Justified Politics; by Aaron Ng’ambi
Email; aaronngambi@yahoo.com
It is almost 2 months before the general elections in Zambia, and the incumbent President Hakainde Hichilema (HH) is seeking re-election. But what is surprising is that even during the launch of his party’s manifesto for 2026-2031, the man and his ruling party are still talking about how the previous regime left so much damage that the United Party for National Development (UPND) has and is still taking long to fix, which is nothing but a contradiction in terms. And the only reason why they are even putting up such an argument is because the so-called economic gains reflected by certain indicators have not trickled down to ordinary people in any meaningful way. Therefore, we have to ask; is President Hakainde Hichilema truly capable of fixing the economy of Zambia as things stand? And to be fair to the Presidents and his government – most people, especially those in urban areas, along the line of rail would not respond in the affirmative to this question.
During the past 10 years of the Patriotic Front (PF) rule, Mr. Hakainde Hichilema then as the major opposition figure argued and articulated all the failures of the PF regime. He was so eloquent that by the time it was 2021 elections, he had managed to convince 2.8 million voters to vote for him. However, he was not just good at highlighting the failures, corruption, scandals and all the ills of the PF, but he also explained how he would fix the economy single handedly within the first term of his 5 years mandate.
Therefore, to start making excuses now that President HH did not know the gravity of the damage done to the economy as he took office, is nothing but dishonesty at its best. The man told us that he was fully aware of what PF was doing wrong, from why fuel prices were so high due to middlemen, how load shedding was a product of failed leadership, and many other things he pointed out. Unfortunately, these things were still a problem all through the last 4 years and some months of his administration, until just recently in the case of power outages – of course because we are in an election year. In fact, a good portion of the country thinks we are actually worse off now, and that the man at the community house has no idea how to fix these issues except to play the blame game and not take responsibility. President Hichilema, whose slogan was “Bally will fix it” told all of us that he understood the magnitude of the problems created by the PF, and that he was the right man to get the job done and turn around the economy.
Therefore, it is very concerning for most Zambians to look back and realize that President Hakainde has been in power for 5 years now, and the country is still waiting for many of his promises to come to pass. As an example, this year HH is already asking the people to vote for him again, when he has not even fixed the high cost of living, he purported to have been the case while in opposition. Instead, during the launch of his party’s manifesto for this election – the man told his supporters that his foremost priority for him in the second term, will be lowering the high cost of living.
Evidently, it is disappointing for many young people today to wake up and realize that the man at the helm of this government promised them jobs, which he is yet to deliver. Now some people in government argue that this regime has employed teachers and nurses in record numbers, which is commendable. However, those who make this argument do it out of dishonest and deflect people’s attention from the real promise that HH made to the youth prior to the elections of 2021. It is a matter of public record that, President Hakainde said that he would create jobs in the private sector through his international connections, and these jobs will be sustainable and will pay young people a living wage. The man never promised government jobs per say, because he knew very well that every government employs civil servants as required and according to standard procedure. We know that even his predecessor, the PF administration employed thousands and thousands of teachers and nurses, as a matter of duty.
Therefore, when HH spoke of jobs for young people as the opposition leader – he was very categorical that his government would create an environment that will attract huge foreign direct investment and boost the private sector thereby creating thousands if not millions of jobs. This is not the case today, and the CopperBelt province is a good example to examine as a reference point. Shockingly, the President has recently argued that he has created 1 million jobs, a number which is not supported by any substantive evidence – not even by his own labor offices. The bringing back of Vendata at KCM has yielded no tangible results in terms of job creation and not forgetting the questionable Mopani deal with IRH which has not created desirable outcomes for employment either.
Hence, the notion that this UPND regime is still working on solutions to fix the high levels of unemployment, poverty, high cost of living, fighting present corruption in government etc., Surely makes sad reading. The truth is that not too many people in the country are happy with how things are unfolding, and generally only those who are somewhat benefactors of government appointments or related to those in power. Hence, they seem to have a soft spot for the regime. Otherwise, the UPND has lost it and is now doing things that are quickly eroding public trust and confidence from the people. It is now in the common place, and quite fashionable for people to associate this regime with nepotism, regionalism, favoritism, selective application of the law, injustice, double dealing, and alleged corruption. And this upcoming elections in August this year, will be a litmus test for how the Zambian people really feel and think of this regime.
