against corruption. What many reasonable or well-meaning Zambians could easily see was the UPND’s commitment to pursue former leaders in the PF government while fighting the current corruption and thefts of public resources with a forked tongue.

Now the balloon has been burst. The shield has been removed. No more hiding behind the so-called PF failures, thefts or corruption. The thefts that the United States of America exposed yesterday have nothing to do with the PF government.

Ambassador Gonzales said the US government first detected these thefts towards the end of the year 2021. In other words, these thefts were detected in the UPND’s first few months in government and the situation has been getting worse every year.

According to Ambassador Gonzales, from that time to date, a total of 33 meetings had been held between the US government officials and various leaders from Hichilema’s government in a bid to find a lasting solution in bringing to a stop the systematic thefts of donated drugs worth millions of dollars by Zambia’s government officials at different levels.

And because the current government has shown no commitment to stop such thefts, the US government, as a last resort, had to take the drastic measure by cutting off financial support from the basket that provides drugs for HIV/AIDS patients including the ones for TB and malaria.

And in making that chilling announcement, Ambassador Gonzales had to shed tears because he feels for the rural Zambians who are likely to be more impacted by this decision.

Through that decision, the US government simply gave Hichilema a vote of no-confidence in his fight against corruption and theft of public resources. It appears the President has to redeem himself very quickly or things will get worse. However, we do not think that the President has intentions of redeeming himself because for two years now, he has literally been running government without an Auditor General, at least a qualified one.

There are so many highly qualified auditors in the country that we cannot understand why Zambia should go for almost three years without a substantive Auditor General.

The President is content with the status quo because he has the man in place doing what he wants done. If the current man warming the seat in the Office of the Auditor was qualified in line with the Constitutional provisions, Hichilema could have sent his name to Parliament for ratification a long time ago. How many Constitutional office bearers have been appointed after this acting Auditor General and have had their names ratified by Parliament?

So the US government should not count on the Zambian government to produce objective forensic audit reports on this subject matter. Expecting that from this government is like asking a fish to empty its own pond.

No wonder Zambians cry for independent and objective institutions of governance; not the compromised ones. We can only imagine what more is being kept away by the Auditor General’s Office because these thefts, as disclosed by the US government, should have come out through the Auditor’s annual reports.

What is more embarrassing, if not worrying, is the fact that the government has been sitting on this information even after being confronted with facts by the US government. There has been completely no interest in stopping the thefts by punishing the thieves.

Maybe this is the meticulous or methodical way of doing things by the UPND government. We should not put pressure on the government.

They will meticulously deal with the thieves of donated drugs by the US government in their own way and manner.

We wish to end by thanking the US government for being such committed and patriotic whistle blowers in Zambia. Indeed, you have proved to be more patriotic than the leaders Zambians entrusted with the responsibility to govern them. You exposed the financial irregularities in Zambia’s importation of maize from Tanzania. You also exposed the damning findings of the Financial Intelligence Centre, among so many issues you have exposed to the Zambian people. And just recently, you disclosed and warned your citizens in Zambia, and indirectly Zambians, to be wary as they existed in cyberspace because Hichilema had just assented to a new law which has shrunk the freedom of expression and invaded netizens’ privacy in cyberspace.

Thank you America for your patriotism in Zambia.