Understanding UPND administration’s ‘increasing to reduce’

By Daily Revelation Editor

One of the famous quotes this UPND administration will be remembered for was the statement issued by Vice-President Mutale Nalumango when they initially increased fuel prices that ‘they were increasing in order to reduce.’

At that time, the price of fuel had just been increased from around K17.62 they had found it at on assuming office to over K21. From there, the price of fuel has never come back to the less K17.62 the administration found it at on assuming office. Remember, this is the administration that had promised Zambians that they would be buying a liter of fuel at less than K13 per liter, and there are a lot of videos out there to prove this. After increasing the price to over K21 it went further up to over K24 and then to over K29 and then to K34.19 before it reduced to K31.12

Therefore the proper context of what Mutale said must be understood in the context she meant this. In short what she was saying was that the government would be increasing the prices but in increasing them they will also be reducing on the hefty new increment they have just effected, but the reduction will be more than the initial upward adjustment they raised the price from. Here is the short example, if the price was K29.98, they would increase the same to a hefty K34.19 and then reduce it to K31.12. It is a reduction but it is way higher than the K29.98 it was initially raised from. Unless a miracle happens, we doubt if Zambians will ever buy a liter of petrol at less than K30. This K31 will now become the new normal and then we shall see further upward adjustments from there. We even wonder how people could celebrate the K31 the price has been adjusted to when not too long ago the same were complaining about the K29.98. You are actually being duped with your eyes wide open. The effects of inflation are buttering you while you actually watch.

The same applies to the other prices and fundamentals in the economy operating on the same ‘we are increasing to reduce’ model. Zambians never imagined that a time would come when they would be buying a bag of 25kg mealie-meal bag at K200. But it has happened, and before you noticed it, it even crossed and went to over K300 and while you watch it will hit K400 soon and then K500, K600. God forbid! Today, we even see people clamoring for the ‘very cheap’ K230 Zambia National Service (ZNS) mealie-meal.

 And who is this country would have thought that it would become normal for the Kwacha to trade in the over K20 region against the United States Dollar? But it has, such that it was at one point going to K28 before it appreciated to K23, and people celebrated the same appreciation because ‘increasing to reduce’ had now been normalised to K23. So if you really want to understand the very famous phrase from our Vice-President, this is what she actually meant.

Almost all the prices in the economy are on the upswing and making life more unbearable for Zambians. The drought will just make things a little bit more tougher for Zambians. Zambia must prepare to endure more escalation in the prices of commodities and goods. Not too long ago, our beloved Multi-Choice brought us a new surprise, which they often do around this period every year where they increased prices for subscription packages. They always do regardless of the Kwacha’s performance. Just sad the weaker consumer protections we have in this country.