BobbyM

I can’t stop laughing. Elon is a blast to watch. Brilliant and funny.

@FT His family reliance may be a symbolic suspicion of official gatekeepers & institutional experts, esp in light of POTUS being fed unverified information or the persistent & escalatory intelligence leaks, making him feel, they're trying to make him look incompetent on global stage.

Opinion: There are grounds to suspect that Donald Trump is thinking of something bigger than self-adulation. The best way to perpetuate your name is to arrange for a successor with the same name, writes Edward Luce. ft.trib.al/mlPGoTD

She literally explains why sometimes you have to let people think you’re a fool.

@daddyhope Former President Fredrick Chiluba on the West's attitude towards African leaders...

The outgoing American ambassador to Zambia, Michael C. Gonzales, has accused President Hakainde Hichilema’s government of corruption and dishonesty, stating that Hichilema’s fight against corruption is bogus and is selectively used to arrest and persecute political opponents. He made these remarks while delivering his farewell speech. He said Zambia loses over US$4 billion annually through illicit or dirty financial flows, money leaving the country and not benefiting the Zambian people. Full speech below Remarks by Amb. Michael Gonzales Farewell Reception – April 30, 2026 Good evening. For decades, the U.S. relationship with Zambia was one centered around aid. The United States has provided billions of dollars of assistance to Zambia, helping the country reach HIV epidemic control, contributing to a 20-year increase in life expectancy, slashing malaria deaths, and truly impacting the lives of every Zambian alive today. When we paused funding to review our assistance programs last year, so much of Zambia’s health system began to crumble almost overnight. Despite over $7 billion in U.S. health assistance since 2000 and the hard work of many Zambians alongside us, that crumbling system revealed that while we thought we were building capacity, successive Zambian governments had not built systems. Too often, Zambian officials and leaders abdicated their responsibilities, letting the United States pay for healthcare while officials diverted government funds to their own pockets. Last year I shed tears before the world when I announced a $50 million cut in US health assistance. After years of pleading, I could no longer stand by while the Zambian government refused to stop or take action to hold people accountable for the systematic and nationwide theft of U.S. provided medicines while the Zambian citizens for whom those were intended went without. One year later, not a single notable person has been arrested since last February. Not a single notable prosecution has even begun. After last year’s pause, we resumed almost all of our health assistance, over $400 million including over $75 million in medication. We continue to pay the salaries for over 23,000 healthcare workers, as we have for decades. Such is the legacy of America’s support to the Zambian people. Now, I know there have been alarmist allegations recently. But let me be clear, any suggestion that the United States would withhold critical life-saving healthcare support from those Zambians whose lives and health depend on it unless we get critical minerals is disgusting and patently false! In reality, since October, my government has offered over $2 billion in additional health and economic assistance to Zambia. But we can no longer accept empty promises. The future must look different. The Zambian government must also increase Zambian funding, staffing, and genuine ownership of its systems. This is not to impose our will, it is the only way we know for Zambia to truly own a sustainable healthcare system and to enable robust growth. It is the only way we know to ensure that system serves the people while finally breaking the cycle of foreign aid dependency. Since January, however, like with so many of our other overtures to the Zambian government, we have had effectively zero substantive engagement from Zambian officials to move these efforts forward. Our calls go ignored, questions unanswered, meetings cancelled, leaving us without even opportunities to speak, much less engage in substantive deliberations. Instead of continuing to languish without engagement, the actual funding under our Health MOU should have started this month. Instead, we have reached April 30 still cobbling together funds for mismatched projects without an implementation plan to guide us forward under Zambian leadership, much less a finalized MOU that guides our strategic approach. We know that the Zambian budget cannot even afford to pay for public services today, not to mention the increased healthcare funding or the myriad other huge budget commitments that seem to get pledged daily. So, something has to change if Zambia will ever meet its full potential or be able to sustainably provide services to its own people. At the same time, the Zambian government’s own reports reveal that every year Zambia loses over $4 billion in dirty money flows to East Asia. That is Zambian money that does not benefit the Zambian people or contribute to the budget. If taxed, that would bring an additional $1 billion for the government to fund healthcare, education, social services, and development. Every year, hundreds of millions of dollars of government funds are lost to the Zambian people through corruption. Certainly, it is not just U.S. taxpayers’ support that is stolen. Every year, the country loses out on hundreds of millions of dollars in new investment and growth because they are hijacked by unmitigated petty corruption, blocked because law-abiding investors refuse to pay kickbacks to Zambian bureaucrats or leaders who are never held accountable. The narrative of the U.S.