Unfortunately, one of the weaknesses of the government is the lack of transparency which breeds corruption and ill intentions. Also, our government has been very notoriously lying at any given opportunity, while accusing others of exactly what they are doing too. It was shocking that the immediate past minister of information and broadcasting, who was also the chief government spokesperson could publicly call out a television station and an independent newspaper company as the media of lies – meanwhile within the cabinet which the President presides is full of people who have lied to the Zambian people with a straight face. And such examples are too many to mention. The immediate past minister of finance is on record of stating that the mines have been paying a fair share of their taxes to the government, when in actual fact people know that he is bluffing and that the man was telling them a misleading truth.
The favoritism of foreign multi-lateral companies by this regime at the expense of putting the interest of the Zambian people constitutes betrayal; because in the end it’s the ordinary people that lose out. Nonetheless, the public is aware of allegations that some of these companies actually financed the UPND while in opposition, thus these tax breaks and favoritism are nothing but pay back and daylight robbery of our resources. Remember that HH gave several lectures on how he has the formula for our economic breakthrough, and all those theories he so well spoke of have now evaporated in thin air because he has to please the UPND paymasters who are holding him captive. Honestly, how can this President or any other for that matter fix the economy of his country, in which the very economy is not even owned by his own people. Zambians do not own the banking sector, the mines, manufacturing sector, construction, retail chain stores, and other strategic economic sectors. It is like a father of a home promising his children to go and fix something that’s owned by the neighbors. This is a joke and it’s absurd. We need to own the means of production in our economy for us to truly turn it around for the better. In all of his political rhetoric, President HH both as an opposition leader and as the Republican President has never addressed the issue of why we have such a gigantic trade deficit as a country. And by definition, in economics 101 a trade deficit is simply the difference between exports and imports of a given country. This is another reason why HH cannot solve the economic question of our time, he knows too well that we virtually export nothing in this country which brings revenue to our Treasury.
The copper we export from mines contributes to less than 5% of our GDP, and it now appears that these mines are now in the hands of the friends of the President, whom he gave huge tax cuts and all sorts of incentives, including but not limited to the reduction of the mineral royalty tax from 6% to 3% in his first ever national budget. Clearly, this shows that we are just a consumer nation and we manufacture absolutely nothing that we can export. Zambia today imports apples, drinks, peanut butter etc., from South Africa – which are sold in ShopRite, pick n pay, games stores and other outlets. Sadly, all the profits made by these stores are paid as dividends to the owners who live outside the country. Therefore, there is nothing President HH can say or lecture us about the country’s trade deficit, without people asking him touch questions and this explains his silence on this topic.
In a nutshell, when we make the case that our economy should be owned by Zambians, we do not suggest the nationalization of strategic assets. But rather, those assets and other means of production should be owned by private Zambians and not government per say. We have many people in this country that can run our banks, mines, retail chain stores etc. Just in case we have forgotten, Investrust Bank was largely owned by Zambians until the regime shut it down through liquidation. Despite all the problems associated with Investrust, the government should have taken keen interest, bailed out the bank and saved its operations. This is what a responsibility, nationalist and patriotic government does, and the Obama administration in the US is no different. In fact, it’s a great example to use for this scenario, because Obama bailed out all the major banks during the financial crisis of 2008/2009. Regrettably, we don’t have such people and leaders in this country, because we have too many fake Zambians who have offshore accounts and keep their monies abroad, while preaching to everyone or lecturing us about patriotism. When in reality they are in bed with multi-lateral corporations at the expense of the people’s interests.
Lastly, this country needs serious men and women who can walk the talk, who are patriots and love this country with everything they have. The era of leaders who are fake and look out for their own benefits with the interests of foreign capital, leaving our people to fend for themselves should come to an end immediately. It is time to reclaim this country and truly solve the economic question once and for all.
