ARE EXPECTATIONS OF MILLENNIAL-GENERATION TOO HIGH IN ZAMBIA?
THE new Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema took of fice last Tuesday, 12 days after defeating the incum bent Edgar Lungu in the just-ended general election.
However, the UPND administration will face two key challenges: reviv ing the country’s democratic credentials and stimulating the economy. To achieve this, the new administration must have at least four priorities. These are regaining credibility with the interna tional financiers, fighting corruption, curtailing the dominance of the executive branch of government, and ending the reign of terror by political party vigilantes, notoriously known as “party cadres”.
Economic debt is Zambia’s biggest challenge. Under the previous regime, the debt ballooned from 36% to 110% of Gross Domes tic Product (GDP).
Zambia defaulted on repaying US$42.5m in interest on a Eurobond in November 2020. The negative impacts of debt servicing had been deeply felt across Zambian households. Multiple factors contributed to the rising debt – including volatile copper prices, drought in 2019, and Covid-19 pandemic.
The shift by the government towards sovereign financing and Chinese loans since 2012 severely compounded the debt crisis. There had been a lack of transparency about the Chinese loans. This had been made worse by concerns about suspected corruption in the use of Eurobond funding for large-scale in frastructure projects.
These two factors had undermined efforts by the IMF to negotiate debt relief on behalf of commercial creditors. In 2017, it was uncovered that the government procured 42 fire trucks for US$42m.
In the same year, the country’s Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) revealed that billions of Zambian Kwacha had been laundered through high level corruption and tax evasion.
In 2018, several bilateral donors halted US$34m in funding for education and social welfare pro grammes due to mismanagement. And, in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, US$17m in procurement ir regularities by the Ministry of Health were uncovered.
It is common knowledge that the previous government attempted to remove legislative oversight over contracting public debt via a failed constitutional reform known as Bill Number 10. First introduced in mid 2019, the Bill’s other provi sions included reducing the National Assembly’s powers to impeach the president.
It also allowed for judges to be removed through a tribunal appointed by the president, rather than through the ex tant Judicial Complaints Commission. Established in 2006, the Commission receives complaints against judicial officers and sub mits recommendation for action to the independent Director of Public Prosecu tions. Civil society organisa tions and legal experts op posed the attempt to create an apparent “constitutional dictatorship”.
Finally, there was mounting disenchantment with the PF in its traditional strongholds of Lusaka and cities on the Copperbelt. This was due to the party having alienated the urban youth and middle classes because of its repression of civil society, and surveillance at UNZA and CBU campuses. But the PF’s cadre typically unemployed men hired to extort money, provided informal security for party elites, and disrupted opposition events – were a particular nuisance for urban market traders, mini bus and taxi operators.
For instance, they charged extra fees to allow minibuses to pick up cus tomers in particular areas, or threaten violence against traders who refused to pay them illegal fees to sell from market stalls. Although vigilantes had existed and reinvented themselves for decades in Zambia since UNIP and MMD eras, they had become increasingly violent and extortionate under the previous regime.
The extor tion deprived the city coun cils of revenue from the markets and bus stations. It had generated a culture of fear and frustration among the urban poor. But the UPND has its own cadres who are equally violent. It remains to be seen how the UPND regime would enable the police to better regulate its party cadres. It must also hold councillors elected on its party ticket accountable if they will condone party cadre activities in markets and bus stations. Observers also credit the new Zambian president, for broadening his appeal amongst the youth, a key constituency of millennial first-time voters born af ter the year 2000 that nick named him “Bally” – slang for father – because of his focus on issues they could relate to but have no per sonal memory of the 1991 regime change. This year, Zambian politicians man aged to convince a signifi cant number of the millen nial-generation to vote in the country’s general elec tions. Whether this happened because of UPND’s cam paign promises of creating more jobs for them or de livery of free education to them from primary to ter tiary levels is a discussion for another day. But the mere fact that they could be motivated to see politics as a vehicle for fundamental and profound change is a cause for hope. That begs the question: Are expecta tions of the millennial-gen eration too high in Zambia? There is a lot to be done by the new regime. Zam bia’s official unemployment rate stands at approximate ly 12.17% and the millen nial-generation blamed the previous government’s “poor implementation of policies” for it. “There are a lot of programmes that are supposed to be empow ering unemployed youths. But they had been failing,” they complained. Perhaps that is why they were show ing signs of being interested in politics even more – their patience was running out with high levels of unem ployment. Political pundits sug gested that young people around the country were participating politically, but not in a conventional way. This had not stopped parties looking for new av enues of expression. For instance, there is evidence that Zambian politicians seem to have learnt from the American experience. Take the social networking site, Facebook, for example. Ex-President Barack Obama used it effectively to lure the youth into voting for him. Similarly, the UPND had what it called “the Facebook Team” which overwhelm ingly attracted first-time voters to the social media network. Despite dabbling in technology and trying to appear hip, the governing party must still attend to the millennial-generation’s urgent needs. Top of the to-do list is creating jobs, delivery of free education systems and combating HIV/Aids epidemic includ ing Covid-19 pandemic that are reportedly afflicting citizens every day in Zam bia – many of them young. Besides, bread-and-butter issues must remain the UP ND’s focus
