Is Zambia Losing $3 Billion Annually? What Happened to HH’s Anti-Corruption Campaign?

By Kapya Kaoma

U.S. Ambassador Michael C. Gonzales’s recent revelation that $20 million in American aid—intended for maize for drought relief in the nation—remains unaccounted for did not surprise me. In fact, I expected it. What did surprise me was that despite the dire need and the skyrocketing cost of mealie meal, this money did not translate into food security for Zambians. If the United States provided such a significant sum, why didn’t President Hakainde Hichilema ensure the delivery of affordable mealie meal to the nation? Is he so unkind to the pain of ordinary people? Or is he keeping the money for his 2026 re-election campaign?

Then came the even more startling detail; the maize procured with these funds was purchased at more than 48 percent above the market price. How could such blatant financial corruption occur under the leadership of a president who once smiled when former US President Joe Biden insulted Zambia as a model for corruption and Hichilema as the Anti-Corruption champion? The irony is bitter. Are we now to believe that corruption is contagious—or simply resilient?

But my concern doesn’t stop at $20 million. The truly alarming figure is the $3 billion that Ambassador Gonzales claims Zambia loses to corruption annually. That number is the heart of President Hichilema’s leadership. He campaigned on an anti-corruption platform, promising to clean up after the alleged excesses of former President Edgar Lungu. We were told corruption would be a thing of the past. And yet, here we are again—witnessing impunity and graft flourish in broad daylight under a leader who promoted and billed himself as the most transparent in Zambia’s history.

I’ve long viewed President Hichilema’s anti-corruption rhetoric with skepticism. His decision to place the Anti-Corruption Commission and the Drug Enforcement Commission under the direct authority of his office raised red flags. So too has his persistent refusal to publicly disclose his business partners. If we are to trust him, transparency cannot be optional—it must be the foundation of his leadership. We deserve to know who sits at his dinner table.

Let’s not forget. The government cannot credibly investigate itself. We only know about “maizegate” because of a change in leadership in the United States. What else might be hidden? President Hichilema owe us an explanation.

We must reckon with this uncomfortable truth–while the nation reportedly loses $3 billion each year, someone—somewhere—is making $3 billion. Corruption doesn’t vanish; it merely changes hands. And more often than not, those hands belong to presidents and their inner circles. So we must all pause and ask, what happened to the clean, principled leadership we were promised?

“Illicit financial flows” continue to bleed, even under the man the Biden administration once celebrated as a champion of reform. Sadly, it appears that President Hichilema’s war on corruption was only waged on paper.

And now, even the U.S. Ambassador says so.