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.

Socialist Party (S.P) Copperbelt Provincial Vice Chairperson and spokesperson Reagan Kashinga says staging defections is an outdated way of doing politics.

The ruling UPND last Saturday claimed that over 4000 people in Ndola had defected from opposition political parties to the governing party.

But Mr. Kashinga said UPND won’t gain popularity through defections which he branded as an archaic way of conducting politics devoid of civility.

“As the Socialist Party in the Copperbelt Province, we wish to challenge the governing United Party for National Development (UPND) to practice modern and civilized politics ahead of the 2026 General Elections. We have observed with utmost dismay how the UPND is faking defections especially on the Copperbelt Province with the aim of hoodwinking people that the party is gaining popularity,” he said.

“Last Saturday, UPND on the Copperbelt claimed that 4000 people from opposition political parties have defected to the ruling party in Ndola. We are aware that UPND has been parading the same people as defectors starting from Mufulira, Kalulushi, Lufwanyama and now Ndola. We wish to school the UPND that stage managing defections is an outdated or archaic way of gaining political popularity in this computer age. The UPND is losing popularity on the ground due to their failed promises made to the people of Zambia,” Mr. Kashinga said.

He said the surest way of gaining popularity is by ending the long hours of load shedding, bringing down the cost of mealie meal, fertiliser, fuel and the cost of electricity connections.

“Our colleagues in UPND are out of touch with reality as evidenced by the use of underhand methods to gain political mileage.UPND claimed to have unlocked Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) and Mopani Copper Mines (MCM) but literally there is nothing happening at the two former mining giants. Go to Wusakile in Kitwe, go to Nchanga in Chingola, go to Kakoso in Chililabombwe and go to Kankoyo in Mufulira people can’t feel the impact of the alleged unlocking of the mining sector. UPND are in panic mode after learning that the opposition is getting united. We want to warn that with or without fake defections UPND kuya bebele come 2026,” Mr. Kashinga added.

During the defections, UPND Ndola Central Member of Parliament Frank Tayali said people are leaving opposition political parties to join the UPND because they do not want to be left behind.

Mr. Tayali said Zambians must learn not to receive anything that comes their way.

By Michael Chishala,

In my opinion, the biggest single benefit of colonialism which is hardly discussed was the introduction of codified law with property rights, plus representative democracy with the 3 arms of modern governments. Before the colonialists, all land essentially belonged to the chief or king and he was the law. At a whim, he or she could give or take away land or confiscate property. There was no concept of title deeds or even just basic human rights codified into a Constitutional Bill of Rights with the right to life, liberty, movement, association or freedom of speech. You could not say anything against the chief, nor could you legally resist confiscation of property.

European nations in the 17th and 18th Century underwent a very strong Philosophical enlightenment period where many things that we take for granted today like human rights were vigorously debated and codified into law in Parliaments. The unchecked power of monarchies was curtailed and representative Republican government introduced. These things today look obvious in hindsight, but tyrannical despotic monarchies were the norm at that time and Africa was no exception.

These colonial reforms introduced more stability and certainty as people were able to trade more freely and invest into new business ventures which led to greater productivity and higher incomes. This period saw the adoption of banking, insurance, pensions, commodity exchanges and stock exchanges which made things more predictable and encouraged investment and entrepreneurship which led to better living standards.

The judicial system with presumption of innocence, due process, and well defined court rules was perhaps the most important component of these colonial legal systems which were alien to Africa. People violating others’ rights, including government officials and even the President or Prime Minister could be punished. Disputes between citizens could now be settled fairly with impartial adjudication and strong deterrence for bad behaviour. One cannot overstate the importance of a strong legal system to development and rapid economic growth.

The Europeans drew from earlier traditions (Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks and Romans) and did the hard work of thinking through and debating all the various aspects of modern nations. Slavery for example was taken for granted everywhere in the world until it was challenged on moral grounds by Christians in Europe and lobbied against until it was abolished by law after public opinion turned against it. The lobbying was successful because there existed Parliaments with elected representatives.

Imagine if there was no Parliament but just a monarchy. There was zero chance slavery could have been abolished because the slave plantation owners could have easily paid off the king or queen to turn a blind eye and ignore the slavery abolitionists. Public pressure would have not come to bear, but because Parliament had elected representatives who could be thrown out, they had to listen to the people who demanded the end of slavery which benefited Africans as explained earlier.

The introduction of rule of law in Africa brought significant development and the establishment of mining, industry, commerce and agriculture. Large scale mining which takes decades to bring returns to the shareholders is only possible in stable nations with a good legal framework and friendly taxation policies run by a strong central government. Chiefdoms are unreliable for executing large scale development projects.

Another critical benefit of colonialism was infrastructure. The colonialists wanted to exploit African minerals so they built railways to make the movement of goods and people in large quantities easy and fast. A single train wagon could carry a load equivalent to what hundreds of men could carry and a train could traverse long distances within days as opposed to months by walking. A typical steam engine train in the 1920s could move 500km in one day. Sub-Saharan Africa particularly benefited because tropical diseases made the keeping of animals for transportation impossible.

After railways came roads and bridges with the adoption of motor vehicles, motor cycles and bicycles. The main roads in Zambia were built by the 1940s and made national administration possible. This was great for Africans as they could use the same roads and railways and access more markets for goods and services as well as travel for work or higher education further away in other colonies. All this was not possible before as Africa was undeveloped with only bush paths for movement and no proper bridges.

There are many other important benefits I could enumerate, but that would make this series go into ten parts and I believe the few I have highlighted shall suffice. Hopefully, this admittedly controversial series has been enlightening to the readers and led to a more holistic view of colonialism. Let’s keep the discussion going!

THE END

Michael Chishala is a Zambian analyst with interests in Philosophy, Law, Economics and History. Email: [email protected]