NAREP leader, Ngulube, attacks Ambassador Gonzales over snide remarks against Zambia

The National Restoration Party (NAREP) President, Ezra Ngulube, has accused outgoing U.S. Ambassador to Zambia Michael Gonzales of making factual exaggerations and using what he described as a paternalistic tone that disrespects Zambia’s sovereignty.

Ngulube said his party had taken note of Gonzales’ farewell remarks but rejected what he called mischaracterisations and one-sided accusations directed at Zambia and its successive governments.

In a statement issued in Lusaka on Friday, he acknowledged the long-standing partnership between Zambia and the United States but said the Ambassador’s speech contained “sweeping generalizations” and disrespected the country’s sovereignty.

“NAREP does not condone corruption. We have always stood for transparency, accountability, and the prudent use of public resources,” Ngulube said.

He said that while Gonzales’ speech contained some valid concerns, it was “laced with sweeping generalizations, factual exaggerations, and an unacceptable tone of paternalism that disrespects Zambia’s sovereignty.”

Ngulube challenged Gonzales’ statement that Zambia loses $4 billion annually through illicit financial flows, saying the envoy had provided “no verifiable, country-specific evidence” for the figure.

He added that highlighting Zambia without acknowledging the role of Western financial systems, tax havens and multinational corporations was “disingenuous,” and demanded that any U.S. evidence be handed to Zambian law enforcement immediately.

On the disruption to health services during the recent pause in U.S. funding, Ngulube said the episode revealed Zambia’s over-reliance on foreign aid and “the danger of unilateral decisions by donor nations.”

“The U.S. paused funding based on its own internal political processes, not due to any new finding of Zambian malfeasance. Zambia’s health system challenges predate this administration and are rooted in decades of underinvestment, partly because donor conditionalities have discouraged domestic resource mobilization,” he said.

He said his party had long argued that aid dependency was a “structural trap, not a moral failing of Zambian officials alone.”

Regarding stolen medical supplies, Ngulube said the United States had a “moral and legal obligation” to share any intelligence with the Anti-Corruption Commission or Drug Enforcement Commission.

“Publicly shaming Zambia without supporting prosecutions helps no one except those who wish to paint an entire country as irredeemably corrupt,” he said, urging the government to request any U.S. dossiers.

Ngulube agreed that the current administration had been “dismissive and uncoordinated” in its diplomatic engagement but said Gonzales should not conflate “the incompetence of one government with the character of the Zambian people.”

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He said NAREP supported increasing domestic health financing, ending impunity and strengthening national systems, and noted the party’s proposals for a National Sovereignty Fund and mandatory asset declarations.

Ngulube warned that “criticism without partnership was just noise” and said no country had the right to demand reforms “under the threat of withdrawing life-saving medicines for HIV patients.”

In his farewell remarks delivered Thursday evening, Gonzales said decades of U.S. support had led to measurable gains, including HIV epidemic control, a 20-year rise in life expectancy and reductions in malaria deaths.

He argued that systemic theft and government inaction had undermined those investments, and said Zambia’s health system fragility became evident last year when the United States paused funding to review its programmes.

“Despite over $7 billion in U.S. health assistance since 2000 and the hard work of many Zambians alongside us, that crumbling system revealed that while we thought we were building capacity, successive Zambian governments had not built systems,” he said.

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