Sat, 25 Feb 2017 10:56:00 +0000
Dear Editor,
I would like to congratulate the media in Zambia on making frantic effort in accommodating divergent views of all sorts and hues, albeit with reasonable caution.
We have seen reasonable progress in that direction but there is still a lot of room to fare better.
The media just like everyone else, being also the fourth estate has a bigger responsibility to ensure that Zambia’s economic agenda and the country’s democratic credentials are protected.
The opposition in Zambia should also be commended for providing requisite checks and balances that are ensuring that Zambia’s economic agenda is on track.
However, the job of providing checks and balances is not a role left to the opposition, the civil society, the media and the church alone but it is a responsibility that should be borne and taken by every person that loves this country whether they are in government or not.
One big advantage that the guys in the PF have is the amount of time that they spent in opposition which should be big enough to help them learn and point out where their predecessors made mistakes.
We should all be in hurry to ensure that our country develops so that we can leave it in a better state for our future generations than we found it.
Sometimes, where people in government may have difficulties in listening to the opposition and other stakeholders the onus to advise remains with the people in government that are closer to leadership .
The “fyonse filibwino bosses attitude”, fear and complacency should come to an end and should be replaced with attitudes such as “bosses ,don’t you think we can do things this other way”.
People within the Patriotic Front should gather courage and use every opportunity they get to slip in a few pieces of advice to people wielding power on how best things can be done.
In the same light I would like to commend the Bank of Zambia for reducing the monetary policy rate (MPR) by 150 points from 15.5percent to a straight 14percent a move which has been necessitated by the drop in inflation to about 7 percent.
In as much as I would like to congratulate the BoZ for effecting this timely but long-overdue change, I still feel the rationale of and in using inflation as the benchmark is not motivating enough because there is no future guarantee that we will witness more reductions that will be based on other “juicy” fundamentals..
My other concern borders on the reprocisity on the part of commercial banks and financial institutions in offloading and passing on this benefit to the end user.
My riposte is that the Bank of Zambia, working hand in hand with the executive arm together of the legislature should institute a lending cap on interest rates by commercial banks if the reduced MPR will yield any meaningful benefit at all. Otherwise, the reduction will still remain imaginary and non-effectual playing at the whims of the commercial banks and other financial institutions.
This culture of the reserve bank in Zambia working at the mercy of commercial banks when they have an arsenal of tools at their disposal should wind down with immediate effect as the government exercises moderation in its fervent appetite to borrow, thereby clouding out the private sector.
We have a number of countries within and without Africa were Zambia can learn from that have successfully instituted lending caps albeit with caution coupled with wider consultation .
Financial parsimony should be exercised so that macro-economic management platforms do not go off the cliff at the same time keeping financial jiggery-pockery in check.
John Noel Lungu.
