Dear Editor,
THE cooperative societies, if well utilised can present a citizen-driven, vibrant economic empowerment model as the resources have the ripple effect to the grassroots.
The Patriotic Front’s “make every Zambian” count has embraced the idea of the cooperatives as an alternative business methods that citizens can use to access resources from the government.
The Zambia we want under Lungu na Luo will be realised as they are not merely the tool to economic development but they are a means of equitable distribution of national resources.
For instance, the sectors such as aqua culture, mining, and arts can be revamped if the local people could mobilise the required skills and resources for purposes of achieving their associations.
Therefore in the 2021-26 era, the PF intends to encourage citizens come together and collectively approach the relevant authorities for empowerment.
Not only will the beneficiaries be empowered, they will also acquire the new skills which will enable them set up their own businesses after their tenure in their respective cooperatives.
A closer look at the PF manifesto (2016-26) clearly shows that there are targeted sectors such as tourism, land policies, commerce mining and industry among others.
The rational approach could be youths come up with a common business or perhaps acquire land alternative and in turn form a cooperative which will be used to foster a particular business objective.
Studies reveals that even the powerful economies in the world had used the cooperatives as the business methods to empower their citizens.
If they did it successfully, Zambia can do it. This is timely especially that there is an ongoing process of drafting the national development plans.
On President Edgar Lungu’s mind is aqua culture and there is no doubt that as new as it maybe, President Lungu will place a premium on this sector after his re-election as President. This means that coming up with a cooperative will increase the chances of accessing the government empowerment programmes and further foster the knowledge transfer.
Now that there is political will toward supporting cooperatives, the onus is on Zambians to ensure that they switch to this business model. This will inevitably be the building blocks for the restructuring of the economy.
MARVIN CHANDA MBERI,
Kanchibiya.
Author
