Building Zambia

Our Commerce Minister Mutati and his team are working double time to market Zambia to the outside world. President Banda joins the effort whenever possible by inviting foreign investors at most public gatherings, and on his visits within the region and abroad.

Recently Commerce Minister Mutati commented on the initiative to develop the Lusaka East Multi Facility Economic sub Zone that will include the creation of the New Airport City in Chongwe district. The urgency to roll out the project was reported as the reason that the China Minister of Commerce would be visiting Zambia to discuss the implementation of the sub zone. At some point a group of Chinese Multi Facility Economic Zone (MFEZ) experts presented a conceptual master plan for the sub zone to illustrate the initiative.

In an effort to support and facilitate the new sub zone and Airport City development, Minister Mutati stated that Zambian Government was ready to make the necessary changes to the legal framework.

This news comes with excitement and enthusiasm but one cannot help feel some unexplained reservations.

The Parliamentary committee that attended the MFEZ seminar in China, and the Shanghai Yangpu Forum, extracted comments on some issues that may help to bring out the source of the unease and discomfort experienced by many Zambians.

At this seminar Chinese representative Zhou Zhen Bang said China will involve local people in the development of the Lusaka economic sub-zone whose first phase is expected to be completed over a period of two to three years depending on the infrastructure to be built.

Another Chinese delegate Su Yunsheng said under the master plan, the New Airport City is expected to accommodate over 100,000 people while other parts of the city will be for industrial and commercial activities.

Currently a Zambian delegation is in China attending the Third International Forum on Yangpu Development. The forum is organised by the United Nations and focuses on South-South Global Assets and Technology Exchange (SS-GATE). The forum, which opened last week, attracted nine other African countries and aims to promote economic development in developing countries.

SS-GATE president, Haisheng Wang said that countries like Zambia will get the chance to find new sources of investment during the forum.

The unease amongst the Zambian people seems to emanate from lack of ownership by Zambians, in projects that are based in Zambia, and affect the lives of many Zambians.

The sentiments can be paralleled to those in Lesotho where many Chinese firms have set up businesses but are not well received by the Basotho people on the ground.

General discussions with the citizenry indicate that the basic issue is one of lack of equity by the local people.

This phenomenon is not new to Lesotho. It is one that is often considered by any investor. Businesses usually want to be accepted by the community in which they operate.

To this end, businesses will put resources into social investments for the benefit of the community and include the development of play parks for children, investment in schools and clinics for the general community, and the holding of staff events to motivate productivity and corporate identity. Shoprite for example has gone out of its way to motivate Zambian producers of fresh vegetables, meat, and poultry to supply the multinational chain store with local products. As a result, there is very little public resistance and distrust of the development agenda of this investment, and Zambian suppliers will be the first to defend the economic opportunities that are offered to the local community of this supermarket chain.

The public sector will do the country a good turn to follow this blueprint as Zambia markets the investment opportunities to the outside world.

These new initiatives of MFEZ’s and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) promotion require support and backup of Zambians on the ground, through engagement and dialogue. Furthermore, many Zambian businesses may not have the capacity to compete with foreign investors who come fully financed by their Governments or parent companies and with overseas sales contracts already in place. There are however, many opportunities for Zambian businesses to engage with the new foreign investors by offering local inputs and services to the larger corporations. Zambian businesses can be forewarned about the impending activities of the incoming investors and begin to forearm themselves with new equipment and human resources to deliver goods and services in the economic value chain that should be established.

Many developing countries have ignored these basic facts and found themselves in a situation where foreign investors import all products to support their businesses which include stationery, uniforms, furniture, and even labour.

In addition, other developing countries experience situations where the local people become hostile towards foreign investment and deliberately campaign to frustrate the investment, thereby resulting in a shut down and pullout of otherwise useful business to the economy.

A strong case therefore exists for our public officials in Government to ensure that all the economic development initiatives which are of great cost to the taxpayer, should be complemented by similar marketing efforts to the people of Zambia.

At the end of the day, Zambians will eventually inherit the earth here. Leaving the Zambian private sector out of the equation is parallel to leaving one’s own children out of the family economic development program. If more of the family that are engaged in the process, the more likely we are to experience fruitful and sustained development. The chosen few tend to only look out for themselves and eliminate the greater majority from participating in developing the nation.

Lesotho has learned some hard lessons, the United States is rapidly closing up to foreign trade with the east, Zimbabwe is a good case study, while countries such as India, China, and the Asian Tigers have all embraced their local people in building their future quite successfully.

Many collaborating partners out there have often lamented to us, that the responsibility of economically developing Zambia belongs to Zambians. No amount of economic aid and foreign support can replace the necessity for Zambians to be in the forefront of building Zambia.

Published 8 September 2009