Maravi

Unplanned and wasteful expenditure

Unplanned and wasteful expenditure
By The Post
Sun 12 June 2011, 04:00 CAT

We all want development and to see our lives improve. We all want to win material benefits, to live better and in peace, to see our lives go forward, to guarantee the future of our children.

We all know what development is. And as Bishop Evans Chinyemba observed at his ordination, we are all able to recognise development when we see it, when it happens. But we also know that to see development in our country will require a lot of effort from all of us, not only from our presidents, ministers, members of parliament, councillors or even chiefs.

To develop our country will require intense effort, which will include, among other things, the effort to practice strict economy and combat waste; it will require the policy of developing our country through diligence and frugality. This will in turn require serious planning for all government expenditure and for whatever development projects we undertake as a nation.

What is going on now cannot be said to be a practice of strict economy. It is simply an exercise in wastefulness and extravagance. And the Zambian people deserve to know how their money is being used and why their money is being spent the way this government is spending it. And therefore, the issues raised by Ng’andu Magande, our former Minister of Finance, deserve to be addressed in an intelligent and respectful manner by those running government today. We say this because this is not the way to develop a country. We are in a hurry to develop, but not in this haphazard and clearly corrupt manner.

What seems to be propelling this government today is not much more the desire to develop the country but the fear of losing elections. And since they know that what our people want most from their government is development, they are doing everything in desperation to show that they have delivered what the people want. Truly, there is nothing which makes people more appreciative of a government than that it should be able to deliver services. But this doesn’t come by chance. It is a product of good planning and disciplined public expenditure.

Running around trying to do this and that at the last minute to meet election agendas will not do. In fact, spending public money in this way is a recipe for disaster. We say this because when things are done in a rush and huge amounts of money are involved, corruption becomes the order of the day. What could be accomplished for one or two or three million dollars will be completed for 10, 11 or 12 million dollars. People are simply cashing in on the so-called development projects.

And at the end of the day, this government and its leaders will have very little to show for the huge amounts of money they would have spent on various projects. This is why although they are claiming to have spent K42 billion on development projects in Chongwe, chieftainess Nkomeshya and her people have difficulties seeing the results of this expenditure. Why? This is probably because this money has not been spent prudently.

We must not take a short view of things and indulge in wastefulness and extravagance. Thrift should be the guiding principle in all our development projects.

Those in government should always bear in mind that what they are using is public funds. And it doesn’t matter where this money is coming from. As long as it belongs to the public, it must be accounted for and used in the most prudent way. Even if its borrowed money from the capital markets, it still belongs to the people of Zambia because at the end of the day, this money will have to be paid back by the same people regardless of who is in government. Today they are borrowing huge sums of money and wasting it. But tomorrow, this money, regardless of how it was used, will have to be paid by the Zambian people.

It is not Rupiah Banda or Situmbeko Musokotwane who will be responsible for paying the money they are borrowing on behalf of the Zambian people; it will be the people themselves who will have to pay back this money. And if this money is not being used properly, the future generations will be made to pay debts from which they have not benefitted. But the story does not end there. They
will also not be able to borrow because their debt capacity would be reduced by the amounts Rupiah is borrowing today which will still be outstanding. This will mean that the future generations will not be able to undertake the necessary development projects.

If this happens, what will be their future? What will be the future of their country? We must be responsible in the use of all public funds. And accountability is important in ensuring that public funds are properly and efficiently utilised. This calls for critical voices on all public expenditure. Every idea, every expenditure should be scrutinised by the public so that it’s cleansed of all its vices and deficiencies. Every Zambian has a say on government expenditure.

It is said that the best government in the world, the best parliament and the best president, cannot achieve much on their own. If this is so, critical voices on government expenditure deserve to be heard. Anyone, no matter who, may point out deficiencies or shortcomings in the way government is spending public resources or implementing development projects.

If they are right, those in government should address the shortcomings or deficiencies they are pointing out. If what they are saying will benefit the people, they should act upon it. Moreover, this is what democracy entails – participation and therefore responsibility from all of us.

What is happening in our country today is frightening. Huge sums of money are being wasted on projects that were not planned for and in a manner that enables those involved to simply enrich themselves.

It’s clear to all our people that all this expenditure on projects is simply aimed at hoodwinking the Zambian people to vote for Rupiah and the MMD and for them to enrich themselves. There is very little the Zambian people will benefit from all these unplanned so-called development projects Rupiah’s government is today undertaking.

Labels: CHIEFTIANESS NKOMESHYA, DEVELOPMENT

posted by MrK @ 2:52 PM