‘Toothless’ foreign missions disappoint CAAC
By Adrian Mwanza
THE international community has become toothless under the United Party for National Development (UPND) government and seemingly gone into hiding, the Community Action Against Corruption (CAAC) has said.
In an interview with The Mast, CAAC executive director Brighton Tembo said foreign missions had been shying away from criticising the injustices being inflicted on the people of Zambia by the UPND regime.
The silence by the international community over the UPND government’s bad governance was strange and a threat to the country’s democracy.
“My observation is that regardless of any matter taken to the international community, as long as it does not affect them, they will just remain aloof and will not act. We raised concerns of governance, human rights abuses, selective justice and other injustices inflicted on the people of Zambia. Nothing has been done to help address the concerns. I am sure it is because they are not affected,” Tembo said.
He said it would be surprising if the international community would side with the people of Zambia about the political outcome of the delimitation report expected to be out today considering their silence on other issues.
Tembo said it was clear that Zambians were already frustrated over the process, yet the international community was not interested in following up their concerns.
He said it was only in the Kenneth Kaunda era that the international community acted swiftly on matters of governance, rule of law and human rights abuses.
“I want to make it clear that the African Union (AU) and even the European Union [EU], for lack of a better term, are toothless and Zambians should not expect anything tangible from them even concerning the same delimitation [to be unveiled today],” Tembo said.
He urged Zambians to fight their own battles by rejecting the delimitation report as it did not represent their aspiration.
Tembo said Zambians were living in fear because the report might be tilted towards a certain region to disadvantage others.
“This process was rubber-stamped and the whole process was already concluded by the powers that be. For me, I feel this process is already concluded and even if Zambians complain, it will still go forward and pass because it has already been rubber-stamped,” he said.
The Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) will today release the names of the 70 new constituencies following the controversial amendment of the Constitution.
