Fri, 13 Oct 2017 12:03:01 +0000
…Commonwealth SG has no authority to appoint envoy
By Charles Musonda
THE proposed dialogue between President Lungu and UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema, initiated by the Commonwealth, is highly flawed and irregular says African Union Economic and Social Council (AU-ECOSOC) Continental Representative Joseph Chilengi.
In an exclusive interview in Lusaka yesterday, Mr. Chilengi said the AU-ECOSOC welcomed Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland’s initiative to bring the two leaders to the dialogue table but she used a wrong process.
Mr. Chilengi said as Commonwealth Secretary-General, Ms. Scotland is a civil servant who should not have appointed former Nigerian External Affairs minister Professor Ibrahim Agboola Gambari as a special envoy for the proposed talks.
He said the Commonwealth Heads of State and Government, as the highest policy-making body in the organisation, did not meet to propose dialogue between President Lungu and Mr. Hichilema over their perceived differences.
“The Secretary-General (Ms. Scotland) is a civil servant of the Commonwealth and reports to the highest policy-making body – the Heads of State and Government – which includes President Lungu. Therefore, being their servant, it is inappropriate and diplomatically flawed – in terms of peace building processes – that you can have a secretary-general appointing a special envoy to go and mediate in the process involving a sitting Head of State.
“We know and appreciate President Lungu’s humility to receive Professor Gambari. But honestly, in other countries no one would have accepted that. The people of Zambia deserve more respect, their institutions of governance should be respected, and they need to be given the right to exercise their sovereignty within constitutional norms and democratic process. Therefore, we wish to call upon the Commonwealth to revisit the structure established around their intervention in Zambia.
“Not that we are against the process, but our view is that it is not necessary. This is because as Africa we are aware that there are business interests at play and we hope and pray that there are no multinationals behind this.”
Mr. Chilengi said he has respect for Prof. Gambari but even the latter himself understood that the dialogue process he had been tasked to oversee is irregular.
“He has been picked against a tall order, which in itself will not produce results. There is a sitting Head of State recognised by the Commonwealth and the Commonwealth cannot send someone lower than a sitting or former Head of State.
