Mon, 31 Jul 2017 11:58:49 +0000
Dear Editor,
THIS year, Western Province couldn’t host its first provincial investment expo together with the Kuomboka Ceremony for obvious reasons.
And this was after three years of not holding the Kuomboka traditional ceremony due to low water levels in the Zambezi River as a result of the continued drought experienced in the recent past.
Neither could Southern Province, whose cultural ceremonies have been suspended in most chiefdoms to protest against the continued incarceration of UPND leader, Hakainde Hichilema, who has so far spent over 100 days in custody on a treason charge which is yet to go for trial in the High Court.
But Zambia was not to find the Luapula Expo a highly-hyped event giving it no joy.
Wasn’t it sweet that the first provincial investment expo in the country was organised and hosted by Luapula Province?
That alone – as beautiful as they come – could justify all the effort and expense that the provincial administration and well-wishers had expended on giving the local and international investors such a super-spectacle as has ever been provided by the provinces.
And wasn’t it even sweeter, that President Edgar Lungu directed all provincial ministers to emulate Luapula Province Minister Nixon Chilangwa by unlocking every economic potential in all corners of Zambia to both local and international investors?
Luapula, the first province in Zambia to organise and host an investment expo whose theme was: “Linking investors to Luapula Province to unlock the economic potential.” That was very good for Luapula.
Undoubtedly, Luapula will never be the same in the next four years and beyond, as the lives of the ordinary people will tremendously change.
At the time of writing, the future course of the post-Luapula Expo local and international investment outcome, and Luapula’s part in it, was still unknown. But first impressions matter and I only hope that our provincial ministers will not close their ears to the President’s clarion call to action. This got me thinking.
In fact, such investment expos should be held every four years in each province for the provincial administration to adequately recoup its return on investment that is connected to the organising and hosting of such an event.
Due to limited time of 5 years in government, three provincial investment expos could be planned to be held annually perhaps.
My humble suggestion is that the first set of three provincial investment expos in 2018, probably could be held in Eastern, Southern and Western provinces – held at the same time with traditional ceremonies like Nc’wala, Lwiindi Gonde and Kuomboka ceremonies to spice them up.
The second set in 2019, probably could be held on the Copperbelt, in Muchinga and North-Western provinces but still coinciding with their respective iconic traditional ceremonies.
The third set in 2020, probably could involve provincial investment expos in Central, Lusaka and Northern provinces following the same format of inclusion of traditional ceremonies in each of the of the three regions.
Lastly in 2021, the year of the general elections, Luapula as the trendsetter could host the second investment expo in four years.
Anyway, my humble suggestion is subject to the scrutiny and appraisal of the powers that be.
Mubanga Luchembe,
LUSAKA
