ZAMBIA MUST STAND TALL — BUT ALSO SPEAK BETTER, UNITE DEEPER AND BUILD FASTER
Fellow Compatriots,
The recent exchange between Government and the outgoing United States Ambassador must not be reduced to partisan excitement. This is a serious national moment. It touches on our sovereignty, our health sector, our minerals, our diplomacy, and the maturity of our democracy.
Let me be clear: Zambia must never surrender her dignity to any nation, however powerful. Friendship must never mean submission. Aid must never become a chain around the neck of our sovereignty. Our health data, our mineral wealth, and our national policy choices must be protected with firmness, wisdom and patriotism.
At the same time, Zambia must remain a friend of the United States and of all nations that respect us. We need mature diplomacy, not emotional confrontation. We need engagement, not insults. We need firmness without recklessness, but Government must also accept one painful truth: its communication machinery is weak. Too often, Government has the facts but loses the public debate. The opposition understands speed, emotion and narrative better than Government. By the time Government explains, the public has already been persuaded by speculation, half-truths and anger.
This must change.
Zambians want to hear the truth early, clearly and consistently. They want transparency on international agreements. They want assurance that health services will not collapse. They want to know that our minerals will benefit Zambians first. They want jobs, lower cost of living, cheaper mealie meal, affordable fuel, medicines in hospitals, and dignity in their own country.
This moment should unite us, not divide us.
Government, opposition, civil society, churches, traditional leaders, youths and professionals must speak with one national voice: Zambia is not for sale. But Zambia is also not an island. We shall cooperate with the world, but on terms that protect our people.
To stand on our own, Zambia must now move from slogans to strategy:
We must process our minerals locally instead of exporting jobs with raw copper and critical minerals.
We must rebuild agriculture into a national security sector, not just a rainy-season activity.
We must manufacture medicines, fertiliser, stock feed, construction materials and basic industrial goods here at home.
We must protect citizens’ data through strong laws before signing any international digital or health-data agreement.
We must make Zambian entrepreneurs the centre of procurement, mining supply chains and infrastructure development.
We must reduce dependence on aid by expanding domestic revenue through production, not overtaxing struggling citizens.
President Hakainde Hichilema and his Government must be encouraged where they defend national interest. But they must also be challenged to communicate better, consult wider and deliver faster.
This is not a time for blind praise or blind opposition. It is a time for mature patriotism.
Zambia needs leaders who can defend sovereignty without burning bridges; who can support Government when it is right and advise it when it is weak; who can speak to both the ruling party and the opposition; who can place the nation above noise.
Let us rise above bitterness.
One Zambia. One people. One destiny.
Saviour Chishimba
President — United Progressive People (UPP)