FOR six decades, the Zambian flag has flown high, marking our sovereignty as a nation. We are a country that has never known war in all those years. We have been a beacon of peace and democracy in Africa and the outside world. Surely, we have a very good cause for celebration. But beneath the celebrations, an uncomfortable truth lingers; economic independence remains a distant dream. Instead of being a self-reliant nation, we find ourselves trapped in a cycle of dependence on donor aid, foreign loans, and external economic influence. It is a paradox — a nation that is free, yet still shackled to foreign entities. From the earliest days of independence, Zambia’s leaders have expressed their vision of building...