SEASONED BROADCASTER AMB. FRANK MUTUBILA SPEAKS OUT: “FREEDOM WITHOUT MORALS IS MADNESS”
The FOX Newspaper
Veteran broadcaster Frank Mutubila has broken his silence—and it’s not politics on his mind, it’s principles.
In a powerful and deeply personal statement, Mutubila says Zambia is standing at a moral crossroads. And at the centre of his concern? A young man whose rise to notoriety is being fueled not by ideas—but by insults.
“Freedom of speech is not a license to insult,” Mutubila warns, calling out the toxic culture of vulgarity, online mockery, and character assassination that has crept into public discourse.
“This is not boldness,” he writes. “It’s a breakdown of basic respect.”
He’s not pointing fingers at party colors. Instead, he draws a sharp line between freedom and recklessness, warning that if moral leaders—from politics to the pulpit—don’t stand up now, Zambia risks raising a generation that confuses noise with leadership.
Mutubila also has a message for those taking cheap shots from overseas: “Nothing lasts forever. If you truly believe in your cause, speak your truth here at home.”
No names mentioned. No theatrics. Just a sober warning from a man who’s seen enough to know when a society is slipping.
And to anyone sponsoring that slip? You’re complicit.
Amb. Frank Mutubila Wrote….
I want to speak from the heart today, as a concerned citizen. What I’m about to say is not driven by politics, it’s about something far more fundamental… Morals. We must learn to separate morality from politics. When we start judging right and wrong based on who says it or which side of the aisle they’re on, we risk losing our sense of what is truly decent and acceptable.
Lately, I’ve been deeply disturbed by the conduct of a young man who has made it his mission to publicly insult and demean others, including national leaders. His language is crude, his tone is hostile, and his behavior is, frankly, alarming. This is not the boldness of youth, it is the breakdown of basic respect. And no, it should not be normalized.
Let’s be clear, rights, especially those under the banner of freedom of expression are not limitless. They come with responsibilities. Freedom of speech does not entitle anyone to insult, defame, or destroy the dignity of others. In a democracy, we must disagree with civility, debate with respect, and hold each other accountable with integrity, not with venom.
This is not a debate about freedom. It is a plea for decency. If people of moral standing, from politics to the Church, civil society to the family do not speak out and draw a line, we will find ourselves nurturing a culture of disrespect and division. And if, by any chance, this young man is being supported, financially or otherwise by anyone in power or opposition, they must know they are complicit in lowering the moral tone of our society.
To those who criticize and provoke from abroad, let me say this “nothing lasts forever.” Time has a way of levelling all things. If you truly believe in your cause, speak your truth here at home. Real courage is not found in the distance, but in the presence. Real patriotism means being willing to face the very people you wish to change.
Morality is not a partisan issue, it is a national responsibility. If we fail to teach the next generation the difference between freedom and recklessness, we will have failed not only as leaders, but as a society.
SCM
Wise counsel from someone who should know. Freedom to insult is the definition of freedom in some circles. We’re not having it, not now, not in the future. Buluya kufula.
Well spoken Amb. Mutubila. Sadly even the aspirant political ‘leaders’ have oted for madness.
For once Frank is being frank and forth right….
“He’s not pointing fingers at party colors. Instead, he draws a sharp line between freedom and recklessness, warning that if moral leaders—from politics to the pulpit—don’t stand up now, Zambia risks raising a generation that confuses noise with leadership.”
Whoever is paying for these misfits needs to look at himself or herself. And ask if he really loves Zambia and Zambians or just a self centered person who thinks power is everything. Why would one encourage a character like why me? For our foriegn friends that give shelter to criminals who have run from the law, you are nothing but enablers. Today you are standing up to Donald Trump and is dictatorial tenants. Have you broken the law in standing up to him? No! Why then let saboteurs find refuge in your countries and plague your own envirnoment and citizens?
Insults are not politics, we have have our own step to reach where you are, allow us to do it our way, when we are wrong quietly counsel, and not dictate. Who tells you how to live your lives?
Well put and clear.