Hunger Management: If Zambia was a movie

By David Kapoma

I have also been thinking and imagining what name Zambia could be given if this country was a movie. I did come up with something that suite my imaginations, ‘HUNGER MANAGEMENT’. Fortunately this movie according to my imaginations wouldn’t be a horror or science fiction but just a stimulating thriller full of qualms. This can be a movie that once produced everyone would be looking forward to see. Anyways these are just my wired thoughts over my country‘Hunger Management’.

Let me address something a little serious and important to us. When I look around and observe the happenings in our country, it appears so evident that things are not as they used to be years ago. We now have more ‘beautiful’ roads, huge shopping malls and some ‘few’ other things such as new hospitals, schools and clinics to mention but a few. Most of this construction was started by the man of action late president Michael Sata (MHSRIP) and completed by our‘Humble’ man president elect Edger Chagwa Lungu’s government. I imagine where we could have been by now had the MMD started with the infrastructure development and accelerated it in the manner the PF has done in a short time.

Yes some good things done! I now compare Zambia to a home where the husband gets a collateral loan from a bank and spends it on things like putting tiles in the house, getting new sofas and TV sets and ensures the children are always given great meals. This money is borrowed remember, and has to be paid back with interest. This home will one day reach a time when everyone in the house starting from the father, mother and children must face reality. When the money you borrowed is finished you will even fail to afford the black tea you used to have before the loan appeared and served full English breakfast. A debt is a debt meant to be paid back.

The scenario above is not so different with where our country is at moment. The Zambian Economy is now in ICU and the chief surgeon, the IMF is here to ‘save’ us. The prescriptions we are yet to be given may not be sweet, and as such, Zambians have to brace themselves for a harder five (5) year ahead of us. Some more jobs may be lost. The prices of commodities will rise, and this is especially so when subsidies such as those on fuel, fertilizer, maize and electricity are removed. Yes, these subsidies have to be removed, why? Because the government is BROKE and can’t afford them anymore. I take you back to the time in 1990when late president Chiluba scrapped off the idea of giving mealie meal on coupons because the government could not sustain them. And I hope that we shall not have a debate whether government is broke or not because the signs are they for everyone to see.

So we have to deal with the billions of dollars we borrowed. By the way it is now estimated that every Zambian including children and old people is owing at least 800 USD. So if you are one of those who boast that you are debt free, just stop it.

Now is time to be honest with ourselves and accept that the government is broke hence the salary delays, the delays in paying contractors and the abandoning of some projects. This is what happens when there is no discipline in economic governance. Not even the much celebrated Saudi Oil deal signed earlier this year is expected to cause any positive impact in the economy. But we have to be careful with who we blame. We can’t just put the blame on president Lungu. He does not work alone but with a team of men and women who surround him. The way ordinary citizens react to some economical decisions government makes contributes to a somewhat unstable economy. We are in the habit of celebrating every move the president and his cabinet makes, good or bad. Many times we behave as if we have been advised not to think and have taken such counsel.  

Zambia has reached a point where the next government will really be about ‘Hunger Management’. We will be very wrong to expect much infrastructure development in the next five years. Money will just not be there for that. What we will see instead is government striving to deal with issues that affect the people directly. There will be very little to ‘Sonta’ in the next five years but much will be felt.

Now let me get even much more serious with this as I conclude. While all this will be happening in the next five years and beyond if not careful, we will still have the ruling party and the opposition. Mostly the ruling party in Zambia and Africa is about mocking the opposition and causing defections to paint a certain picture. The opposition on the other hand is about opposing almost everything the government does. I hope and pray this time around that we can try and change our attitudes towards one another. We have to be very careful with the way we handle matters. There is too much Anger and bitterness in the country at present time. We shall therefore need the kind of headship that will help deal with this anger, bitterness and tribalism that we are amenably preaching without shame.

We need to show love and be united as a nation. We need to be more tolerant than ever before. We need to behave in a way that will bring about investor confidence. And let me mention that even as we wait for the constitutional court ruling on the presidential election petition, let us not focus our energy on those countries that are experiencing riots and civil unrest and compare them to ourselves. We are Zambia and Zambia is a ‘Christian’ nation.  Let us remain calm and continue preaching love, peace, unity and reconciliation.

God bless Zambia.