JUSTIFIED ANGER

FORMER Foreign Affairs Minister Katele Kalumba has aptly described the behaviour of the British High Commissioner to Zambia, Mr Fergus Cochrane-Dyet as treacherous for having leaked confidential information from the Zambian government regarding the social cash transfer money. We agree with Dr Kalumba that diplomats ought to observe the principle of confidentiality, failure to which relations between states would become very difficult to manage. Dr Kalumba was commenting on revelations that a confidential briefing by the Zambian government is behind the precipitate decision by the British government to recall £2,762,196.68 under the Social Cash Transfer programme. And at the centre of all this diplomatic boob is Mr Cochrane-Dyet. The information was leaked to the British Broadcasting Corporation and Africa Confidential. The missing £2,762,196.68 was later confirmed to be intact at the Zambia National Commercial Bank. The British government now has requested that the money meant for Social Cash Transfer be refunded instead of being disbursed to the poor in Zambia. Dr Kalumba noted that no sane person or country should take pride in the sudden withdrawal of assistance that is given to the poor. We too agree. By virtue of their positions, diplomats are privy to a lot of confidential information that they either get from the host government or vice versa. They are expected to understand one basic cardinal point – that information must be safeguarded and not leaked anyhow – they occupy a position of trust that must never be abused. In this scenario, it has been established that the Zambian government had briefed the British envoy of an internal investigation into the administration of the social cash transfer under the Ministry of Community Development and Social Services and the Zambia Postal Corporation (ZAMPOST). ZAMPOST however used part of the money to pay its retirees and other administrative costs. But four months down the line, Mr CochraneDyet broke diplomatic etiquette by announcing the “suspension” of aid via Twitter. Of interest was the fact that not even Foreign Affairs Minister Joel Malanji was aware of this. Finance Minister Margaret Mwanakatwe stepped in and assured that Zambia was not under any freeze. She explained that Britain and other cooperating partners had only withheld aid to the Social Cash Transfer programme and the education budget support. We expect diplomats to be persons of high integrity who should not be playing to the gallery. As it is, and as noted by Dr Kalumba, it was sad that formal exchange of information by the host Government to a diplomat was leaked when it was supposed to be treated with the highest possible level of confidence. Diplomats who let themselves be part of a smear campaign against a host government should actually be shown the exit door having proved that they are not worthy of serving in such sensitive positions.