BEFORE we could finish our editorial comment commending the UPND for admitting that only voters will determine the 50% plus one vote in next year’s election, we were hit by a claim that we misquoted the source. We were in the process of stating that it is always uplifting to hear voices of reason and humility from those who are in power. We felt it was brave, sincere, and respectful to acknowledge that ultimately, the people decide the fate of elected leaders, regardless of what political analysts and critics say.

It is true that opposition leaders feel confident the UPND will be a one-term party in power. They speak with conviction that they will defeat the ruling party. Likewise, politicians in the ruling party are fond of boasting that there is no wind of change. As we thought Honourable Gary Nkombo had pointed out, these are just opinions, which mean nothing on the day of voting. At the end of the day, it is about how the people feel over the performance of the government.

This is why we were geared to echo the sentiments made by Honourable Nkombo who is also Mazabuka member of parliament and UPND Chairperson for Elections. We interpreted his words as a rare moment of political maturity; a recognition that democracy belongs to the people, not to the predictions of party functionaries or even those in State House.

But to our surprise, before we could conclude our comment on his remarks, we were met with a furious rebuttal. Honourable Nkombo went to Facebook to discredit us, to call us fabricators of news. He claimed that he never said the things we published in the headline and the paraphrased words in the introduction of the story.

Gary NKOMBO: “This headline from News Digger’s paper is a total fabrication and mischievous by the editor of the paper. At no time in my interview with Ms Nalwimba Mwiche did I say what is contained in this caption. I am challenging the paper to retract this headline as it is not only false but also totally misleading. I however take responsibility for what is contained in the verbatim interview whose content I also have. I demand to you news digger’s to retract that statement and apologise for framing a falsehood on me within 24 hours”.

The headline he was complaining about read: “We’ve done well, but we can’t say we’ll get 50% + 1 in 2026, it’s up to voters – Nkombo”

Now, we are used to politicians backpedalling on their own statements. Some are forced to do so under party pressure, others out of fear of offending supporters or party leaders. But this particular denial from Honourable Nkombo caught us off guard, not only because the full verbatim interview and audio were published, but also because he was departing from a sober and reasonable stance which summarises the context of his sentiments.

To be clear, there was no manipulation, no distortion, no unethical editing of his words. His own recorded voice speaks of caution in overconfidence and acknowledges that getting 50% plus one is ultimately in the hands of the voters. When our reporter asked him, “are you confident that you will get the 50 per cent plus one that you got in 2021?” His answer was: “We think that on average maybe to say that we are confident like the other people used to say, maybe too much”. So where did our headline go wrong?

In shock and while failing to understand his real concern, we called him and asked what exactly he was disputing. In one breath, he said the headline was false. In another, he acknowledged that the body of the story was accurate. He claimed the word “presumptuous” was misleading. We asked him what word we should put in the apology so that people can understand his position better. We asked him what word could be used to mean “not being over confident or arrogant”. His response was simply that we should let the story lie and that there was no need for us to tender the apology he demanded on Facebook, which remained undeleted.

We find it very unfair that politicians, including those who are publicly loved and respected like Honourable Nkombo can discredit the work of a journalist for no good reason. We find it annoying that our leaders always find it easy to throw the blame on a news reporter when their remarks attract a backlash. As we stated the other day when we condemned the behaviour of Honourable Elijah Muchima at the Ministry of Health, a brave leader needs to be capable of defending their position. It is wrong and unfair to throw us under the bus and tarnish our image publicly when you know that there is no ethical or factual mistake we have made.

This is not a trivial matter. In journalism, our currency is trust. When a public official discredits a publication for doing its job, it damages more than our reputation. It affects the flow of information to the people and further injures our business.

We do understand that Honourable Nkombo is sitting delicately and some people may have condemned him for saying the right thing but he did not have to discredit our work in order to defend himself. All well-meaning readers will agree with us that there was nothing wrong with what Honourable Nkombo said. What was wrong perhaps was that he said it out loud. In a country where political loyalty often requires blind optimism, simply acknowledging that voters decide elections can be misinterpreted as weakness or doubt. But it is neither.

We understand that Honourable Nkombo may be walking a tightrope, trying to remain credible while also keeping party hardliners satisfied. But discrediting our newsroom to save face is not the answer. If anything, we expected that he would stand by his remarks, defend his position, and continue the conversation on how democratic leaders must learn to accept public judgment.

This is the problem that our country faces. The worst thing that our politicians do to one another is to refuse to tell each other the truth. When one points at the ugly truth, the others descend on him. It doesn’t help their case to deceive one another in promulgating some popularity which does not exist or to force a narrative that is non-existent.