An International Development Expert, Dr. Simon Manda, has placed the revelations of the Financial Intelligence Centre squarely in the court of President Hichilema and the UPND. The Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) has published its 10th Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing Trends Report for 2024, and the findings are damning: over USD 3.5 billion in suspected illicit financial flows (IFFs) passed through Zambia’s economy during the year. Speaking to Paulse News, Dr. Manda argues that the report confirms what many Zambians already feared—that economic sabotage is thriving under the nose of a government that once promised to root it out.
The report points fingers squarely at multinational corporations and private commercial actors as the primary drivers of these IFFs. Of the 1,203 individuals and entities flagged, 401 were corporate entities—many of them recently registered shell companies with no visible commercial activity. Even more alarming is the revelation that foreign nationals dominated the list of natural persons involved, using either their own accounts or Zambians recruited as middlemen and agents.
The FIC notes: “Most of the corporates identified were recently incorporated and did not appear to have any commercial activity to warrant the volume of transactions on their accounts.” These are not isolated oversights—they are red flags for a system that is either asleep or complicit.
This isn’t the first time Zambia has faced such revelations, argues Dr. Manda. What’s different now is that we have a government—the UPND—elected on the promise of restoring transparency, cleaning up corruption, and protecting public resources. After nearly four years in power, President Hakainde Hichilema and his administration can no longer blame their predecessors. The numbers speak for themselves: the rot is ongoing, and the silence from those in charge is deafening.
The question every Zambian should ask is: Where is the accountability? How is it that under a so-called reformist government, USD 3.5 billion can move suspiciously through our financial system without swift arrests, prosecutions, or resignations? Is the UPND merely watching from the sidelines while the same elite networks continue to bleed the nation? It is his opinion that with the 2026 elections looming, Zambians deserve more than recycled promises. They need leadership with the political will to dismantle these criminal networks—not just talk about it at press conferences. The FIC has done its job by sounding the alarm. It’s now up to citizens to demand action—and consequences.