-Zambia relationship is adorned with flowery words of “partnership,” “collaboration,” “strategic,” or “mutual.” Regrettably, the reality of our unrequited relationship for decades has been starkly different. For years, the United States funded programs and sent technical advisors to help achieve Zambia’s development objectives. As we have for these past four months, we have often struggled to get successive governments to even bother answering the phone. It takes months to get a meeting that yields nothing. Officials draft policies they have no intention of implementing, invoking them only in speeches to sound like they are taking action. MOUs decay on the shelf among the others before the signing ceremony even ends, never to be implemented because the ministry will not even meet to discuss implementation. Why? Because generations of Zambian officials and leaders gain from the dysfunction. The non-responsiveness on our availed funding and efforts to truly build a Zambian-owned health system that serves the Zambian people is sadly the norm. The theatre of commissioning a report to get a scandal out of the news cycle but taking no substantive action on accountability is all too common. Of course, the systematic theft of public resources is not unique to American-provided medicines. Attacking the messenger who dares to name these dynamics out loud is not limited to targeting the U.S. ambassador and asking Washington for his removal. Today, 10% of my diplomats have family members who still have not received basic residency permits from the Zambian government. Several have received court summonses as a result. Like Zambians themselves experience, ZRA staff shake down my departing diplomats for fees that do not apply to them too. When elevated, their supervisors double down on the demand. Zambia’s institutionalised and refined corruption does not only dissuade transparent and law-abiding investors from the United States. The inaction, corruption, and intimidation of opponents also harms American citizens, it undermines American organisations, NGOs, companies, and philanthropies. Zambians and so many other global friends of Zambia are also hampered by these very same dynamics, often bearing far more of the brunt of their effects. America’s support to Zambia is long-standing. Our goodwill runs through the veins, the hearts, and the dreams of millions of Zambians. Our hands remain open, outstretched in a genuine, transparent offer of true, tangible, and meaningful collaboration for mutual benefit. But there must be change. Going forward, the benefits of our relationship must be mutual. Empty promises must be replaced with tangible action. Commitments must be honoured, laws must be implemented and enforced consistently and equally. The decades of paying for healthcare while national resources are pocketed must give way to ownership and systematic improvements that enable growth, development, and accountability. Since President Hichilema and I committed to reset the U.S.-Zambia relationship last July, America has redoubled our efforts to support robust Zambian agency. We have availed billions of dollars to support tangible investments and reforms to catalyse Zambia’s success. We have offered expert support to inform reforms that would systematically benefit both the Zambian people and their many friends from around the world, without bias or favour. Sadly, so many of our overtures and goodwill have been met with, to use the most persistent and notorious of the Zambian government’s responses, “Noted. With thanks.” But appointing a Director General of the Anti-Corruption Commission who was actively under investigation by the ACC, and her admonishment to her intentionally under-resourced agency not to investigate senior government officials, only cripples hopes that clean business can be done. Last May, multiple senior government officials shared with me and have confirmed that the government has a 500-page expert report detailing the irreversible harm and risk of generations of birth defects, cancers, heart and liver disease caused by carcinogenic heavy metals unleashed into the Kafue River ecosystem by last year’s Sino Metals tailings dam disaster. But my heart broke when on July 29 last year, one of the country’s senior-most leaders vehemently denied that the government even had the report, much less would act on it until the polluter themselves provided it. I pleaded with her to take action to protect the Zambian people and I again offered U.S. assistance, which the Foreign Ministry had already formally declined. While so many American prospective investors leave, put off by bureaucratic drudgery, inaction, and corruption, the Zambian government recently approved Sino Metals to expand its operations. Did this happen in the face of Zambia’s myriad impediments, or because of them? Today, Sino Metals is scarring game management areas abutting the Kafue National Park. When that tailings dam breaks, I will not be alone shedding tears. Punctuating this, apart from the truly exceptional cases, too many American companies cannot get licences, approvals, or action on basic administrative matters without being shaken down to give brown envelopes of cash. The Zambian people suffer the consequences of these dual offences, exploitation and foregone opportunity. When Parliament ignores the Constitutional Court’s ruling that the process used to ram through a constitutional amendment was itself unconstitutional, investors rightly ask, “If they can do that to the constitution, what does that mean for the sanctity of my contract?” They rightly wonder if the next constitutional amendment which the Attorney General has already announced is really just a guise for resetting term limits. Even the Chinese government