AUCTIONING OFF ZAMBIA’S INTEGRITY ABROAD
JUSTon the day UPND spokesperson Cornelius Mweetwa admitted that PF was not corrupt, the regrettable news of a named foreign official disparaging Zambia was all over the airwaves demeaning the manner Zambia manages her affairs.
Mr Mweetwa joins other opposition figures to have abandoned the corruption narrative after consistently having raised alarms for political expediency.
What is perturbing is that Mr Mweetwa raised the corruption narrative beyond Zambia and attacked the corruption tag on Zambia and made foreigners carry on it.
Fortunately, the Zambian government is on top of things and has initiated diplomatic processes to ensure the ill-informed comment does not lead to sour ties between Zambia and the country where that official is serving.
A careful scrutiny of the comments made by the said official, clearly tracks the sentiments that are consistently made back home.
From the outset, the responsibility to guard Zambia’s reputation lies with Zambians and the foreign elements are merely reactive to the narrative that is created within Zambia.
From the tone of the language, some sustained attacks against those in corridors of power are not made on the basis of any stain of truth but they are meant to influence public opinion among the people of Zambia.
In any case, Zambians must be good ambassadors of Zambia and they should endeavour to preach her success story especially our cherished enviable reputation as a beacon of peace.
It is wrong to shift the political battlefront beyond our borders. It is also irresponsible to cheer non Zambians who stand on an anthill to paint Zambia darker than the colour black.
The statement which was recently made by a named non Zambian citizen perfectly fit within what Zambia’s five- time losing Presidential candidate Hakainde Hichilema has consistently been making whenever he has access to platforms outside Zambian borders.
We wonder why Mr Hichilema takes pride to see foreign elements denouncing while he and his sympathisers cheer them on.
In the same vein, we remind him that Zambians owe a collective responsibility to Zambia and owe the patriotic duty to Zambia and set aside any perceived political bitterness for the sake of Zambia and Zambians.
MARVIN MBERI, Lusaka.