Rainbow Party General Secretary Wynter Kabimba says diplomats accredited to Zambia have the right to comment on our internal affairs because they have invested too much money trying to help the country develop.

Commenting on Chief Government Spokesperson Dora Siliya’s warning that accredited diplomats in Zambia should only comment on the country’s internal affairs using established channels, Kabimba observed that diplomats had a duty to ensure that the assistance from their respective countries did not end up benefiting unintended individuals.

Kabimba observed that it was ridiculous for Zambia to claim sovereignty when it depended on other nations for survival.

“Yes, it is prohibited for a diplomat to make comments about the governance system in another country. Can you imagine the Zambian Ambassador Dr [Ngosa] Simbyakula in America making comments about the internal affairs of the American government? The only difference with third world (developing) countries, and not only Zambia, is that these are the guys that we depend on for all our programmes, whether in the area of education; in the area health; in the area of fighting corruption; the area of police capacity-building and the Judiciary. So, they are actually part and parcel of the running of the internal affairs of African countries. So, if we are not able to do anything on our own and we depend on these guys (foreign nation-states) to do everything for us, then surely, they must have a right to comment on our internal affairs. But under international law, they are not allowed to do that,” Kabimba argued.

He challenged government to stop asking for assistance from other countries and learn to run its own economy if it did not want any interference in the running of the country’s internal affairs.

“The contradiction that African countries, including Zambia, have in my view is that, you can’t on the one hand say, ‘give us everything’ and on the other hand say, ‘you are interfering in our internal affairs’. If you want them to stop interfering in your internal affairs, then don’t go to them for any assistance. Stand on your own! Make your people run the economy. But if you can’t run your own economy, if you can’t run your own affairs properly and you want others to help you, surely, those that help you must be able to talk to you on how you should run the internal affairs of your country. So, there is a contradiction there that ought to be resolved by us as Zambians,” Kabimba observed.

He insisted that government was not being illogical to pronounce Zambia as a sovereign state when it was depending on other countries to sustain its economy.

“If the people that are giving you the money are saying that, ‘we are not giving you this money for your officials in government to steal’, there is nothing wrong with them saying that. You can’t have pride in declaring yourselves as a sovereign nation when you are simply beggars! How can you be proud and say that you are a sovereign nation and yet you depend on outsiders to sustain that sovereignty? It can’t work. So if you want to pronounce our sovereignty in a manner that Dora Siliya is arguing, then stop going to them for help. But if we do, then surely, they must worry when they hear that the resources, which they are giving to government are being stolen,” said Kabimba.