LUSAKA, Sept. 26 (Xinhua) -- Zambia's ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy has advised diplomats accredited to the southern African country to use proper channels to air their grievances, instead of attacking the government through the media, local newspaper the Zambia Daily Mail reported on Saturday.

The governing party's chief whip in parliament Vernon Mwaanga said that "the tutorial being given in the media" by some diplomats were a "breach of diplomatic etiquette".

Mwaanga made the remarks in parliament when contributing to the motion of thanks to Zambian President Rupiah Banda's speech during the official opening of the fourth session of the country's 10th National Assembly.

"It was not proper for diplomats accredited to Zambia" to be attacking the government and decisions made by the parliament or the courts of law, he said.

"Even if we are a poor country, Zambia is a sovereign state and its sovereignty must be respected. There are established channels which our colleagues can use to give advice. This can be done through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, that's the way diplomacy should be conducted," Mwaanga was quoted as saying by the paper.

One of the country's privately owned daily newspaper has quoted various diplomats as condemning the Zambian government, especially on the corruption fight following a court's acquittal of former president Fredrick Chiluba, who was facing a charge of stealing state funds amounting to 500,000 U.S. dollars.