Tension in Luanshya
Tension in LuanshyaWritten by Editor
When a lot of people talked about tension in the country following the October 30 presidential election, some overzealous ministers, including President Rupiah Banda, dismissed such talk as wishful thinking.
But today, Acting Inspector General of Police Francis Kabonde is saying he had to dispatch over 60 police officers to Luanshya Copper Mines because of the tension surrounding the closure of the mines.
This is just but a tip of the iceberg. The events in Luanshya in the last few days are an indication of the desperate situation in the whole country. But of course, those who like hiding their heads in the sand like ostriches will be quick to dismiss this, again. Things are fast falling apart but remedial measures are nowhere in sight.
There has been so much talk about job losses in the mines. Yes, this is true. But these losses are everywhere; and sooner than later, the balloon will burst and these problems will be laid bare for all to see.
The most disappointing thing, however, is that Rupiah – who during election campaigns seemed to have a bag full of ideas on how to deal with Zambia’s problems – is today at sea on how to handle these problems. Instead of telling Zambians how he intends to deal with these issues, Rupiah wants to hoodwink them he has inherited or faced problems that no other president of this country has ever faced. What a lie!
Anyway, we are not among those who have so far expressed disappointment at Rupiah’s style of leadership because we never, in the first place, misled ourselves that he was equal to the task. We kept saying ‘time will tell’. And indeed, time is telling and the worst is yet to come.
We said Rupiah was a deceitful person and he would rule by deceit. We were called names for stating this plain truth.
During the October 30 presidential campaigns, Rupiah was acting as President of Zambia. In this position, he was well placed to understand better the country’s challenges; what was possible for his government to do and what was not possible after elections. But because he is a deceitful old man, Rupiah proceeded to promise Zambians all sorts of things ranging from reduction of mealie-meal prices to creation of more job opportunities. Each time he stood on the campaign podium, he repeated the chorus on how he was going to reduce poverty.
He repeatedly reminded Zambians that he was the best man to succeed the late Levy Mwanawasa because he closely worked with him for two years and he therefore understood what he did and was doing to develop the country’s economy.
However, as soon as he was elected President, Rupiah’s language changed and none of his election promises was fulfilled. Instead, Zambians were treated to increased mealie-meal prices and generally the prices of all essential commodities. The fertiliser that was promised to farmers was nowhere to be seen; the job opportunities that Zambians expected have turned into job losses. Even some of Rupiah’s sponsors and supporters have not yet received what they expected to get from him after campaigning for him. This is how deceitful Rupiah is. Behind that silence, that quietness and the so-called humility, there is a lot of deceit which most people do not immediately see.
In justifying this failure, Rupiah today is claiming that he has faced the kind of problems that no other president has faced. What has changed? It’s only a month ago that he, as acting President, asked for mandate from Zambians to enable him continue with Levy’s legacy and serve the country even better. He never talked about problems that would impede his delivery of development to the country. The credit crunch in the United States was being talked about all over, including in Zambia. But Rupiah and his followers kept saying Zambia was not going to be affected.
Today, Rupiah and his team want to use the same credit crunch and the general global economic recession as reasons for Zambia’s economic challenges. Yes, it’s true that these global developments will not spare our country. But it is wicked to blame all our current economic problems on the global economic recession. We say this because reports indicate that some countries, like Rwanda, are doing extremely well, even under the experiences of global economic recession. Before Levy fell ill and later died, Zambia had so many challenges, including economic challenges. But Zambians were not affected as they are today; they didn’t complain as they are doing today. That is why Rupiah was promising more job opportunities and improved economy because things were that good. All he needed was merely to improve on what Levy had achieved, to strengthen the foundation that Levy had laid.
Now, it appears to us things are crumbling because Rupiah and his team do not seem to know how to manage the country. They are at sea. Even guesswork is failing. How can one explain the sudden crumbling of an economy that was so promising? The cost of doing business in Zambia has suddenly doubled, especially for those businesses that rely much on imports. That is why many companies are opting to lay off their workforce. If this is not addressed soonest, Zambians will experience unprecedented misery next year.
As we come to a close of the year, there is every need for those in leadership positions to seriously ponder on how these economic challenges facing our people will be resolved. We can’t continue like it’s business as usual, giving excuses of global economic recession as the main cause when all can see that it is failure on the part of those in government.
Rupiah promised to give Zambians the best. So let all Zambians demand this from him, although we know he is not capable of delivering. All the same, Zambians should still put pressure on him so that he can realise his inadequacies and give up his dream to rule Zambia for eight years. Zambia deserves better.
Labels: JOBLOSSES, LCM, RIOTS, RUPIAH BANDA
posted by MrK @ 12:44 PM
1 Comments:
COMMENT - Although I do not like the lack if inspiration and the neoliberal noises coming out of the government, it has to be said that this is not an ordinary recession. This economic collapse is on the order of the Great Depression - worldwide, and as such Rupiah Banda is right that no president has faced challenges like this. What I most definitely blame the MMD and if he continues, Rupiah Banda for, is their adherence to the ideology of neoliberlism (privatisation, deregulation and 'free markets'), when anyone with some sense should know who this ideology benefits - the multinational corporations and the local elites who do their bidding. Because of this ideology, Zambia will be hit very hard, because it reneged on taxing the mines and building up foreign currency reserves and develop it's internal economy. Instead, all effort was put into attracting foreign investors at the detriment of local infrastructure and agriculture and local businesses. Still today, ministers are clinging on to this failed ideology, which once again has thrown the world's economies into chaos - as it has in 1907, 1929, 1930-1932, 1974 and 1987. If you build an economy on the quicksand of cheap money, of artificially low interest rates and credit, on service jobs instead of production, this is the result. If Zambia had simply developed it's infrastructure and agriculture, and did not depend on distant markets for jobs and income, it would have been barely hit at all. But because of the continued dependence on copper exports, instead producing for it's own markets, joblosses and shortages result. If anything good comes from this, it must be the strong conviction that Zambia must produce for it's own population first - food, clothes, energy, and only then import. Zambia must protect domestic producers, instead of giving unfair advantages to foreign corporations. It must produce so much food that it can have low food prices, storage capacity and reserves for 2 years and then export it's surpluses, or turn those surpluses into finished goods at home.
That is the way forward. Now we need a leadership that realizes that.
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