OPEN LETTER TO ALL ZAMBIAN MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT

OUR Honourable Members of Parliament (MPs) from the United Party for National Unity (UPND), the Patriotic Front (PF), the Party for Unity and Progress (PNUP), Independents as well as nominated ones, we are compelled to address ourselves directly to you on an urgent matter of na tional public interest and concern.

We have the very grave is sue of the Africa Command (AFRICOM), which is one of unified combatant com mands of the United States Department of Defence that our President has allowed to set up an office here in Zambia.

We are of the view that you, as Members of Parliament, should have approved the authorisation of the entry of AFRICOM as you directly represent the interests of the Zambian people dotted in various constituencies.

Sadly, and to the detri ment of desirable national consensus on many similar matters of national public interest, MPs have tended to serve the interests of their re spective parties or other po litical considerations instead of placing the people and na tional interest first.

We need to move away from this scenario and be gin to place our constituents, who elected us, first and above our parties. These are the people we represent.

We would therefore like to request and at the same time appeal to you, our Honourable Members of Parliament, to consider and act on behalf of us the Zambian people and do the right thing on this matter regardless of whether you are a UPND, PF, PNUP, Independent or even nomi nated Member.

Zambia must come first. It is our view that you, as representatives of the Zambian people, should seek further clarification con cerning the establishment of a Command Office for AFRICOM in Zambia.

The following questions, amongst many others, need to be raised with our President, as soon as pos sible, by yourselves, for the avoidance of any further doubt and for the sake of transparency:

1. Has the agreement with the Americans been signed?

2. If so, why was Parliament or any other arms of Government - apart from the Executive - not in volved in the approval of this agreement?

3. If already signed, when was the agreement signed?

4. Zambia has had military cooperation before with for eign countries (including the USA) through their Military Attaches but we have so far not seen the necessity for set ting up Command Centres for those nations in the country.

Why has it been deemed urgent and imperative to set up such a Command Centre for the USA now?

5. What deficiencies have we identified in our existing cooperation agreements and those we have had with the USA in the past that will be rectified only by the bringing of AFRICOM to set up their office here?

6. What threats are we seeing now and/or in the foreseeable future that ne cessitate this move?

7. How have we accessed training and technical as sistance in the past without infringing upon our sovereignty?

8. Could we have full dis closure of the contents of the agreement, to the Zambian people through Parliament, in keeping with the need of absolute transparency and accountability in mat ters of national strategic importance, such as this one? The people, even if it is only through you as their Members of Parliament, deserve to know the de tailed contents of the agree ment signed if at all, with AFRICOM.

9. What benefit does Zambia derive from this agreement?

10. Was the signing of this agreement in the manner that it was, constitutional?

Our Honourable Members of Parliament, you will note that according to the web site of the US Embassy in Zambia, AFRICOM was es tablished to represent and advance US (not Zambian) national interests.

Please recall also that American presence in coun tries such as Afghanistan, Somalia, Iraq etc., has not left anything but a trail of blood and long-term chaos. Is this what we want for our peaceful nation Zambia?

We would like to ear nestly appeal to you, our Honourable MPs to serve Zambians first before your parties or indeed any other interests. Zambia needs you more than at any other time to be patriotic for the sake of our generation and for the sake of our children and their children generations after them.