Zamba’s unfaltered professionalism makes the cartel uncomfortable

The ongoing scheme to bring down Ms. Colleen Zamba is becoming increasingly obvious. For starters, one only needs to see how rigorous the paid write-ups have consistently been published.

A month hardly passes without reading malicious articles seemingly intended to instigate Zamba’s removal as the Secretary to the President and Cabinet (SPC).

The reason for all these incessant attacks is that Zamba is hard to manipulate and as a technocrat and a seasoned civil servant she has remained true to her core responsibility of protecting the public funds. As the SPC, Zamba has tightened all the loose ends in the public service where the deep seated cartel used to pilfer funds for their own selfish interests.

Over the past year, we have seen numerous stories with sensationalized headlines that failed to match the hype, and at worst, were too good to be true. Anyone who didn’t read the full articles would likely conclude that Ms. Zamba was at fault, when in fact, the stories were entirely false.

Unfortunately, in a country where fact-checking isn’t given the highest premium, the media has assumed the role of a jury, allowing itself to be used by bitter cartels who view Zamba as a thorn in their flesh.

In case people haven’t noticed, the relentless media attacks on Ms. Zamba have been recycling tired and repetitive narratives as part of an ongoing scheme to discredit her and make the claims appear believable. Fortunately, those who are savvy and can interpret the information have grown accustomed to these tactics and now treat these repetitive stories with a pinch of salt.

For the record, what is being written is not new. The SPC has been the target of a smear campaign since day one in office, enduring attacks from all angles.

Here is a qualified woman, simply carrying out her duties as empowered by Section 17 of the Public Service Act. Yet, despite this, the media-driven agenda has never once acknowledged that this section serves as her moral guide. This omission only strengthens the suspicion that there is a coordinated effort to remove her, allowing those behind the scheme to install a more easily manipulated figure.

Sadly, the court of public opinion rarely takes time to critically examine the issues and verify the facts. It’s disheartening that, in this age of social media, falsehoods often triumph over the truth.