Sir, – Amidst all the gloomy world news of recent days, almost unnoticed a bright ray of sunlight shone forth from the heart of Africa. Zambia’s presidential election on August 12th resulted in a change of leadership and a smooth peaceful transfer of power from the ruling party to the opposition: an increasingly rare event in post-Mandela Africa. This peaceful election in Zambia has the potential to influence, even transform, politics across much of the continent and beyond.
Unlikely as it may seem, Ireland has played a significant part in this accomplishment. Ireland has strongly supported Zambia’s nation-building hopes and plans since it gained independence in 1964 under the leadership of Kenneth Kaunda, who passed away just weeks ago at the age of 97. Irish financial supports in Africa traditionally focused on the main social domains. But during the Mandela era, EU countries, including Ireland, paid much more attention to governance and election-related issues because these were seen as fundamental to the success of the new multiparty politics once apartheid had ended in South Africa.
Like all countries, Zambia has had its good times and its troubled times. The past few years were especially challenging under the outgoing government. Many of Zambia’s development partners became alarmed by that government’s disdain for accountability and lack of integrity. The country’s finances were in crisis. In the end, several EU countries decided to close their embassies and their support programmes. Happily the Irish Government did not take this drastic step. Having invested so much in their nation-building efforts, this was not the time for Ireland to give up on the people of Zambia. The decisive nature of the voters verdict in the 2021 election validates the Irish Government’s stance handsomely.
Enormous challenges, as well as great opportunities, now await the people of Zambia under their new President Hakainda Hichelema, a successful business person. Expectations in all parts of the country are sky high. Pressure to deliver and get a lot done quickly will make life very difficult for the new government from the start. While the immediate picture is daunting, longer-term prospects are highly promising. Zambia has valuable mining resources, a lot of underutilised fertile land, 40 per cent of southern Africa’s water resources and vast tourism potential. It is comparatively lightly populated in the African setting, with over half its population under the age of 20. Zambia has every ingredient required for serious, sustainable broad based economic and social advancement but it will need help, including external help, to realise the full potential of these resources.
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Having demonstrated its democratic credentials in such fine style, a successful reform and rebuild programme of development is now vital not just for Zambia but also very important for the region. Some of the region’s long-standing rulers do not like what Zambian voters have done; in their view, opposition parties are there to lose, not win elections. President Hichelema, himself a long-time opposition leader, cannot expect unqualified support from such neighbours. That is why additional help from EU countries is essential. Voters must quickly begin to notice the government’s new way of doing business and feel the benefits right from the start.
I very much hope the Irish Government will be able to persuade those EU colleagues who gave up on Zambia in recent years that now is the moment to return. A great many poor, marginalised, unemployed Zambians depend on this. The voters of Zambia need and deserve the support of all its friends, particularly its European friends, as it opens a new, highly promising chapter, having just demonstrated the abiding value of genuinely free, open and fair elections. – Yours, etc,
BILL NOLAN,
(former Irish ambassador
to Zambia),
Dublin 4.