The nail biting four days from 30th October to 2nd November put a great pressure on all Zambians as we waited patiently and anxiously for the election results to trickle in and provide some facts on the direction that the poll would go in as far as our preferred Presidential candidate was concerned.
Every Zambian was on edge and considering what life will be like under the leadership of each of the prospective Presidents. As the results mounted and two Presidential candidates distanced themselves ahead of the pack running neck and neck, the back pair recognized that they were no longer in contention, but savored the experience as a worthwhile test run for the impending 2011 Presidential and Parliamentary elections.
Interestingly though, when the adrenaline started to run slower as each candidate realized that the Presidency was fast disappearing out of reach, the more nationalist thinking started to kick in with the consideration of which of the two front runners would be the preferred Head of State that would move the country forward towards prosperity. They became common Zambians, concerned as everybody else about the fate of the country.
The burden of national responsibility now rests on the shoulders of President Rupiah Banda, fourth President of the Republic of Zambia.
There is an old Wild West saying that goes; ‘don’t fix it if it ain’t broken’. President Rupiah Banda will do well to think about that saying as he moves into the driving seat of Mother Zambia. In addition, the nation is running slower and sometimes even in reverse in some key areas that need urgent and immediate attention.
The global energy crisis is hurting every nation of the world, but Zambia is taking an unnecessary beating to due to clear incompetence in the Ministry of Energy, the Energy Regulation Board, and the Zambia Electricity Supply Corporation Limited (ZESCO). These highly educated and schooled Zambians at the helm of these institutions do not seem to understand the phrase ‘Strategic Planning’, ‘Conflict of Interest’ or ‘Disaster Management’. It may be because of these simple issues that Zambia will continue to suffer power deficits, compromised business contracts for ZESCO, and extravagant costs for building new Power Stations that will choke our economy for generations to come. The option for developing Maamba Collieries into an alternate source for Zambia’s energy needs must be implemented and not continuously discussed and debated as the company accumulates more debt.
Zambia is looking to become food secure by growing enough food to feed our own people and much of the region. To this end, the endless discussions about the future of Nitrogen Chemicals of Zambia (NCZ) must come to an end and a sustainable plan for NCZ’s resurrection needs to be adopted and acted upon immediately. The nonsense of relying on foreign suppliers in favour of local production must be done away with, because food is serious business and cannot be left in the hands of some benevolent donor.
Our railway system is in a deplorable state. It is quite clear that the group that is currently running the operation is in no hurry to develop the national railway system and relieve our roads of the over loaded trucks that damage the highways throughout the year. As a result, Zambia spends billions of Kwacha on road maintenance that does not go towards building the country, but helps to keep the status quo. We cannot afford to continue spending on road maintenance when we should be doing road construction and expanding our road network. Some hard decisions will need to be made in respect to how we can get investment into the railway network that will serve the people of Zambia and not become an extortionist monopoly that may squeeze the nation dry. China and India have the world’s largest railway networks and therefore have much to offer to developing countries with the appropriate technologies to ensure sustainability and growth.
There has been much debate and talk about the International Gateway for phone service providers to offer cheaper international calls. It is in Zambia’s interests to explore the option of converting Mwembeshi Earth Station into a Public Private Partnership company through a shareholding structure that allows Government to keep an eye on the facility whilst allowing it to become more commercial and efficient in serving the people of Zambia. The IGW can then work for all communications providers thereby offering lower connectivity costs to the outside world for all Zambians irrespective of which network they use. The misimpression that Mwembeshi is obsolete must not be allowed to cloud our judgment. Mwembeshi may need upgrading but not replacement. Communications plays a vital role in economic development and therefore deserves to be given high priority by the new President.
Zambia has designated several sites across the country to be developed into Economic Zones as per various agreements with the Chinese Government, the Japanese Government and other parties. The details of these Zones appear to be a tightly guarded secret that is discussed in Government circles and shared with our collaborating partners, but not the Zambian Private Sector that are expected to participate in this initiative. The Zambia Development Agency (ZDA) has very little information to provide to Zambians on the options and opportunities in these Economic Zones, and yet our colleagues the Chinese, Malaysians and Indians are being solicited by their own Governments to invest in Zambia. There is no quarrel with attracting foreign investment into Zambia, but we must also inform our own people and offer them options for investment and joint ventures in these newly developed programs. The current status of the Economic Zones is so cloaked and shrouded that the ZDA does not even have a Director to oversee, monitor and evaluate the impact of these previously developed ideas under the Multi Facility Economic Zones chapter in the ZDA Act.
The Civil Service has been undergoing various transformational changes to become more service orientated to the public. Much of the current legislation that impacts on business is being upgraded to become more supportive and facilitative of private sector development. This monumental task is under way and needs to be kept going until the Civil Service truly becomes a Service to Zambians and recognizes that it exists to serve the people of Zambia, and not vice versa. This work requires political will from the highest office in order for the pace and motivation to be set for all the ranks to follow.
The immediate plague that besets any new leader in office is that of human vultures, hangers on, and every description of family and friends. This cadre of contacts usually does the Presidency more harm than good. The nation can only hope that the President of the day will be alert to this type of interaction and deal with the various issues with national interests at heart and at the top of his priorities.
It is said that ‘a new broom sweeps clean’. This suggests that when the broom ages it becomes less efficient and eventually fails to do the tasks that it was designed for. Zambia and our new President Rupiah Banda may want to argue that ‘a properly used broom always sweeps clean’. The future of this nation is now guided by the actions of President Rupiah Banda.
Published 11 November 2008
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