By Chinoyi Chipulu and Esther Chisola
Patriots for Economic Progress (PEP) leader Sean Tembo says it is sad that Zambia might face surcharges next year for defaulting on the International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout loan.
And Tembo said life was better under the PF than it is under the UPND, saying the ruling party had failed across the board.
Zambia is among the 22 countries in the world set to be surcharged by the IMF next year for defaulting on their loan repayment, increasing the interest rates to three percent from one percent.
In an interview with Daily Revelation, Tembo said with this default, the country would be surcharged by the IMF, meaning the country would have to pay double its interest rate.
He said Zambia was supposed to pay with an interest rate of one percent but would pay an interest rate of three percent.
“We have noted with regret that Zambia has defaulted the IMF loan that the United Party for National Development UPND government got in 202. And because of that, we are consequently going to be surcharged by IMF by increasing our interest rate from one percent to three percentage,” he said.
He said the government was advised not to engage the IMF by opposition party leaders and other stakeholders but never listened to their concerns.
Tembo also said the increase of the loan payment amount would increase significantly thereby driving the country into further debt.
“Now it should be noted that according to President Hakainde Hichilema’s justification of putting this country on an IMF bailout and contracting an IMF loan, it was a tool to try and address the issue of over borrowing,” he said. “Some of us argued that you cannot use additional borrowing as a remedy to the existing levels of over borrowing and he did not listen to our point of view. They believed that engaging an IMF loan was the right thing to do.”
Tembo said it was clear that the UPND government had not made any progress in addressing the issue of over borrowing.
“The first step to take as a country when you want to address this challenge is to stop borrowing and begin to pay back the amount you have borrowed. You cannot address this issue by contracting additional debt, the way President Hichilema did,” he said.
Tembo said the country was subjected to pay a higher amount and this would drive the country in more debt, thereby, increasing the high cost of living.
“My advise to the UPND government is that they should listen to advise given to them by citizens and stakeholders,” said Tembo.
And speaking on Radio Phoenix’s ‘Let the People Talk’ program, Tembo said life was better under PF than it was under UPND stressing that the UPND was one of the worst governments.
He said the UPND had dramatically failed in everything across the board.
“When I say failure, I don’t mean economically, governance, I mean across the board. Even basic things of us being able to pay our athletes. You will find Muzala Samukonga is complaining there, Rachel Kundananji. So, the UPNDs failure is across the board,” he said.
Tembo also said it was normal for a government to have lapses here and there, but consistently failing to address matters was not acceptable.
“You cant be consistency in failure. The UPND has failed in everything. It’s very difficult now to criticize the government without being charged for seditious practice,” he added.
Tembo said the previous governments failed in certain areas and improved in others areas unlike the UPND.
He also said the level of over borrowing in the UPND had tripled.
