When angels forget their wings: A nation’s Promise, a people’s betrayal?
By Dr Lawrence Mwelwa
WE were told, in the heat of 2021’s election winds, that a new dawn was breaking. The sun of justice was rising, they said, and corruption would flee like a thief at cockcrow. They came to us in white garments of promise, clothed in the language of integrity, humility, and renewal. They said they were different. They said they were clean. They said the days of looting were over.
And we believed.
But now we must ask: was it all smoke from a dry fire? Were we simply tired and willing to believe any bearer of hopeful lies? The fight against corruption was not just a campaign slogan—it was a covenant. A moral pledge to rid this nation of rot. We, the people, were weary. We had watched the former regime, the Patriotic Front (PF), bury its hands deep in the national pot. We heard of fire trucks that cost the price of mansions, roads paved with debts, ministries where receipts disappeared like mist in morning sun.
The PF, they said, had become a church of gluttony. And many nodded.
So the new regime—the United Party for National Development (UPND)—promised purification. A return to sanity. They walked into office with heads held high and the backing of both ballot and belief.
But now, the same eagle that flew above corruption seems to have feathers stained with the same oil. And the people ask: is it true that the angels we trusted now dine with the devils we voted out? The American ambassador has pointed to systemic theft—nationwide—of medicines meant for the sick and dying. And he claims this theft has continued under the very government that vowed to eradicate such practices. Is this new theft or old theft still lingering? And if it is old, what has been done to end it?
If it began under the PF, why has it not been uprooted by now? And if it blossomed under the UPND’s watch, what changed in the hearts of those who once declared themselves saviors? “The one who promises to chase the hyena must not become its friend at night.”
Where are the arrests of the powerful? Where are the convictions of those who loot by signature and silence? Why do we keep hearing of low-level offenders—dispensary clerks and warehouse workers—while the well-dressed architects of grand theft remain untouched? The fight against corruption was supposed to have teeth, but now it feels like it only has gums.
The people ask again: is this the same corruption with a new uniform? Has the UPND inherited not just power but appetite too?
In the past, PF ministers built castles on teacher salaries. Today, some say certain new leaders are wearing watches worth a village clinic. In the past, PF cadres were kings in compounds. Today, new “businessmen” with strange access and rapid wealth are emerging in every corridor of government.
We must not be afraid to ask: is the spirit of corruption a ghost that moves from one regime to another, only changing dialect?
The future we were promised was a future of accountability. Where are the public audits? Where are the whistleblower protections? Why are civil servants afraid to speak? Why do investigative reports disappear into the same dark corners as stolen medicine?
“A goat that dies in the house of a hunter should not be blamed on the forest.” The PF had their time, and their sins are written in the nation’s diary. But the current government must take full ownership of today. If theft continues, it is not enough to say, “It started long ago.” The mandate was not only to replace faces, but to redeem the soul of governance.
So, we ask—gently, but firmly: Did we vote for a promise or a performance? Are the angels still fighting demons, or have they learned to sing in the same choir?
We do not accuse. We seek clarity. For in the silence of unanswered questions, truth dies a quiet death.
And if we, the people, do not ask, then who will? If this is the new dawn, then let the light fall everywhere—especially on the shadows behind the presidential curtain.
