STATEMENT ON THE FOREIGN POLICY AND ECONOMIC CORPORATION OF THE UPND ADMINISTRATION
In response to some press queries to the Inter-Africa Governance Network (AFRINET) regards our position on the assertions by the President of the opposition political party ALL PEOPLE’S CONGRESS, Mr. Nason MSONI and others that President Hakainde HICHILEMA and his administration lack economic and political ideology and the alleged perception that the Head of State is a puppet of Western ideology in relation to International
Diplomacy and Economic Corporation.
First and foremost, as AFRINET we firmly respect the views of President Nason MSONI and others who hold such views about President Hakainde HICHILEMA, however in a spirit of alternative thought, regards this opinion we assert as follows:
As AFRINET, we wish to educate people who hold such views that International Diplomacy visa-vise individual county’s development agenda has fast evolved from the era of alignment either belonging to the Eastern or Western block.
The implication that the country and its leadership is of either Socialist or Capitalist ideological orientation and indeed such an old school of thought regards International Diplomacy is fast fading away, if not long gone in the antiquity of world history.
For the record, one of the factors that have made Africa and other developing countries to lag behind in national development is the firm belief in the alignment of countries in relation to ideology by their leaders.
As such, Economic and Political ideology does NOT develop countries, if it did, Africa and other developing countries would have been the most developed countries in the world because they have far too long exhibited such exceptional and gullible faith in geopolitical alignment for decades through repeated oscillation from one extreme end of ideology to the other, without at any point in time settling for the middle ground.
On the contrary, as well evidenced by fast developing economies like Malaysia, Singapore, Hong-Kong, Taiwan and others collectively referred to as the Tiger Economies or the Asian Tigers, their progress fundamentally is driven by self-belief in terms of the pursuit of home grown policies in response to well
understood Social – Economic challenges and opportunities that are not restricted to and by ideological undertones, careful internalization of best practices by advanced economies and asserting the country on the economic global stage without the obligation of ideological alignment in order to have easy and wider latitude for economic corporation and the flow of Foreign Direct Investment.
In conclusion, in view of these aforementioned fundamentals, as AFRINET it is our carefully audited view that President Hakainde HICHILEMA and his administration have pronounced themselves very well on the global stage in terms of Foreign Policy and Economic Corporation, principally anchored on the Principle of Non-alignment and Economic Diplomacy by moving Zambia from the perceived extreme East to the Centre, in order to freely engage with the East, North, South and West without the perception of exclusion of any other country regardless of their ideological identity.
For a fact, to many stakeholders and citizens who are incline to the East may definitely misconstrue the inevitable repositioning of Zambia from the perceived extreme East to the Centre as a shift to the West simply because of one’s own personal prejudice against certain countries and their unshakable faith in the old school of International Diplomacy and Economic Corporation.
Therefore, as AFRINET in our opinion, Foreign Policy that is fundamentally defined by Economic Diplomacy and the principle of non-alignment is the ideal because NO country is owed any loyalty and allegiance.
MAURICE MALAMBO
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR