Wynter Kabimba says it is wrong and against diplomatic convention practice for the Chinese Ambassador’s wife to donate K200,000 to First Lady Esther Lungu.

In a letter addressed to Ambassador Yang Youming today, Kabimba described the donation as improper, unethical and corrupt.

“On Tuesday 04th April, 2017, during the ZNBC main news at 19:00 hours, I saw a clip in which your spouse was presenting a cheque in excess of K200,000 as a donation to the First Lady, Mrs Esther Lungu’s foundation on behalf of the embassy. The said donation, according to your spouse was the first of the annual installments to the foundation. Whereas Zambian laws do not prohibit such donations as per se, a donation coming from a foreign embassy and/or government to a personal charity led by a First Lady is not only wrong, improper and unethical, but wholly outside the purview of the normal diplomatic conversions and practices,” Kabimba wrote.

He also wondered what criteria was used to pick First Lady Esther’s foundation as the recipient.

“Our position as the Rainbow Party is that the act undertaken by the embassy through your wife is tantamount to corruption. As you are very well aware, Mrs Lungu is and has been a principal and active campaigner of the Patriotic Front, a role which has a thin line with her purported foundation. In this vain, we view the donation as Rainbow Party as nothing but the financing of PF as a political party by your government through this foundation which is not accountable to any established board of trustees or subject to any rules and regulations,” wrote Kabimba.

“This is, therefore, political interference by your government in the domestic affairs of another sovereign state. In this regard, we demand that you furnish us with the criteria you used to make the donation in question to Mrs Lungu’s foundation out of the many existing old charities in the country. We also demand that the donation be withdrawn immediately. Yours faithfully, Wynter Kabimba.”