LUSAKA: Britain’s outgoing ambassador to Zambia on Tuesday denounced “rampant corruption” in the southern African nation and said donors were right to slash aid. In an usually outspoken diplomatic address, Fergus Cochrane-Dyet said reports of fraud within the government had caused international donors and foreign companies to “withhold aid and investment”.

“Corruption kills as surely as any gun, depriving Zambians of life-saving government resources, water-preserving forest, intentionally renowned wildlife and jobs that foreign companies would otherwise provide,” Cochrane-Dyet said during a leaving speech at his residence in the capital Lusaka. Zambians have grown increasingly disaffected with President Edgar Lungu’s government, which has faced several graft scandals since he came to power in 2015. Evidence of embezzlement has included the alleged state purchase of 42 firetrucks said to cost $1 million (900,000 euros) each. Anti-graft activists also accuse ministers of using public money to fund lavish lifestyles, with some ministers owning up to 40 homes while most Zambians live in poverty. The allegations caused Foreign Minister Harry Kalaba to resign in protest last year, citing “swelling” corruption in government ranks “perpetrated by those who are expected to be the solution”.—AFP