Culture And Relationships

Zambia goes to the polls this month and many people on the streets are looking for the leader that will respond to their dreams and deliver us from poverty, hunger and disease.

There is an old proverb that states ‘The Mango does not fall far from the Mango tree’.

It can be interpreted as the son is just like his father, or the daughter is just like her mother. Further still, one can conclude that our leaders are a reflection of our people.

This understanding tells us that if corruption and short sightedness is the big issue in Zambia amongst our leaders, then corruption and shortsightedness is the big issue for all Zambians. This analysis is based on the fact that all our leaders come from within our communities and therefore corrupt leaders naturally will reflect corrupt communities.

People would like to do their best for their relatives and friends. They offer help and assistance where they can, and enjoy being referred to as the benevolent relative or friend in social circles. Part of this way of life comes from our African cultures of ‘do what you can for your friend, neighbor, and relative, so that in turn they can return the compliment during your time of need’. This idea is supported by our focus on funerals. We generally will attend almost any funeral house, especially when we are middle aged, because we recognize that soon we will the one in the coffin and would like others to attend our own funeral to wave us ‘bon voyage’ to the hereafter. Our relationships are also much broader than in the Western sense, because cousins are referred to as additional brothers and sisters, maternal aunts are looked at as additional mothers, and fraternal uncles are considered as additional fathers.

There are many good reasons for these cultural connections and relationships that assist to maintain a civilized society where human beings are central to communal development. As a result, Zambia has very few Old People’s Homes because the broader family is still available to take care of the elderly at home. Children are relocated from the biological parent’s home to an uncle’s or aunt’s home to grow through puberty in recognition that a more understanding yet firm hand will be exercised by the head of the household in guiding our children through this confusing and often very difficult time. Elders mediate domestic and community conflicts. They address misunderstandings between couples when the need arises. These are considered a noble and revered basic service and duty to the community, unlike in Western cities where one has to find the resources to visit a paid Counselor or Therapist.

In the business world and in national politics however, there is a compelling argument for certain aspects of culture and relationships to be kept out of the development process if the company or country is to move steadily ahead and prosper for the benefit of all.

We have all experienced the agony of employing friends and relatives that do not qualify for the job in our own businesses. We have also experienced the pressure that we are subjected to by the high expectations of these friends and relatives who want to be paid handsomely purely because they are related to us in one way or another. No doubt, we have all paid the price of these careless decisions.

The Zambia Electricity Supply Corporation (ZESCO) is a public company that has suffered its fair share of the effects of relationships. The relationship between the Chief Executive and the company that represents ZESCO’s largest customer would not receive any Corporate Governance approval if subjected to the opinion of business strategists. The relationship between ZESCO and a consulting firm on energy related matters including price hikes, that finally turns out to be connected to a new energy buyer to supply power to the North Western Province, brings out some aspects of integrity, conflict of interest, and issues of national interest in the contracts that ZESCO may sign.

We have witnessed the difficulties in appreciating the value of signing Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA’s) with the European Union (EU). But on the other hand, we have noted that some interim documents have been signed on the basis that not signing would lead to certain barriers being put in place to block Zambian exports to the EU. This is a prospect that Zambia cannot ignore.

The World Bank (WB) has clearly indicated that it can only lend money to Zambia to build a new Power Station at Kafue Gorge if a Feasibility Study paid for by Zambia is carried out by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) a sister organization to the World Bank. The value of the Feasibility Study will not be to support Zambia’s quest to find any other financier except the World Bank, because the Study will be seen to be biased towards the World Bank’s views.

We have experienced over the years how ‘Donor’ projects and programs have derailed local development initiatives because of our focus on the funding that accompanies these ‘Donor’ initiatives.

Zambia currently experiences difficulties in private sector consensus on economic development issues and several other pro private sector programs, simply because we now have two umbrella organizations representing the private sector. The Zambia Association for Chambers of Commerce and Industry (ZACCI) and the Zambia Business Forum (ZBF) both endeavor to represent the private sector at Government level and at various international and regional forums that engage Zambia with outside collaborating partners. The voice of the private sector is now fragmented and there appears to be no unity of purpose and representation when tackling important economic development issues. The donor in some way has put a ‘jackal in the hen house’ to cause confusion and distract the national agenda from one of development, to one of turf protection and empire building. The eventual losers are the members of the two organizations who are predominantly Zambian, while the mess maker moves on to another country.

Business and economic growth is very sensitive to the implications of Culture and Relationships in a given society. We have seen that in Asia, people are prepared to work long hours to make a living and in turn develop their economies very rapidly. In Europe, the social security mechanisms protect the workers at the cost of higher taxes for all. In the USA, workers can be laid off for not reporting for work for a couple of days without an acceptable reason. In the above examples the work culture is designed around the resources that the particular nation has at its disposal. In Europe, if a leader is tainted with the suggestion of a scandal, that leader will immediately resign his or her post to protect the integrity of the institution. In the USA on the other hand, leaders tend to use the courts of law to determine whether they are right or wrong and leave very little to morality and ethics. In Asia and Africa, there is a tendency to wait for the Head of State to make the final decision irrespective of whether it is right or wrong, immoral or unethical.

The scenario in Zambia is one of discretion and gut feel. A leader can decide against good democratic and governance principles to make place for a friend or relative in the Political Party, Government system, or indeed in a State Enterprise.

Leaders market themselves as individual political and economic acrobats that can resurrect a country from poverty to prosperity. In the background the Civil Servants just smile and standby for the new blunders to be made.

Zambia must look inwards to her own people and cleanse and purge the nation of the negative impacts of Culture, the destructive tendencies of compromised private Relationships, the damaging consequences of abdicating our development agenda to ‘Donors’ and ‘Collaborating Partners’, and generally selling the nations assets to a few privileged few at the expense of future generations to come.

The International Standards Organization (ISO) is currently struggling with definitions and mechanisms to mainstream Social Responsibility across the social and economic spectrum of all societies. The future and prosperity of our countries may in a small way be influenced by our top leadership, but the major contribution comes from every single Zambian out there that must actively challenge the processes that affect our lives and hold every public official and ourselves accountable to the nation.

Published 14 October 2008