America First, Zambia Agreement?’
…$3.6 Billion Health Pact Raises Eyebrows on cards
‘America First, Zambia Agreement?’
…$3.6 Billion Health Pact Raises Eyebrows on cards
Thursday Reflection| Lusaka, 8 October 2026
Staff Reporter
The United States has inked what it proudly calls the “America First Health Agreement” with Zambia, a five year health financing deal worth $3.6 billion.
At the ceremony, Deputy Head of Mission Cocker signed on behalf of Washington, while Health Minister Roma Chilengi, a nominated legislator, and Justice Minister Mulambo Haimbe SC, also nominated, put pen to paper for Lusaka.
Finance Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane looked on, flanked by top government officials.
The math is curious: Uncle Sam pledges $1.5 billion, Zambia coughs up the balance under circumstances no one seems eager to explain.
Chilengi says the pact will fight malaria, AIDS, and other infectious diseases while creating 40,000 jobs, 25,000 of them in the medical doctors.
A noble promise, though transparency remains elusive.
This sudden embrace marks a thaw in relations after former U.S. Ambassador Michael Gonzales scrapped aid last year, weeping at a press conference as he denounced graft in Zambia’s health sector.
He accused officials of stealing medicines, hiding assets, and — in a jaw dropper — buying overpriced maize from Tanzania at $600 per ton using American taxpayer money. Yet today, everything seems forgiven.
Not everyone in Africa is buying the “America First” brand. Ghana’s President John Mahama laughed off the “America First Compaq”, asking: “Who hands over health records to a foreign power?”
Zimbabwe rejected the “America First Health Accord” outright. Kenya, ever obliging, signed amid street protests. Zambia, after feeble resistance, collapsed into Uncle Sam’s arms.
Adding to the irony, Lusaka says it is “not under obligation” to share the deal’s contents with parliament or the public. Democracy, apparently, is on a ‘need to know basis’.
And so, Zambia — Africa’s second largest copper producer — remains among the world’s poorest nations, ranked 123rd by the World Bank and IMF.
A cautionary tale indeed: when you sit on a banquet of minerals yet seek foreign financial assistance, the lender rules, and the borrower claps.
Source: GRZ Presser, Lusaka.
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