The corruption of our diplomats

The corruption of our diplomats
Written by Editor

The continued misappropriation and misapplication of public funds and other resources in Zambia’s foreign missions that the Auditor General has revealed is something that should not be taken lightly.

There is need for the country to find out why this vice is continuing despite moves to put in place financial management measures to seal loopholes.

Auditor General Anna Chifungula says the audit of 14 foreign missions have showed persistent misappropriation and misapplication of public funds and other resources.

These revelations about misappropriation and misapplication of public funds should be a source of great concern because our foreign missions are supposed to be playing a very important economic and political role for the country. The very limited funds they are given should be used to seek economic and other benefits for the country.

Our country is very poor and our foreign missions are being run at a very high sacrifice on the part of the Zambian people. The money being used to run embassies could have been channelled to hospitals, schools and other services desperately needed by our people.

When people say there should be zero tolerance to corruption, people coming to this country should hear this message first from our staff in the foreign missions. But with a rotten foreign mission staff as we are seeing, it will be wishful thinking that we will expect anything better than we are hearing from the Auditor General.

There is need for us to find out what the problem is.

We are told that the former Secretary to the Treasury Evans Chibiliti had put in place several financial management measures to try and seal some loopholes that were in existence. But despite all this, the problem doesn’t seem to have been solved.

If the problem is persisting, there is need to look at the kind of personnel we have in our foreign missions. We need to ask ourselves whether they are up to the job that they have been sent there for. Are they up to the challenge?

From the general approach of the appointments that are made for the Foreign Service, it is easy to deduce that we should not expect anything better from most of our staff in these foreign missions. The professional civil servant has been abandoned in preference to party cadres, relatives, friends and tribesmen of those who make or influence such appointments.

Now it is either a person is appointed because he is either a son or daughter of someone in an influential position or because someone campaigned very hard and has to be rewarded for the effort.

Most of these appointments are not based on merit, on qualifications or abilities but on other irrelevant factors. When some of these cadres, relatives and friends are sent into Foreign Service, they are usually at sea and do not understand what they are supposed to do. And because they do not understand their job, they think they are on holiday, on shopping sprees and try to change their lifestyles and accumulate as much as they can before they are recalled. To finance their lifestyles, they engage in all sorts of acts that aim at undoing the checks and balances that have been put in place.

The quality of some of our foreign mission staff leaves much to be desired. There is need for us to take a leaf from the way diplomatic staff from places like Europe, America, China, Cuba, India, among others, manage their affairs. Their staff makes sure they get the best business and political deals for their countries. Today, people are saying the Chinese are becoming dominant. It is partly because they have sent out the best staff to foreign missions that are getting the best deals for their country.

Zambia is not getting much from its foreign missions. Most of our foreign missions are really not serving any meaningful purpose. And the blame for this should lie squarely with whoever is president of the Republic.

It’s not difficult to see the difference where good civil servants are placed. For instance, there’s a big difference between our mission in Pretoria that is headed by a seasoned and honest civil servant, former secretary to the Cabinet Leslie Mbula, and the Maputo mission that was under the leadership of empty and corrupt MMD cadres of low political culture and integrity.

There is need for the country to decide whether these foreign offices are only there for the sake of providing jobs to the relatives, friends and tribesmen of those in power and cadres of the ruling party who are unemployed and cannot be fitted into the local institutions.

What is it that we hope to achieve through these missions and the staff we appoint to run them?

If it is only for the glamour of foreign presence, then well and good, let people continue sending their party cadres and their sons and daughters, relatives and friends. But if we expect our foreign missions to play both an effective political and economic role, then there is need for us to get back to the professional civil servant. If we want these offices to profit Zambia and its nationals, then we must select the staff on merit. There is need to get to the policies and procedures that govern the selection and assignment of Foreign Service personnel. Our foreign missions should contribute to the maintenance of peace and security in the world.

We need diplomats of merit who are able to use their skills to reach the global foreign audiences. To be able to catch the attention of the foreign audience, we need credible diplomats. We need diplomats who will be taken seriously and not those viewed as those only bent on misapplying their people’s resources. The attractiveness of Zambia to the foreign audience will depend on the quality of staff and the skills they possess at our various missions.

But what is also worrying is the fact that so far no one has been arrested and prosecuted for theft or abuse of public funds or office. Why? Is it because they are relatives, friends, and tribesmen of those in power or valuable cadres of the ruling party?