Maravi

Letters - Zambia’s investment policy

Zambia’s investment policy
Written by Concerned citizen
Thursday, January 29, 2009 9:56:36 AM

There is absolutely no doubt that the Zambian investment philosophy is defective and needs immediate and rigorous review. It appears Zambia is yet unweaned and still crawling, immature and still 'feeding on milk'.

When will this country ever learn about the unreliability of foreign investment? Without question, we need foreign investment but this cancerous insistence and desperate dependence on foreign investment is rather sickening.

How many mining investors should pull out and leave us gasping for survival before we can learn that foreign investment is not reliable?

There has been a lot of talk on citizen economic empowerment in the recent years but as always, in this country, we have PhDs in speech and certificates in deed. The government should properly tie Zambia's investment policy to citizen economic empowerment if success is to be scored in this area. The current scene shows us diametrically opposed themes and as long as this confusion stands, we should not expect success!

The current administration preaches citizen economic empowerment at the pulpit and foolishly pursues foreign investor economic empowerment in the sanctuary!

The President the other day was seeking Chinese and Indian investment in the mines. Please understand that whether they are Chinese, Indian, Anglo or American, investors will only stay when conditions are favourable.

Further, we should be alive to the fact that when the copper prices hit record levels, the mining companies made a lot of what I might call unexpected money.

Life is always like that, there are good seasons as well as bad ones. Those trained in proper management of resources know this occurrence. Like the biblical account of Joseph in Egypt with the 'seven years of plenty and the seven years of famine,' you keep the excess for the days of lack, hence the idea of 'reserve'.

The copper prices only plummeted in the last quarter of last year! My question is, where is the money? And what is this flimsy excuse of citing the global credit crunch? Without down-playing anything, I challenge Zambians to begin to 'ask the right questions' as one commentator put it.

My opinion is that the mining companies (foreign investors) are rather too fast in their actions such as job cuts and pullouts. What people should see is that these investors can only stick to Zambia if the conditions favour them but when we ask them to reciprocate, they fail us. We should also note that they will not act to cushion the effects of the global financial crisis. In their minds, they are thinking if this crisis takes as long as the Great Depression, they are better out! This just fortifies my earlier assertion that our investment philosophy needs redress.

But if the mines were in the hands of local investors pulling out was not even going to be on the list of options, and things would have been a lot better. The question as to whether or not Zambians can run the mines, that is just the same as asking whether or not a grade 12 pupil can recite the alphabet! To borrow Obama's words, ‘yes we can.’


http://www.postzambia.com/content/view/4425/64/

Scott on govt expenditure
Written by Rosh, Kitwe

I agree with Patriotic Front vice-president Guy Scott when he says the only way Zambia can mitigate or cushion the global financial crisis is by cutting down on govt expenditure.
If wealthy countries have thought it wise and the only survival plan, what choice does poor Zambia have? We the ordinary people are adjusting our lifestyles and expenditures and so it should be with everybody in government.

In light of the current economic crisis, it was unwise to increase salaries for senior govt officials becouse ministers and others in govt are there to serve the people and not enrich themselves.

This government must suspend costly circus-like deliberations such as NCC that are unnecessarily lengthy. This NCC noise will drag on for years because of those sitting allowances. Let’s suspend it. Stop talking and get to work.

We cannot afford worthless state visits this time around. The government workshops and seminars usually held in Livingstone with hefty allowances must end.

This government must cease to be stiff-necked and start listening to the people, otherwise it will become very unpopular. Let’s not have their bellies full while we are hungry. May God bless the people of Zambia in these difficult times.


http://www.postzambia.com/content/view/4480/64/

MMD can do better
Written by Mule Gideon
Thursday, January 29, 2009 10:00:39 AM

As far as I am concerned, MMD is the wrong party altogether to offer advice on issues of democracy because there is so much arbitrary rule in that party.
The appointing of Rupiah Banda as interim party president by the NEC is not only unconstitutional and undemocratic, but also immoral. Unconstitutional in the sense that the party blue print, the constititution, clearly stipulates that in the absence of a party president and vice-president, the party chairman, not the Republican president, acts as president.

Undemocratic because the decision to install an individual to such an office by a few is not in tandem with the tenets of participatory democracy. Needless to say such a bad precedent has the potential to precipitate confusion now and in the future.

This act should also be seen as immoral because it is premised on individual selfish interests and has nothing to do with the collective good of the party. They are citing 'fostering of unity’. What disunity can be there if in the interim, the chairman, who by virtue of his office, is expected to have the interests of the party at heart, acts as president? In what way is disunity going to be beneficial to him?

Unless you are saying that you want Rupiah to be party president so that he would crush every appearance of opposition to his style of things! Or maybe you need to amend your document, but until then, you are wrong.

The problem with most MMD politicians is that they mistake divergence of views for rebellion.

I believe the MMD can do a better job on this one.

Labels: FDI

posted by MrK @ 9:57 AM