Ambassador Mbita Chitala has been sacked for his piece in the Tripoli Post titled The Federal Union of African States Must be Established Now. The official line of why he has been sacked, as articulated by President's Chief Press and Public Relations adviser:
"In the course of that article, Mr Chitala advocates ....policies which are contrary to those of Government and attacks the majority of African leaders for not adopting such policies and establishing a union government....[Mbita Chitala] argued that it was a lame excuse as some of them have arguments that they have to consult their people and there is need to integrate the regional economic communities....This article has caused untold embarrassment to His Excellency the President and the Government of Zambia and a Foreign minister of a country whose leader was described in very unkind words has intimated that he will send a note of protest to the Zambian Government"In truth, Mbita Chitala really should have been sacked for his poor understanding of African issues. The central argument of his essay is that political integration should come before economic integration, but he fails to point out any historical precedent when political union, on the scale proposed, has worked without prior economic convergence.
