Tonse-Pamodzi raises conflict-of-interest concerns over AU-COMESA election mission chief

Tonse-Pamodzi raises conflict-of-interest concerns over AU-COMESA election mission chief The Tonse-Pamodzi Alliance has asked the head of the joint African Union and COMESA Election Observation Mission, former Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Dessalegn Boshe, to disclose…

Tonse-Pamodzi raises conflict-of-interest concerns over AU-COMESA election mission chief

The Tonse-Pamodzi Alliance has asked the head of the joint African Union and COMESA Election Observation Mission, former Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Dessalegn Boshe, to disclose his association with the Brenthurst Foundation and recuse himself from leading the mission’s assessment of Zambia’s August 13 general elections.

The request comes after the opposition alliance raised concerns that Dessalegn’s membership of the Brenthurst Foundation’s Advisory Board could create an appearance of a conflict of interest because of the Foundation’s reported historical relationship with President Hakainde Hichilema.

Publicly available biographical information identifies Dessalegn, who served as Ethiopian Prime Minister from 2012 to 2018 and chaired the African Union from 2013 to 2014, as an Advisory Board member of the Brenthurst Foundation. (African Parks)

The AU and COMESA have deployed 93 observers across Zambia’s 10 provinces for the August 13 elections, with Dessalegn heading the mission and Ambassador Marie-Pierre Lloyd serving as Deputy Head of Mission. The observers have been drawn from 29 African countries and include representatives of election management bodies, civil society organisations and specialists in human rights, gender and media. (ZNBC)

The Alliance’s concerns have also drawn attention to President Hichilema’s previous interactions with senior figures associated with the Brenthurst Foundation. In July 2022, Hichilema conferred the Order of the Eagle of Zambia, First Division, on former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and former Sierra Leone President Ernest Bai Koroma.

The Brenthurst Foundation itself reported at the time that the three former presidents were members of its board and that, following the investiture ceremony in Lusaka, they were due to attend the Foundation’s annual board meeting in Livingstone. Its current profiles identify Johnson Sirleaf and Koroma as members of its Advisory Board. (The Brenthurst Foundation)

The Foundation’s own account said the awards recognised the former presidents’ lifetime work supporting democracy in Africa. Koroma had also headed the African Union Election Observation Mission during Zambia’s 2021 election, which resulted in the transfer of power from former President Edgar Lungu to Hichilema. (The Brenthurst Foundation)

The latest concerns follow a July 2026 investigation by Global Witness which reported allegations of a longstanding relationship between the Brenthurst Foundation and Hichilema dating to his years in opposition. The investigation also reported that Greg Mills, the Foundation’s founding director, was involved in Hichilema’s 2026 election campaign in a personal capacity. Those assertions form part of the basis cited by Tonse-Pamodzi in its demand for disclosure and recusal. (allAfrica.com)

In a letter dated August 12, 2026, signed by Ambassador Emmanuel Mwamba on behalf of the Tonse-Pamodzi Alliance/NRPUP, the opposition grouping said it was not questioning Dessalegn’s personal integrity but was concerned about the perception of impartiality surrounding the leadership of the observation mission.

The Alliance has asked Dessalegn to publicly disclose his Brenthurst Foundation association and any other relationships relevant to the perception of impartiality. It has further requested that he recuse himself from chairing, directing and publicly pronouncing the mission’s assessment, with those responsibilities transferred to Ambassador Lloyd.

It has also asked the AU-COMESA mission to disclose the conflict-of-interest screening applied to its leadership and observers and requested a response before polling begins.

The concerns and requested recusal are allegations and demands made by the Tonse-Pamodzi Alliance; the documented membership of the Brenthurst Foundation’s Advisory Board does not by itself establish that Dessalegn is biased in carrying out his election-observation responsibilities.

