Expert economic opinions should be reserved to experts-Insists Habazoka

Economist Lubinda Habazoka has stuck to his guns that expert economic analysis must be left to qualified personnel instead of every Jim and jack having a go.

Habazoka who has come underfire for his hard-line stance on having anyone comment on economic matters insists that other fields have an exclusive monopoly of commentary on their field of expertise like lawyers.

Below is his full write UP

I intended to take a break from my page but I hear as usual there is a campaign to misinterpret my statement on Expert economic opinions.

Here are the lies flowing on social media:

– I want to restrict freedom of speech,

– I want people to stop discussing the economy,

– I am targeting certain people,

– Etc

All the above are lies!!! Talk however you want to talk. Because of freedom of speech, I am not in jail today!!! Because of freedom of speech, I am writing this piece today!!! Do not be misled by people who want to tarnish my image just because on certain occasions mine and their opinions have been different!

The following are my submissions:

– Expert economic opinions should be reserved to experts I.et people that have studied economics and other related fields like development studies, banking and finance, business administration, accountants, MBA Graduates, Purchasing and supply, marketing among others!!!!!

– For a long time now, the economics profession in the country has been taken for a joke. We have observed for a long time the media calling other people Economic Gurus. People that he never done economics or any other related subjects.

– My opinion is that just like LAZ, ZICA, Human Resource, Purchasing and supply have preserved their trade to only experts, economists should also do that. And I mean when it comes to PRACTICE.

– The country is getting a raw deal because it is being guided by people that have little or no understanding of economics. A well trained economist knows their boundaries in terms of what they can say. For example, careless talk can lead to a bank run causing a bank crisis in the country. People that are not trained if given a platform to give an expert opinion will lead you into a deep crisis that you will never recover from. Coming out of such crisis would take decades. That is why people at the Bank of Zambia and ministry of finance (because they are trained) are not allowed to talk anyhow. The idea here is that when you give a platform to a non-economist, with time they gain credibility because they become household names. In the process, they might do things whose implications they might not know. I don’t want to give examples because I don’t want to open another argument.

– Majority of economists and related fields support such a move. Accountants should always get accountant jobs, lawyers be lawyers etc. In my practice, I have had to engage banks to employ my Banking and Finance students. Banks in the past employed anyhow. Now these employed people would block banking and finance students from getting their rightful jobs. The consequences were that as a client, you got a raw deal because information asymmetry was created. Bank workers were unable to explain to you certain things not because they wanted to cheat you, but they didn’t understand the consequences of not providing you full information. In the process, you went to court to protest against adjusted lending rates, increased loan tenures etc.

– Do not confuse my stance with politics. It has nothing to do with what you think about the economy.

– I SUPPORT people discussing anywhere about the economy but not from an expert point. If a citizen with no appropriate education appears on TV to discuss the economy, let them go there as concerned citizens, publicists, etc but not as economist! The field of economics is deeper than most people think.

Thank you colleagues. Do not be misled. We only have one country to save!!!!