This ongoing scheme to bring down Ms. Colleen Zamba is becoming obvious now. For starters, one just has to check why Ms. Zamba was on the front page of the Weekend Nation with that screaming headline.
To begin with, the headline was so sensational for a story that did not match the headline. For starters, someone who did not have the chance to read the entire story would conclude that Ms. Zamba was in the wrong when, in fact, the entirety of the subject of the story wasn’t her.
The story clearly was about the Minister and how he transacted on the said deal, which, according to NOCMA, did not happen in the first place. But why would the media reduce the woman to a caricature of ridicule?
In a country where fact-checking is not placed as the highest premium, the media has become the jury and has allowed itself to be used by people who, during the tenure of Ms. Zamba, have failed to find their way to the lucrative contracts.
For the record, what is being written is not new, as the SPC has been the victim of a smear campaign from her first day in office, and she has had to endure the assault from all angles.
Ironically, by the passing of time, Ms. Zamba has been vindicated. For example, there was a case of the former EGNCO CEO who was suspended pending investigations on some issues related to the machines. The man used the media to fight Zamba, but when the case went to court, it upheld Zamba’s decision.
There was a protracted case where Hellen Buluma missed no day in attacking Ms. Zamba.
Again, being in a patriarchal society where men would want to exert their masculinity and dominance, there are men who feel uncomfortable and threatened by powerful women like Ms. Zamba, and it shouldn’t be surprising seeing how Ms. Zamba has been tormented.
Here is a qualified woman who goes about doing her work as per her powers derived from the Public Service Act, section 17. Even at that, the media-driven agenda has not even once made an attempt to mention that the said section is her moral guide, making it more and more believable that there lies a collaborative effort somewhere to get her out of the way so that those behind the scheming can install their preferred person who is easy to manipulate.
Sadly, this court of public opinion also doesn’t have time to look into the issues critically and have the facts correct. It is heart-wrenching that in this day of social media, falsehood always wins over the truth.