convicted AVIC’s Chairman to death for corruption. AVIC’s Chingola-Chililabombwe Road was washed out last month, its negligence disrupting Zambia’s trade with the region. AVIC’s fraud in a $320 million police housing tender in 2014 is well documented. Despite that, this government ignored the competitive bid by renowned Zambian investors only to award AVIC the $650 million Lusaka-Ndola Dual Carriageway project, subsidising this notoriously fraudulent and corrupt company with $300 million from the public pension scheme. How does this happen? Can law-abiding investors do clean business here? Will donors be asked to backfill the loss when the pension money too is wiped out? The rhetoric of “no sacred cows” is rubbish when there are not any cows except those who are deemed to be disloyal. When only opponents are arrested, but not those in office engaged in the very same practices, the hollow rhetoric of “rule of law” only further keeps investors away, preventing the creation of growth, jobs, and tax revenues to pay for public service commitments. Zambia does not need money. It needs leaders who govern for the people with integrity. It needs the political will to put Zambia first. But, of course, you do not need me to say this. Dambisa Moyo, herself a daughter of the soil, made these same arguments 17 years ago. What America is trying to do here is both bolster Zambia’s sovereignty and catalyse Zambia’s growth. We are offering a transparent and open hand to join the Zambian people for mutual progress. We know that while you pursue a Zambia First agenda and we pursue America First, we are still able together to achieve something notably better for both of our countries, and we can do so without it coming at anyone’s expense, anyone’s exclusion, fully transparently, and legally. Now, of course, the United States will absolutely continue to honour our long-standing commitment to the Zambian people to provide critical life-saving healthcare support. We will not leave Zambians without access to ARVs. We are redoubling our support to ensure that babies are not born HIV-positive. But, against the unmitigated systematic theft of U.S. assistance, against the refusal by the Zambian government to engage and to own or enable a sustainable healthcare system that serves the people, in an environment where only the most exceptional of American investors can do clean business, and where Zambian government officials often can scarcely be bothered to take meetings with American officials or companies, not to mention capture the billion dollars of its own money secreted out of the country to East Asia or hold accountable the company that unleashes generations of cancer and birth defects onto the people, without fundamental change, as the American Ambassador to the Republic of Zambia, how can I ask American taxpayers, Congress, or President Trump to continue the massive aid budgets that have been the hallmark of our relationship for decades? The United States remains intent to work with Zambia toward our mutual objectives, but how Washington responds to silence, inaction, aversion to accountability, and lack of ownership remains to be seen. That said, I am confident that it will depend on fundamental changes by the Zambian government to take action to do right by the Zambian people. It will depend on actions to foster and enable the Zambian people, and their partners who abide by the rule of law, to be able to tangibly contribute to a mutually beneficial future. Washington’s hand remains open and outreached for transparent, accountable collaboration enabling tangible action to benefit both of our countries. But we can no longer own the projects more than the Zambian government. We cannot justify continuing to prioritise funding where the Zambian government also does not deploy its own resources. No longer will we lead while Zambian officials sit back unresponsively. Quite simply, America can best support Zambia’s sovereignty, agency, and success if we finally abide by the maxim and refrain from wanting development more than the Zambian government does. That said, what happens between governments and embassies is important, but it is only a small fraction of the broader relationship between countries. The ties between Zambia and America are profound, strong, and everlasting. The connections between churches and civil society, the linkages between students, artists, and researchers, the bonds between communities, the union of our peoples, these are the essence of the U.S.-Zambia relationship, and these will never fade. Too often people hope for change. They note what others should do. But hope is not a strategy, and we cannot control the actions of others, only our own. So, as I prepare to leave this country that I love, I ask those of you whose country it is, is this the Zambia you want? Are you on course to achieve it? If not, what action will you take to contribute to making that become a reality? I first stepped foot in Zambia in 1995. My daughter took her first steps in Livingstone. As I prepare to depart, I take with me beautiful memories of Zambia and the Zambian people, but I depart with a heavy heart wondering if realisation of the Zambian dream will be deferred for yet another 64 years while even more Zambians fall into poverty instead of being able to rise into the brilliant future that is possible. But my role here is not about this little guy with a big heart for Africa. It is about America and Zambia. America will continue reaching out to the people of Zambia, offering our support, seeking as much to learn as to share, doing so openly and transparently, and eager to help enable the realisation of that Zambian dream and the creative future that benefits, and can only be discovered through, our sincere partnership. I thank you.

