Sat, 04 Mar 2017 11:49:23 +0000
It is comforting to observe that Government with or without the International Monetary fund (IMF) support remains responsible te deal with debt and prudent spending. (Daily Nation Friday, 03rd March, 2017 edition).
The political frenzy surrounding Government’s indication to consult with the IMGF on how best to revamp the economy appears not to have been well understood by a number of Zambians.
As a result, political opportunists have taken advantage to misleading majority of Zambians on what it is that the impending meeting that Government with the IMF will have this month.
In case some people might have forgotten, the IMF team was in the country towards the end of 2016 on a consultation and advisory mission to Government on the parameters that it had put in place to cushion the negative effects that were experienced due to the economic hardships that Zambia was facing.
And as can all recall, the removal of subsidies was one such measure that was proposed by Government to lessen pressure on the national treasury. When this was implemented, a lot of people complained about such a hard and difficult decision but it had to be made, anyway!
Going by the foregoing, it is evident that the money which was meant for subsidies has been channelled to needy areas of the economy such as construction of roads, schools and hospitals.
I am particularly elated to learn that our Government remains solely responsible to grow and stabilise the economy and not depend on whatever IMF will propose on the table.
I think Finance Minister and his team at the Ministry of Finance in consultation with other key economic players must be commended for doing everything possible to ensure that Zambia centres its efforts on developing a home grown economic recovery programme. This is inculcates ownership and responsibility in all citizens to be part and parcel of growing and stabilising the economy.
It is common knowledge that the IMF usually comes on board with a set of its own proposals especially reforms in the labour industry and how government parastatals are managed.
I agree with Mr Mutati that Government does not need the IMF to dictate to us on how best to manage these parastatals. In fact, in an event that Government does not have the capacity to fully manage parastatals, why not consider the Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement which is a another vehicle that guarantees the locals’ ownership of growing the economy.
The mere fact that Government has left no room for the IMF to put forward proposals that are alien to what is currently being used to work on bettering the economy builds confidence in the manner the economic recovery programme is going on.
I am certain that Government will engage the IMF better because it has already a working programme on improving our economy.
Let all patriotic Zambians rally behind Government in its quest to grow and stabilise our economy and not to be misled by disgruntled political elements in the opposition.
We can do it the Zambian way!
Muyunda Lubasi,
Ndola
