Frank Mutubila writes….
I have served my country with my best ability for 55 years in most cases without applause. It’s your democratic right to disagree with or those with diverse opinion but not to insult or threaten me and others. Provided God allows it, l will continue serving my country. Some expect media to report only what flatters power and call questioning disloyalty. By that logic, a mirror is an enemy, and a thermometer is a traitor.
A public relations officer exists to protect institutions, manage narratives, and shape perception. Journalism exists to serve citizens, expose wrongdoing, and hold power to account. When truth is branded as disloyalty, lies become loyalty. When pleasing those in power is defined as duty, serving the people is recast as rebellion. That inversion is not accidental. It is a wicked and dangerous narrative that corrodes democracy itself.
The media is the Fourth Estate, independent, fearless, and relentless. Its duty is not convenience, access, or profit, its real duty is truth. It exists to shine light where power prefers darkness, much like solar energy outshining the darkness of load shedding. When Zesco fails, solar rises. The media must be the same, a beacon of truth and reliability.
Those who demand praise over truth are enemies of progress. Those who fear questions are afraid of reality. Media is not a stage for applause, it is a battlefield for accountability. Leaders who cannot endure scrutiny do not deserve obedience. Democracy dies when fear replaces debate.
Truth does not bend. Criticism is not an enemy. Power that fears light is power that deserves to be questioned. Democracy is not entertainment for the powerful, it is responsibility for the people. I have been like this for many years but it’s the first time I am receiving insults and threats.
Under the PF, I was appointed ambassador. Under the UPND, I was appointed to the board of the Zambia Daily Mail. If serving the country is condemned in one instance and praised in another, let us be honest, the problem is not the appointee, it is selective judgment, often driven by intellectual laziness.
We must embrace diversity and respect divergent views. Always remember that if two people are completely identical, then one of them is unnecessary. We obviously cannot all be praise singers, someone has to remain in the ushering department and quietly do the actual work.
Talk with Frank
You well served yourself, also known as a job
It wasn’t charity work, it was a job for which you were rewarded with a salary…. applaud yourself..
What applause are you seeking? We all in a one way or another serve our country but we donot expect to be applauded.
Ba Frank, grow up. You just might be overrating yourself.
Go to the farm and live a quiet life. I understand your frustration , to live well in this earth expect a life from it and expect more from yourself.
You were appointed as an ambassador even when you did not deserve it. You can’t even tell us your results in that foreign assignment. Ask the public to say only one thing they remember you for? Then you can understand how society perceives you. Your name is synonymous with one thing and one thing only.
What is the truth,Frank? When you take sides, that is now an opinion. When the person you are interviewing is attacking a political opponent and you are cheering on, that is not the truth. For example, why didn’t you ask what Mundubile was going to do for Zambia? You were helping sell a candidate and yet you failed to ask the frank questions on his plans for Zambia, how he was part of the cadre problem, how he is part of bringing the economy down from 6% to negative 1 and really how he can stand here trying to replace a man they have not buried.
How is it the truth that one family has failed to bury because they don’t one man to be near the body, one man? You are a Christian, why not ask mundubile how he is going to build the country together when he attacks and you are the cheer leader. Please reflect on what you are doing these days