‘Zambia among most unequal nations in Africa’

Fri, 13 Jan 2017 08:22:59 +0000

BY Aaron Chiyanzo

ZAMBIA is among the most unequal countries in Africa even though it is handsomely endowed with natural resources, 3rd Liberation Movement (3LM) president Enock Tonga has observed.

Mr Tonga said that Zambia was blessed with vast resources but that they were not equally distributed among the citizens.

He explained in an interview with the Daily Nation that rich people were the ones mostly benefiting from the resources at the expense of poor.

Mr Tonga said that the gap between the rich and the poor in terms of economic status had significantly increased.

He pointed out that the marginalised people in the country did not have proper access to resources, tourist attractions, trophy hunting and other facilities because they were too expensive for them.

Mr Tonga reiterated that resources were supposed to be shared equitably between all the people in the country regardless of their tribe or financial status.

“Zambia is among the most unequal countries in Africa even if it is handsomely endowed with natural resources. The resources are just being enjoyed by the rich while the poor do not have access to them because of financial constraints. For example, poor people cannot even enjoy bush meat because it’s too expense for them to access,” he said.

Mr Tonga pointed out that there were many other resources that poor people in the country were not able to access because of financial constraints.

He said that the recent price surge of goods and services was another sign of the unequal distribution of resources in the country.

Mr Tonga said Zambians found it difficult to access land or even water for irrigation purposes.

Meanwhile, 3LM secretary general Enock Chikatula bemoaned the levels of smuggling in most of the border posts and that Government was losing a lot of money.

He said that the Zambia Revenue Authority had failed to reach its intended tax collection target because it was losing money through the vice, among others.

Mr Chikatula advised Government to build proper infrastructure and tighten security in all unmanned border points in order to curb smuggling. He pointed out that a lot of smugglers were taking advantage of unmanned border oints and that they were bringing in and taking out different merchandise without paying the relevant taxes.

Mr Chikatula noted that Government had concentrated on upgrading big entry points such as Chirundu border, Katima Mulilo and others while those in rural areas were neglected.