British High Commissioner calls Zambia a ‘beacon of democracy’

Speaking to ZNBC on Sunday, the British High Commissioner to Zambia, Nicholas Woolley, has praised the country's democracy for both its strength and durability.

After long negotiations surrounding the country’s debt restructuring, Woolley points out that the progression in asset recovery can be seen as an ‘impressive’ indication that the government is taking clear steps towards providing essential debt relief. The durability and strength of Zambia’s democracy which Woolley underlines goes hand-in-hand with supporting the country’s economic efforts.

Woolley says, “I’ve been here almost five years now, including during a change of elections, just looking at Zambia over the last 30, 35 years, there’s no doubt it is a beacon of democracy”.  

Writing later on X (formerly Twitter), Woolley pointed to Zambia’s peaceful transitions of power between four ruling parties and characterised the country as a ‘thriving democracy [is]…where decisions impacting political participation are equitable, consistent, and grounded in clear reasoning”.  

He added that Zambia’s civic space ‘has not shrunk’, contrary to any concerns about limited civic engagement. This reinforces a recent report by the NGO Civicus which praised “the positive political will of the new administration [which] has provided a favourable environment for advancing Civic Space in Zambia”.

Addressing the issue of corruption specifically, Woolley told ZNBC, “no one in this world is immune to the scourge of corruption” but he praised the “impressive” progress being made by the New Dawn government.