Dear Editor,
YOU see the reason why the government of today is failing to win the hearts of people over the increase in electricity tariffs and fuel prices is what they said when they were in the opposition.
The reason why people like me are finding it difficult to defend the government on this one is that when we defended the then PF government over the same thing, we were castigated, insulted and the public was made to believe that we had no moral standing in society.
The role of an academician is to unpack information and help citizens understand or make decisions on certain issues in the country.
Some academicians move with the wind and say what people want to hear but others will say it the way it is regardless of what the public court of opinion will say.
This lesson was learnt from school where the majority were not always right! When the majority in class think an answer is correct, in most cases it’s a minority which is correct because the truth is always hard to find.
Albert Einstein was considered a lunatic until after sometime. The Wright brothers were laughed at until now when we not only fly because of their innovations but we also peacefully sleep on planes they discovered.
Back to Zambia, what hinders democracy is the inability by the majority to decipher data. Therefore, popularist slogans easily go and people believe.
But as people come into power, it becomes difficult to sing popularism because now the real issues are faced and the true narrative has to come out.
In July 2021, I wrote an article explaining that fuel prices and even prices of other commodities were cheaper in Zambia than other countries and that’s why we saw motorists coming to shop in Zambia. I have never been ridiculed like that in my life.
People brought in buying power parity arguments and even the top leadership of the opposition was very upset with me. Now, all I was saying was the truth.
Fast forward today, the Minister of Finance announces that fuel prices and electricity tariffs are cheap because of subsidies. The economic wing of government further says prices have increased on the international market but in Zambia they are stable.
What has happened to the purchasing power parity theory? If fuel in Zambia was not cheap as they alleged then, then why all of a sudden it has become expensive?
There are a lot of things I said and I was castigated for being a cadre and a fake economist. That’s not the case. I just had the courage to tell the nation the truth regardless of whether the nation wanted to hear it or not!
Today economists who wrote articles debunking my articles are in the forefront saying the same things I was saying! What has changed within 100 days?
I really wanted to put in a word for government on issues to do with fuel and electricity tariffs but I can’t because I was convinced in July that we can’t increase fuel prices before increasing salaries.
When I gave examples to explain the happenings in the country, even formulae was given to prove how just by a stroke of a pen, fuel prices would fall in Zambia. Off course people in Zambia believed. Why is that not happening now? Sometimes we have to learn to apologise to others.
To the youth, you see job creation is not as easy as you think. You need to force it. Don’t make mistakes that were made by the youth of the 1990s who saw over 245 companies privatised and up to today, the country has not recovered.
Work together with this government and pressure them to come up with job opportunities. Work with government so that new factories are created! Work with the government to ensure that Indeni is not closed. Work with the government to ensure that Mopani and KCM are Zambian-owned and that they operate efficiently to help solve our economic challenges.
Don’t sleep youths of this country and don’t support things blindly. Work with government so that government does what is in your best interest.
The elders also should not just sit down and let fate be decided by ouths. You have more experience so take a leading role. Solutions for our problems are in Zambia and nowhere else in the world.
There are a lot of ideas we should be discussing like building factories, mining industry development, 24-hour economy, green economy creation but today it is the task force on corruption and IMF.
I will be writing these articles one by one to remind people on what they ridiculed me on but they are saying the same things. I am doing so because this country should start speaking only the truth and people should not be malicious against other people. Only the truth shall set us free be it in politics or in national development!
DR LUBINDA HAABAZOKA.
Author
