NOBODY asked donors to help Zambia

NOBODY asked donors to help Zambia, President Rupiah Banda charged yesterday.

Answering questions from journalists at Lusaka International Airport upon arrival from Namibia, President Banda said donors must not blackmail the country.

President Banda said donors chose for themselves to assist Zambia in the road and health sectors.

“So they should not use that as blackmail against our countries. One day when you have grown enough and you are leaders of this country, you will know how it feels that a diplomat comes from another country, instead of coming here and appreciate the hospitality which the Zambian government and the Zambian people give him, he is busy trying to threaten us.

We are an independent state. We are very grateful for whatever help they give us but we will not be turned into their puppets.”

The President was reacting to the story that broke last week that the Global fund to fight Aids, TB and Malaria was suspending $300Million worth of support. We all know that there are/were serious issues surrounding the abuse of funds at the Ministry of Health and a number of cases are before the courts. The president should have offered a more dignified response by reporting what government is actually doing to combat such corrupt practises. There is no point in disguising the facts.

As a Zambian living in one of the European donor countries, I am mindful of the sacrifices being asked of taxpayers in these countries. At a time when the UK government has announced cuts to public spending of about 25% across government departments and increased VAT and some other taxes, there is need for countries in receipt of aid to demonstrate accountability and transparency. People in Europe are not making these sacrifices for Zambian politicians and civil servants to line their own pockets.

A number of Zambians in the Diaspora remit funds back home to meet a variety of purposes. Sometimes the funds are tied to specific projects. E.g. one can send funds to pay for school fees or rentals for a relative. At other times, funds are sent with no strings attached. For funds that are marked for specific use, the recipient is surely under obligation (by virtue of accepting to receive the funds) to ensure that the money is actually used for the intended purpose. If this is not done, the sender has a right to be ask why the instructions have not been carried out and demand the return of the money or impose some other sanction (e.g. stop sending further funds). The donor community have taken a similar stance which is wholly understandable.

A couple of months ago, the POST newspaper run an editorial entitled “A nation in hopelessness”. At the time I thought the piece was way over the top. Here is a paragraph from the article.

We all know that our country has been going through many difficulties. We have suffered, from a critical failure of leadership. The people that we have put in office to show the way and lead us to the realisation of our full potential have failed us. People who should be working for the common good have chosen to work for their personal and family aggrandizement. This irresponsibility has condemned a lot of our people to a perpetual state of hopelessness. This is what happens when leaders abdicate their responsibility to lead and allow the country to drift.

I was not a big fun of the late Levy Mwanawasa but at least he seemed to understand the anger people felt towards the plunderers. Yes the pursuit of the plunderers had its own problems and some of them are still walking the street of Lusaka and London but the man showed a lot of leadership in this area. Mr. Banda on the other hand does not seem to share Levy’s vision. Under his watch, the cancer of corruption seems to have returned with a vengeance. Perhaps we are indeed a nation in hopelessness!

We call upon the President to issue a statement to clarify his reported comments and stress the fact that his government will continue fighting corruption and protect donor funds from potential plunderers.

The PANEL