By 
Former Kasenengwa Member of Parliament, Sensio Banda, has called on the Zambian government to engage in open dialogue with international donors, rather than hiding behind what he described as “diplomatic walls.”
Banda said the government had not only lost donor support but also forfeited public trust, exposing its anti-corruption stance as more rhetorical than substantive.
In an interview with Zambia Monitor, Banda argued that Zambia’s fight against corruption would remain ineffective unless high-level actors were held accountable.
“When the United States Ambassador to Zambia announced the suspension of $50 million in essential drug support over accountability concerns, it presented an opportunity for introspection and reform,” he said.
However, Banda criticized government’s response, describing it as defensive.
He cited the cautious statements by the Minister of Health, the diplomatic focus of the Foreign Affairs Minister, and the President’s broad national address as examples of avoidance rather than action.
“The common theme in all these responses was an attempt to manage public perception rather than address the real issues—systemic corruption, procurement irregularities, and gross misuse of public resources,” Banda said.
He questioned the government’s decision to target informal pharmacy operators in the wake of the aid suspension, arguing that it deflected attention from high-level officials allegedly involved in medical supply chain corruption.
“These raids were not acts of reform but performance—staged accountability that sidesteps the architects of medical theft in high offices,” he stated.
Banda also challenged Foreign Affairs Minister Mulambo Haimbe’s reference to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (1961), insisting the U.S. Ambassador had not breached protocol but had acted in the interest of U.S. taxpayers and principles of good governance.
“By framing the Ambassador’s statement as a diplomatic misstep, the Zambian government projected defensiveness, not governance,” he said.
He further claimed that 33 high-level meetings had been held to address the donor concerns, yet no concrete action had been taken beyond repeated references to a forensic audit.
Banda noted that similar questions of misuse arose following the U.S. government’s $20 million donation for drought relief, with no follow-up from authorities.
“What more dialogue does the government need when it has consistently failed to act on existing evidence and donor concerns?” he asked.
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