Opinion: The ICC Debate is Misdirected

The debate about whether Zambia should pull out of the International Criminal Court (ICC) is misguided. It seems that people have long been hunting for an issue to pick on over public controversy but could not have picked on something a little too farfetched to be on the public agenda.

Lest we forget President Edgar Lungu was asked a pointed question by journalist on arrival from the African Union Heads of State summit about whether Zambia would pull out of the ICC in solidarity with some other African States that had made that call. All the President did was respond to the question in the manner any sane person could.

He said that he would consult widely if ever such a position was to be taken and that the position by some African countries stemmed from the fact that the prosecutions by the ICC seemed to be targeted at African leaders. Off he went and somewhere someone had been spoiling for a fight and picked on this response alarmingly claiming that President Lungu wants to pull Zambia out of the ICC.

That surely is a product of a dangerously fertile imagination if not an idle mind as no such position was made. So what is really the fuss about the ICC question? In any case does it really matter whether Zambia is part of the ICC or not? What has ever been the benefit of Zambia belonging to the ICC? Or if by any chance President Lungu were to satisfy the egos of his critics by pulling out as they wish so that they bash him what would be the implications?

Why is it so hard to generate debate without twisting or concocting facts as has happened? A more respectable approach to this debate would be raising the bar of debate to such levels as can Zambia afford to pull out of the ICC which subtly is tied to the donor funds that we receive.

There would definitely be reprisals from the west should such a pullout take place. So Zambia has to do an own self introspection of the implications of such an act.

So rather than stand on an anthill to denounce President Lungu for something he did not say the public would do better to interrogate the debate from an objective standpoint.

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