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Citizens First (CF) party has accused the government of corruption, saying the farewell remarks by outgoing United States Ambassador Michael Gonzales have exposed serious governance failures in the country.
CF party spokesperson, Dalitso Tembo, said the party had noted the government’s rejection of the ambassador’s remarks through the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Mulambo Haimbe, but argued that the response did not address the underlying issues raised.
In a statement issued in Lusaka on Tuesday, Tembo said the party respects the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and the principles of sovereignty, mutual respect and non-interference in internal affairs.
However, she said diplomacy should not be used to shield wrongdoing or ignore allegations of corruption affecting citizens.
“When corruption robs women and children of healthcare, when persons living with HIV/AIDS go without life-saving medicines because drugs are stolen from public hospitals, that is not only a diplomatic issue. It is a governance issue. It is a national shame. And it must be called by its name,” Tembo said.
She argued that Ambassador Gonzales did not manufacture allegations of corruption, noting that references to arrests, convictions and asset recoveries cited by Government itself confirm that corruption is both real and entrenched.
“The issue is not whether a diplomat should raise concerns publicly. The issue is why Zambians are still dying in clinics without medicines since the UPND was voted into office and promised to end corruption,” she said.
Tembo further said sovereignty could not be used as a shield for theft, and that established administrative processes could not justify continued suffering among citizens.
She accused the government of presiding over what she described as a “corrupt regime,” arguing that increased budget allocations and policy assurances had not translated into improved service delivery.
“Data-sharing clauses and court proceedings cannot justify empty drug shelves. Increased budget allocations mean nothing when the money is looted before it reaches the patient,” she said.
Tembo also referred to allegations raised by the outgoing ambassador relating to theft in the medical supply chain, saying they aligned with Government-confirmed cases of corruption, arrests and recoveries.
On April 30, 2026, Ambassador Gonzales delivered a strongly worded farewell speech in which he accused successive Zambian governments of corruption, aid dependency and failure to build sustainable systems despite decades of U.S. assistance.
He warned that Washington could no longer justify large aid budgets without fundamental reforms.
Gonzales said U.S. assistance had contributed to major health gains, including HIV epidemic control, a 20-year increase in life expectancy and significant reductions in malaria deaths. However, he argued that systemic theft and weak governance had undermined those gains.
He said the fragility of Zambia’s health system was exposed when the United States temporarily paused health funding last year to review its assistance programmes.
“Despite over US$7 billion in U.S. health assistance since 2000, that crumbling system revealed that while we thought we were building capacity, successive Zambian governments had not built systems,” he said.
The ambassador further alleged that public officials diverted resources “to their own pockets” while allowing the United States to shoulder the burden of healthcare provision.
Meanwhile, the government has strongly rejected Gonzales’ remarks, describing them as inconsistent with diplomatic norms and a breach of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.
Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Minister, Mulambo Haimbe, said the comments were “deeply regrettable” and “undiplomatic,” arguing that they undermined mutual respect between sovereign states.
He said the remarks violated Article 3 of the Vienna Convention, which outlines the functions of a diplomatic mission, and Article 41, which requires diplomats to respect the laws of the receiving state and refrain from interfering in its internal affairs.
“The remarks by the outgoing Ambassador violate Article 3 and Article 41 of the Convention, which require diplomats to respect the laws of the receiving state and refrain from interference,” Haimbe said.
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