@TheFigen_ Sometimes, you just need to blow your own trumpet.

😂😂

@Sophie_Mokoena @emwamba26 Treat claims by sources with a record of spreading inaccurate information as unreliable & with caution, as this indicates potential future unreliability. While some share false info mistakenly, others do so 'knowingly', to cause harm, influence public opinion, or stir up hatred.

Former Zambian High Commissioner to South Africa ⁦@emwamba26⁩ has written a letter to President Cyril Ramaphosa asking for his intervention on the issue of the remains of the former Zambian president Edgar Lungu. #sabcnews

@mats56455 @HHichilema When govts make concessions to unreasonable/vindictive demands, it establishes a precedent where subsequent & more extreme demands will be made. Govts that appear easily manipulated, lose credibility & trust, as citizens feel national interest is ignored in favor of a select few.

Dear Zambians To President @HHichilema Thru Attorney General, Mulilo Kabesha Why can’t you let this matter go? Allow the family to do what they want. Don’t embarrass us Africans with unnecessary and sensational headlines. You never supported this man when he was alive. You prevented him from seeking medical treatment outside Zambia, and you stripped him of his retirement benefits. Now, at least, allow him to be buried away from the very officials who made his life difficult while he was alive. In Zimbabwe, former President Mugabe was buried at his rural home, not at the Heroes’ Acre that he built to honor those who fought against Ian Smith’s regime. Please, just let this go. Ten months is far too long. This is not right for an African spirit, which, according to our beliefs, should be laid to rest in peace. What more do you want from the body of Edgar Lungu? Dr.David Nyekorach -Matsanga Pan African Forum Ltd&Associates London United Kingdom 🇬🇧🇬🇧 26.04.2026 Copy : President @edmnangagwa @CyrilRamaphosa Others @ZambiaMFAIC @zadama24 @Rakgadi_EM @rangamataire @enkudheni @BaShonaBaShona @ZambianObserver @Zambia @_AfricanUnion @MimiNiMwafrika @JuliusMalema9 @Julius_S_Malema @engrICO2015 @BoscoDRabi @sum109

@TrumpDailyPosts The dudes from within, state capture by the military (& digitized -PPM) industrial complex who own the infrastructure, data, satellites etc upon which the US military and economy, is heavily dependent on.

What is the biggest threat to freedom in America?

Jack Ma on the difference between smart and wise people

@SABCNews PF's position regarding the funeral of Zambia's founding father KK, under Lungu's leadership. Never trust those who, for social or political convenience, exempt themselves from the standards they applied to others. The Janus-faced weaves facts with deceit, to weaponize reality.

WATCH | Patriotic Front spokesperson Ambassador Emmanuel Mwamba says they are completely shocked by developments surrounding the remains of former Zambian president Edgar Lungu. This follows a Pretoria High Court decision temporarily halting the Zambian government’s attempt to repatriate his remains.

LUNGU’S BODY WILL BE ELECTION ISSUE – DAVIES dailyrevelationzambia.com/lungus-body-wi…

@Vickyaarya007_ Even Houdini could pull off that one...

If you don't know about magic, Please don't comment 😂

@Mwebantu A rushed autopsy without independent, third-party regional witnesses, like a SADC official for accountability, transparency, & impartiality, is a recipe for eroding confidence in the reliability of findings, especially in a case that is already highly contentious as this.

Postmortem conducted on ECL's body, as family protests. - mwebantu.com/?p=66142

@mats56455 @HHichilema KK the founding father of Zambia also left instructions for his burial. He died under Lungu's leadership. Shouldn't ECL also not be subjected to the same standards, laws & traditions as the five heads who went before him, the same protocols, he himself upheld with KK's funeral.

OPEN LETTER Dear President Hakainde Hichilema,@HHichilema Brotherly greetings. Appeal for dignified resolution regarding the burial of late President Edgar Lungu I write to you as an African elder who has witnessed and experienced similar circumstances in my own country. Zambia has long been a home to many of us across the continent. Our former President, Dr. Milton Obote, whom we served and with whom we went into exile after the military overthrow in 1985, lived in Zambia until his passing. For that, I remain deeply indebted to Zambia for the compassion and dignity it extended to him until his final days. It is in this spirit that I express concern over the current court disputes surrounding the final resting place of the late President Edgar Lungu. The situation is deeply unfortunate and, in many ways, un-African. As an elder on this continent, I feel compelled to offer respectful counsel. The continued legal battles over a deceased leader risk undermining the dignity that should accompany his passing. If indeed the late President left clear wishes regarding his burial, I humbly urge that these be respected. The family, as next of kin, should be allowed to proceed in accordance with those wishes. I encourage your government to honour him in absentia if necessary, allowing history to reflect that the family exercised their rightful role, rather than suggesting any unwillingness on your part. Africa faces many pressing challenges, and it is disheartening for our people to witness prolonged disputes over matters that should unite us in respect and solemnity. I also respectfully suggest that senior statesmen on the continent—particularly President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa of Zimbabwe—may offer guidance and help facilitate an amicable and dignified resolution. Thank you for your attention. Yours sincerely, Dr. David Nyekorach-Matsanga Pan African Forum Ltd & Associates africastrategy@hotmail.com London, United Kingdom 24 April 2026 copy :@edmnangagwa @KagutaMuseveni @CyrilRamaphosa @SuluhuSamia @PaulKagame @Sophie_Mokoena @MimiNiMwafrika @engrICO2015 @kimheller3 @enkudheni @BaShonaBaShona

