from ARNOLD MULENGA in Lusaka, Zambia
Zambia Bureau
LUSAKA, (CAJ News) – ZAMBIA’S main opposition has approached the United States government of Donald Trump to intervene in what it alleges is the erosion of democracy in the Southern African country.
It appears the Patriotic Front (PF) is taking advantage of the prevailing tensions between the two countries.
The party has made the plea via the Ambassador of US to Zambia, Michael Gonzales, who a party delegation met at the American embassy in Lusaka on Thursday.
“We presented, discussed and submitted a number of National, Public and Diaspora Zambians concerns,” Miles Sampa, the opposition leader, said.
Among issues the delegation raised in the meeting with Trump’s top envoy in Zambia include allegations of selective fight against corruption, selective ethnic arrests or application of justice, stoppage of the PF from participating in by-elections and capture of public institutions for partisan intentions.
“This also includes a stoppage of freedoms of speech, association or expression,” Sampa said.
He added the United Party for National Development (UPND) led government of President Hakainde Hichilema had outlawed protests since coming to power in 2021 (replacing PF) and arrested a number of opposition members of parliament while ruling party officials accused of similar offences were not arrested.
“We shall go everywhere possible to expose the UPND’s and HH’s disregard of the ‘Rule of Law’ in preference for the ‘Rule of Man or Woman’ in all three arms of government namely Executive, Legislature and Judiciary plus the Electoral Commission of Zambia.”
HH is Hichilema’s nickname, from the initials of his name and surname.
PF had been in power since 2011.
Also on Thursday, Given Lubinda, PF interim president, led a party delegation and took their grievances to the Human Rights Commission.
Mbololwa Wamunyima, Director General of the commission hosted them, Sampa confirmed.
Sampa’s title as leader of the opposition and Lubinda’s as the acting president of the party is an arrangement reached when the two factions re-united earlier this year.
Sampa led one faction and former president, the late Edgar Lungu, led the other.
UPND, which sided with Sampa’s grouping, is accused of destabilising PF ahead of polls in 2026.
John Amos Mulemena, a prominent academic and researcher at the Mulungushi University, criticised the PF for approaching the US with its grievances.
“With respect, going to foreign embassies to air Zambia’s internal political grievances is misplaced and weakens the very sovereignty you claim to defend,” he responded to Sampa.
Mulemena argued the Democrats or Republicans in the US would never seek the intervention of Zambia in America’s internal crises.
“They speak to the American people, because the people hold the real power through the ballot, not an ambassador who does not vote in Zambia,” he said.
Henry Kazadi Mwanza, a commentator, accused the PF of double standards.
“Interestingly, this is the same opposition that keeps preaching that our country is under Western masters,” he said.
“They are going to discuss national matters with the same people they claim captured our country? Is this the proper checks and balances or maybe it’s hypocrisy at its best?”
Mwansa Chisulo, another commentator, also argued double standards.
Chisulo noted that during the PF regime, an American ambassador to Zambia, Daniel Foote, was forced out of the country for criticising the Zambian government and associating himself with the opposition.
“Yesterday you called them imperialist, today the narrative is different,” Chisulo responded.
PF’s stance is a strange twist of events in the relations between US and Zambia.
The opposition is making the most of the tensions between tense relations between the countries, after the US recently slapped restrictive visa requirements on Zambians travelling to the US.
It also issued a health alert to its citizens in Zambia, ordering the immediate withdrawal of all American government personnel from Kitwe, affected by China’s Sino Metals mine tailings dam spill.
UPND has expressed disquiet over the embassy over the issues.
The US has also cut around $50 million annually in health aid to Zambia due to theft of donated medical supplies.
– CAJ News