Maravi

It's time to reap benefits of sacrifice' says Magande

It's time to reap benefits of sacrifice' says Magande
By Chibaula Silwamba and Chiwoyu Sinyangwe
Sunday January 27, 2008 [03:00]

ZAMBIANS have sacrificed enough and it is time for them to enjoy the benefits of their sacrifices, finance and national planning minister Ng’andu Magande has said. And Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection (JCTR) executive director Father Pete Henriot has warned that Zambia risked falling back into a Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) category unless there was reform in debt contraction and management.

During a post-budget discussion and dinner at Pamodzi Hotel in Lusaka last Friday, Magande said the government chose the theme for this year’s budget as ‘Unlocking Resources for Economic Empowerment and Wealth Creation’, because this was the time for Zambians to benefit from the sacrifices they had made in the recent past.

“There is no more sacrifice now it’s time to make choices. I know you were
sacrificing but these are the fruits,” Magande said.

He said the government had put money in the budget to empower Zambians through the Citizens’ Economic Empowerment, paying retirement packages to retirees and provision of agriculture support.

“This means that all this money going into people’s pockets is going to generate the economy,” Magande said.

However, Magande said though all the money and policies were in place, implementation was the major problem.

“All the money will come and programmes are there but what is our capacity to implement the programme and that has become our nightmare, that has become our serious bottleneck in bringing about development,” Magande said.

He said the government was establishing infrastructure and a social sector that would respond to the requirement of the growing economy.

“However, it has been proven that social sectors alone do not move economies. We have to deal with economic sector as well and one of the important economic sectors is transport and communication,” Magande said.

He also said Lusaka International Airport will be turned into a regional airport in Southern Africa. On debt, Magande said the government had decided that nobody should go to negotiate external loans.

“At one point the Secretary to the Treasury came to me saying that there are officers at the airport who are going to negotiate a US $30 million (about K113.6 billion) loan in the USA. I told him, ‘tell them to come back because US $30 million is not what we are looking for,” said Magande.

And Zambia Business Forum (ZBF) past vice president Philip Chilomo said the manufacturing sector had not been given the attention it deserved.

“Manufacturing is the engine for creating jobs,” Chilomo observed.
And Fr Henriot observed that in the recent years, Magande had been emphasizing the need for a legal framework on debt contraction and management but not much had been done to implement those reforms.

“There is a danger that Zambia may fall back into HIPC unless we seriously pay attention to level of debt sustainability and legal framework for contraction and management. This is very important for the social economic development of our ordinary people,” Fr Henriot said.

He said the growing gap between economic growth and increasing poverty levels in Zambia was a serious source of concern.
“The populous at large has not experienced benefits,” Fr Henriot said.

“The question conceptually is that the theme of the budget presented this afternoon will address the concerns the President had raised; Economic empowerment for whom? Wealth creation for whom? If the terms are not distributed, you can have economic empowerment, exorbitant wealth creation but only a few benefit.

You must address distributive terms if you are going to unlock resources for the benefit of all people.”

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posted by MrK @ 9:27 AM