@daddyhope Japan -global leader in R&D & high-tech manufacturing. Germany -Europe's industrial powerhouse, esp. in mechanical engineering & automotive sector. Korea -global titan in mobile technology & high-speed internet. China -global manufacturing leader & rapidly growing digital economy

This is Kenyan President William Ruto boasting that Kenyans speak better English than Nigerians 🤣🤣🤣 He is confusing accent with diction. When African presidents boast that their citizens speak “better English” than others, they are not demonstrating a strong education system, as Ruto claims, they are showcasing a deep inferiority complex rooted in colonial conditioning. English is a colonial language, not a measure of intelligence, capability, or national progress. You can be fully fluent in a language and still have an accent that is difficult for some listeners to understand, as Nigerians do. Fluency means you have a strong command of vocabulary, grammar, and the ability to express ideas. Accent, on the other hand, relates to pronunciation, rhythm, and intonation, which are shaped by your first language and speech environment, which is what Ruto is confusing with good English. Has he ever had someone from Scotland, Liverpool, or Birmingham speak? Accents are a natural linguistic outcome, not a measure of education. They emerge from the influence of a person’s first language, the sounds and speech patterns they grow up with, and the environment in which they learn and use another language. Every language has its own phonetic structure, and when people speak a second language like English, those underlying patterns shape pronunciation, rhythm, and tone. That is why accents vary across regions and countries. They reflect history, identity, and exposure, not intellectual or educational superiority. I know that there is some kind of tension between Nigeria and Kenya, but such misleading statements undermine the confidence of young people. When they hear a president speak like that about how they speak, it erodes their self-belief, and that is not a good thing to come from a president.

@Mwebantu Maybe we must be asking why these guys are obsessed with funerals. They buried two former heads of states, & on both occasions they prevented HH, then in the opposition to attend. Even now as head of State, & protocol dictates he preside, they still at it. What a suspicious lot.

Twists and turns in ECL burial impasse continue. - mwebantu.com/?p=66104

@FT There was a time when Japanese goods were common globally, Japan was always accused by the US for this or that. As India advances, first it will be turned into a friend, praised, compared with how its better than China, but when it advances more, it will become the Wests enemy.

FT Exclusive: A Trump administration official says Chinese entities are stealing from American AI labs. ft.trib.al/YC428xg

@broccoliboygreg Obama's doppelgänger, a glitch in the matrix or reality.

Not as identical as these two

@mats56455 @LarryMadowo @SuluhuSamia @jmkikwete @MIRT_NAMIBIA @MaliMaeci

REPLYING LARRY MADOWO OF CNN 1. What harms many Africans, like @LarryMadowo, in this case,is not just material poverty, but a poverty of perspective. It’s surprising to see claims that Africans broadly support Trump. 2. In reality, many across the continent viewed some leaders like Bill Clinton and George W. Bush more favorably, given the impactful programs their administrations implemented for Africa. 3. During their time, Africa felt more engaged and respected on the global stage. By contrast, @DonaldTrump called us “shithole countries” remark caused widespread offense and significantly shaped perceptions. 4. Yet some people like @LarryMadowo still insist Africans are happy with that kind of leadership of Trump . 5. The truth is, African opinions are diverse—but respect, genuine partnership, and meaningful policy have always mattered far more than rhetoric. 6. So @LarryMadowo find a wife to marry and add children to Africa.We the older generation that you insult and refer to in your daily rants have many seeds grown in Africa and global world YOU ARE AN EMPTY SHELL IN AFRICAN CULTURE Retweet to reach - @TruthTrumpPost @Sophie_Mokoena @MimiNiMwafrika @enkudheni @BaShonaBaShona @UgandaMediaCent @Rakgadi_EM @ikulumawasliano @IndexTanzania @AbroadTanzania @bunge_tz @OfwonoOpondo @RuhakanaR @AOcwet @Plumedia1

@ali_naka @PancrasMalani Distinguish "status & benefits". A person remains a former head of state regardless of their political activity. This is what justifies a state funeral. However, benefits "are conditional to retirement from active politics", so that tax payers don't fund political party leaders.

@PancrasMalani Same Lungu who was stripped of all the benefits as a former President? Moronic

Why does he want Lungu’s body so desperately?