FULL STATEMENT

Below is the full letter issued by the Tonse-Pamodzi Alliance which triggered the concerns over the leadership of the AU-COMESA Election Observation Mission:

12 August 2026

H.E. Hailemariam Dessalegn Boshe
Head of Mission, AU–COMESA Election Observation Mission to Zambia
Lusaka, Republic of Zambia

H.E. Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, Chairperson, African Union Commission, Addis Ababa
The Secretary General, Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, Lusaka

Your Excellencies,

RE: REQUEST FOR DISCLOSURE AND RECUSAL — APPEARANCE OF A CONFLICT OF INTEREST IN THE LEADERSHIP OF THE AU–COMESA ELECTION OBSERVATION MISSION TO THE 13 AUGUST 2026 GENERAL ELECTIONS

We write on behalf of the Tonse-Pamodzi Alliance and its presidential candidate, Hon. Brian Mundubile, first to welcome the deployment of the AU–COMESA Election Observation Mission and to affirm our full respect for the African Union, COMESA, and the ninety-three observers drawn from twenty-nine African nations now deployed across all ten provinces of our Republic. Zambia’s democratic tradition has long been strengthened by continental observation, and we are committed to full cooperation with the Mission.

It is precisely because the Mission’s findings will carry such weight in Zambia and before the world that we are compelled to place on record, before polling commences, a matter that bears directly on the perceived impartiality of the Mission’s leadership.

The public record establishes the following. First, His Excellency Hailemariam Dessalegn Boshe has served since August 2018 as a member of the Advisory Board of the Brenthurst Foundation, an appointment announced by the Foundation itself and reflected on its website and in His Excellency’s public biographies to date. Second, the published record – including a detailed investigative report issued by Global Witness in July 2026 – documents a close and sustained relationship between the Brenthurst Foundation and His Excellency President Hakainde Hichilema, reported to span from approximately 2008 to the present, encompassing policy support and the authorship of economic policy adopted by the present administration. Third, it is publicly reported that the Foundation’s founding director, Dr Greg Mills, is presently serving as a leading figure in President Hichilema’s 2026 re-election campaign in a personal capacity.

We wish to be unambiguous: we do not impugn the personal integrity of His Excellency Hailemariam Dessalegn Boshe, whose service to Ethiopia and to this continent commands respect. Our concern rests on the settled principle reflected in the Declaration of Principles for International Election Observation (2005), the OAU/AU Declaration on the Principles Governing Democratic Elections in Africa, and the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance, the very instruments the Mission has cited as the basis of its assessment that election observation must not only be impartial but be seen to be impartial, and that observers should be free of any association that may give rise to a reasonable apprehension of bias.

A Head of Mission who has served for years on the advisory board of an institution so closely identified with one contesting candidate – an institution whose founding director presently directs that candidate’s campaign – presents, at minimum, such an apprehension. Left unaddressed, it would place an unnecessary question mark over whatever findings the Mission announces on 15 August, to the detriment of the Mission, the African Union, COMESA, and the Zambian people, whichever way the electorate decides.

We therefore respectfully request:

1. That His Excellency the Head of Mission publicly disclose his Advisory Board association with the Brenthurst Foundation, and any related associations material to the perception of impartiality;
2. That, in keeping with best practice, His Excellency recuse himself from the chairing, direction, and public pronouncement of the Mission’s assessment, and that these functions pass to the Deputy Head of Mission, Ambassador Marie-Pierre Lloyd of the COMESA Committee of Elders, in whom we repose full confidence;
3. That the Mission confirm, for the public record, the conflict-of-interest screening applied to its leadership and observers, in accordance with the Declaration of Principles; and
4. That, given polling commences within twenty-four hours, this request be acknowledged and addressed before the close of business today.

We reiterate our respect for the Mission and our full cooperation with its ninety-three observers. Nothing in this letter seeks to diminish the Mission’s work; on the contrary, it seeks to place its eventual findings beyond reproach. An election verdict, like a judicial one, draws its force from the undisputed impartiality of the hand that delivers it.

Please accept, Your Excellencies, the assurances of our highest consideration.

___________
Ambasador Emmanuel Mwamba
For and on behalf of the Tonse-Pamodzi Alliance / NRPUP

cc:
Ambassador Marie-Pierre Lloyd, Deputy Head of Mission, AU–COMESA EOM
The Chairperson, Electoral Commission of Zambia
Head of the European Union Election Observation Mission to Zambia
Heads of other accredited international observation missions
Dean of the Diplomatic Corps, Lusaka

Annexes:
A. Brenthurst Foundation announcement of Advisory Board appointments, August 2018
B. Brenthurst Foundation website, “Our People” — Advisory Board listing (print-out, dated)
C. Global Witness, “How a Canadian Mining Giant Infiltrated Zambia’s Democracy”, July 2026 (relevant extracts)
D. AU–COMESA EOM Arrival Statement, August 2026