Maravi

Investors' referendum on Zambia

Investors' referendum on Zambia
Fri 21 Sep. 2012, 10:30 CAT

It seems any government that tries to fight corruption will be fought viciously by the corrupt and their defenders.

This is the experience we seem to be observing in our country. When Levy Mwanawasa tried to fight corruption, he was fought by a cross-section of our people, many of whom were unwitting defenders of the corrupt.

Some, however, had willingly sold themselves to defending the cause of the corrupt. The same thing is happening today. Michael Sata has created for himself die-hard enemies for hoisting his flag on the mast of fighting corruption. They will do everything to discredit him and try to make him appear incompetent and even corrupt. It is up to Michael and those that surround him to understand that this is a battle they are called to fight. Their opponents will tell all sorts of lies to try and discredit them and dissuade them from continuing their quest to run a clean government.

Rupiah Banda did not have this kind of problem. Rupiah was running a dirty government. And all kinds of crooks and scoundrels paraded themselves as his defenders. As long as he embraced corruption, they were happy. This is not true for Michael.

The crooks know that Michael will not defend what is corrupt and criminal. And for that reason, they will always fight him. They will even go as far as to dent the image of the country just to make sure their prophecies of doom come to pass.

This is what we have seen in relation to investor relations in the time that Michael has been President of our Republic. There are those who have spent a lot of time trying to create an impression that by correcting the corrupt dealings of Rupiah and the MMD, Michael is scaring away investors. But what kind of investor wants to operate in a corrupt environment? Certainly not clean investors. It can only be corrupt, crooked investors.

And not all investment is good for the country. Criminals must not be encouraged to invest in our economy. This is because their investment is likely to have aspects of criminality. This cannot be good for the economy in the long term.

Good investment will want to operate in a clean environment where corruption is at the lowest possible levels.

When the PF government has taken decisive steps against corrupt transactions, some have been quick to try and create panic and an impression that investment will dry up. This has fed into the empty rhetoric that the PF does not know what it is doing.

Against this background, it is interesting to note what has happened in relation to the raising of money by the government from the international capital markets. The detractors were certain that Michael's government would not be able to raise US$500 million, let alone US$750 million, from the international investing community.

Why were they so sure? According to them, Michael was scaring away investors. How? How could fighting corruption and reversing corrupt transactions scare away honest investors? It will scare away criminals, not honest investors!
The Eurobond has now allowed the international investing community to vote in their own referendum on their confidence in the PF government. They have spoken. It is up to the government to use this confidence to help our people to ensure that the resources are used properly.

This referendum allows Michael to move with confidence and ensure that the rule of law is fully entrenched. Development will not come to our country if we embrace corruption. Michael and the PF have refused to embrace corruption. And this principled position is yielding positive results.

There are politicians who have decided to defend Rupiah's corruption in the hope that it will win them support from the Eastern part of our country. Today, we have some politicians who not very long ago were publicly accusing Rupiah and his family of corruption defending him. And they are no longer talking of Rupiah's corruption. What has happened to Rupiah or to them? Were they lying to the nation when they were accusing Rupiah and his family of corruption? Or was it just part of their cheap, deceitful and unprincipled politics? They need to explain to the Zambian people why they are today defending Rupiah's corruption if they have to win back our people's support and respect.

But they are making a big political miscalculation if they think defending Rupiah's corruption will win them the political support of the people of Eastern Province. Let them ask Rupiah; he defended Frederick Chiluba's corruption but where did he end up? Rupiah thought by defending Chiluba's corruption and ensuring that he is not jailed for it would win him the political support of the people of Luapula Province, where Chiluba hailed from. Even some people in the opposition believed that Chiluba was winning Luapula for Rupiah and as a result, the political landscape had changed in his favour. It didn't happen. Chiluba failed to win Luapula for Rupiah. In the same way, Rupiah will not win them Eastern Province.

There is need to take a principled position in politics and in life in general. Of course, there is a price to pay for taking a principled position. But it is a price worth paying because in the end, principled people win the respect of the people. And with that respect, they also win the people's votes. Opportunism may appear an easy route in life. But as the Bible says, easy and wide routes usually lead to disaster.

We shouldn't fear to do the right thing simply because there are immediate negative consequences. It is said that it is better to fall with honour than to succeed by fraud.

Crooked, corrupt investors have no value to our country. And as such, corrupt investment should not be entertained for whatever reasons. There is still a lot of honest investment out there that needs to be sought. If we entertain corrupt investment, we will be keeping away honest investment. Whatever little benefits we may get in the short term from corrupt investment, they cannot in any way match the long-term benefits that honest investment brings to the country.

Labels: CORRUPTION, FDI, LEVY MWANAWASA, RUPIAH BANDA

posted by MrK @ 1:51 PM