By REBECCA MUSHOTA –
PRESIDENT Edgar Lungu has said that he is disappointed that veteran politician and diplomat Vernon Mwaanga has been reported spreading falsehoods to Southern African leaders that Zambia’s democracy is declining under the current administration.
Mr Lungu said he was disappointed to hear that Dr Mwaanga had allegedly visited parts of Southern Africa and met leaders to give them a misleading picture of what was happening in Zambia.

President Edgar Chagwa Lungu (left) congratulates  Zambia’s High Commissioner to Malawi Dr John Phiri (right) during the swearing in ceremony at State House in Lusaka yesterday. Picture By SALIM HENRY/STATE HOUSE

He challenged Dr Mwaanga to go to State House and express himself to the President on what his concerns were.
The President said this yesterday at State House at a swearing-in-ceremony for three heads of foreign missions.
Those sworn in were John Phiri as High Commissioner to Malawi, Lazarus Kapambwe, Permanent Representative to the United Nations and Friday Nyambe, Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo.
“If he is man enough, he should come we meet and discuss to see where we have gone wrong exactly,” Mr Lungu said.
He said he wondered whether the things Dr Mwaanga was saying were things he genuinely believed were true or it was merely a way of earning a living.
Zambia was a flourishing democracy and the rule of law was in force just as the citizenry wanted it to be.
The President said it was therefore important for the missions abroad to work harder in order to effectively correct information and clarify all misunderstandings with their host countries.
“And in all this, what are the mission staff abroad doing, why are they allowing peddlers of falsehoods to dominate information in these countries?” Mr Lungu asked.
He said he expected the best from heads of foreign missions saying that he was confident Dr Phiri, Mr Kapambwe and Mr Nyambe would do their work well as they were accomplished in the previous Mr Lungu said those working in foreign missions should watch their actions both in private and public because they were the face of Zambia abroad.
Meanwhile, Dr Mwaanga said that he was invited to State House yesterday to meet President Lungu over his alleged remarks to leaders in Southern Africa over the country’s state of affairs.
He said that he wished the President would have engaged him earlier in order to get his full side of the story.
“I respect the confidentiality of our discussion with the Head of State based on my long years of dealing with matters of statecraft, and will not divulge what we discussed, but suffice to say that he gave me a fair opportunity to state my position, after he had stated his,” Dr Mwaanga said in a statement.
Dr Mwaanga said he was honoured that he was given an opportunity yesterday to talk to the President in a respectful manner.