Summary Analysis of Exit Statement of the Outgoing British High Commissioner to Zambia – Mr. Furgus Cochrain

Earlier today, we featured on UNZA Radio’s Lusaka Star program to share our reflections on the exit statement of the outgoing British High Commissioner to Zambia – Mr. Furgus Cochraine Dyet.

We would like to thank the outgoing High Commissioner for his services during his period of accreditation in Zambia, as well as for his candor around his appreciation of both the country and people of the Republic of Zambia.

We noted that Ambassadors and High Commissioners of foreign countries accredited to Zambia serve at the pleasure of the country and the people of their respective countries. They do not serve at the pleasure of our elected government, neither are they here to antagonize our legitimately elected governments.

But these diplomats are also certainly not here to play convenient, useful idiots by adopting an indifferent stance amidst social, economic or political turbulence. They are here to provide candid, open and honest feedback and analysis to their governments of origin concerning our own country’s social, economic and political environment.

This, for them, is an issue of ensuring the right sort of diplomatic standards of engagement is maintained. It is also an issue of diplomatic credibility because the United Kingdom has a moral image to protect on the diplomatic front, by ensuring that all countries with whom they maintain diplomatic relations are demonstrably able to uphold certain minimum standards around the social, economic and political fronts.

Therefore, the outgoing High Commissioner was well within his diplomatic space to provide a forthright opinion around his assessment of our country’s footing on a number of fronts.

We noted that the concerns raised by Mr. Cochraine – Dyet are in fact not new. His concerns have been raised before in this country by members of the opposition United Party for National Development (UPND), former leaders of the Patriotic Front (PF) – notably Mr. Chishimba Kambwili, Mr. Harry Kalaba and Mr. Kelvin Fube Bwalya – KBF, members of the civil society, trade unions, professional bodies and the general citizenry.

Therefore, there was nothing unusual about the sentiments expressed in the outgoing High Commissioner’s exit letter.

In fact, there is nothing that precludes Zambian diplomats accredited to other countries, from providing constructive feedback on the affairs of their countries of accreditation, if any such affairs may have a direct bearing on the welfare of Zambia and her citizens.

An example is the prospect of a No Deal Brexit now looking increasingly likely with the House of Commons set for prorogation. This scenario could cost the UK up to £40 billion in a divorce settlement, something that could adversely affect Zambia’s ability to access both bi and multilateral aid from the UK and the World Bank’s European Investment Bank. Our High Commissioner in London is at liberty to comment on such and express concern. There is nothing to stop him from doing so.

It is also important, that the outgoing High Commissioner’s statement also provided some useful commendations around Zambia’s rich potential both on the natural and human resource front, our enduring peace and stability, our peaceful democratic transitions and handover of power at some crucial junctures.

These are some positives we ought to be proud of, and most certainly, aspire to build upon.

CRITICAL AREAS OF CONCERN

1. Rising national debt

This is an issue we as the UPND have consistently provided guidance on and repeatedly urged the PF administration to not only regulate the flow of debt money into the country, but also to stay away from non concessional, expensive, non – flexible borrowing. We are at 78% of GDP in terms of debt, with our economy set to grow at less than 2% by the close of 2019. We are also spending more than 60% of all we are earning on debt servicing. This means we literally have nothing to sensibly allocate towards the provision of critical public services such as health and education.

The recent spending priorities around the $800 million supplimentary budget by the newest Finance Minister confirmed that 65% of this required amount would go towards servicing debt, with nothing going towards health and education.

The UPND thinks it is essential for us to negotiate an IMF bailout, postpone payments on our loans and free up much needed resources for growth and development.

2. Hunger crisis

60% of Zambians, that is around 10 million of our people live on less than $1.25 a day. This is around K15 in a country where a bag of MEALIE MEAL now costs K150. 42% of our people, that is around 7 million of the 10 million classified as extremely poor, with another 400,000 having no guaranteed access to food on any given day.

The above has been the norm in Zambia for several years now.

The recent spike in the price of MEALIE MEAL and the destitution around it is indicative of the fact that the economic destitution often only associated with the bottom 60% , has now entered middle income households. It means the current hunger crisis arising from the PF government’s inability to manage the production, storage and supply of maize, has only heightened an already desperate survival situation for millions of Zambians.

The UPND has consistently urged the PF never to export maize before we can absolutely be certain that our country is food secure. A few months ago, despite the least than impressive rainfall patterns, Zambia had over 2.4 metric tonnes of maize against a national requirement of 1.9 million metric tonnes. Less than 3 months later, we have nothing to feed our people. This says a lot about the PF government’s lack of foresight and leadership.

We have since urged the PF to declare a hunger crisis so that our people can get to live another day. Given the scale of it, Zambia needs a minimum $500 million to navigate this crisis. We do not have that sort of money. This is why we need help. Zimbabwe estimated 2.5 million might have been at risk of starvation. They called for help and help came to the tune of over £270 million. Zambia is facing a much worse crisis given the statistics, despite these being underplayed by the government, and yet no call for help has gone out yet.

We challenged the President Mr. Edgar Lungu to go out across our vast country and see first hand the extent of the hunger situation and make a decision for himself.

3. Constitution Amendment Crisis

Any national dialogue was envisaged to Foster greater national unity and cohesion across the entirety of the political, civic and religious divide. The outcomes of the NDF have generated more distrust and tension contrary to what was desired. This is fundamentally because the process itself was marred by political bulldozing and lack of consultation and consensus.

The UPND are demanding a total withdrawal of the fraudulent Bill 10 and have the required constitional, electoral and public order act reforms driven by credible process underpinned by trust, genuine consultation and consensus.

4. Shrinking media freedom

We continue to urge the PF government to resist the urge to interfere with the media space through draconian legislative frameworks, and further urge them to enact the FoI Act. This is crucial to enhancing not only media freedom but also public accountability.

These are some of the issues we highlighted and implored the PF to provide leadership around.

In the absence of that, we have been clear that citizens of Zambia cannot and must never wait another 5 years before they demand a change of political leadeship. At the moment, all signs indicate that a change of political leadeship is now necessary so that we may give ourselves an opportunity to think anew around the numerous challenges our country is facing.

 

UPND