A retrospective look on 2023

Laura Miti writes….

A retrospective look on 2023 concludes the following:

Economy

The 2023 economic situation had, for me, two rather divergent assessments:

1. Tough, Depressing
   There is no arguing with the fact that 2023 hit Zambian pockets viciously. The inescapable indicator of that being the high price of mealie meal. The Kwacha galloped south and, with it, prices of food and other essentials. In simple terms, the ordinary citizen was hungrier than they had been in previous years. Compounding the fact of the economic difficulties were, to use an incongruity, the gleeful lamentations of opposition parties about how tough things were. Their song, on repeat about, how the current government was failing. If you did not know that you were hungry, and your bills were becoming more difficult to pay, there was Emmanuel Mwamba and Fred M’membe to happily tell you. So, yes, 2023 was economically rough.
2. Navigating Stormy Waters
   There was an inverse view to the depressing economy set out above. My view, that I have shared often, and which nothing has yet convinced me to change, is that, all things considered, if 2023 had visited us with the country under any of the politicians we now have as alternatives to the presidency, things would have been much worse. Simply, it is remarkable that, given the mountain of debilitating debt in our path, the country remains some kind of going concern.

I am almost certain, and would be glad to be convincingly divested of that view, that any other government would have told us that social benefits like free education, meal allowances for students or social cash transfer were impossible, given the economic straits. We can add to that employment of teachers, nurses and others. That, in the current environment, these social safety nets, that reduced what citizens had to pay from their pockets, were in the budget and implemented, is remarkable.

Significant for me, about the economy, is that I have not heard one politician suggest how they would have navigated the stormy debt waters differently and better, were they in power. In simple terms, it is my view that 2023 was hard, but could have been more difficult with a less economically astute President and his financial team. This is especially true because what happens to our economy is, right now, not in our hands. It is in the hands of the people we owe astronomical amounts of money. And they are not our friends.

Politics

There is no other way of saying it- our political environment in the last year was horrible. It was both annoying and concerning. Just as I commend President Hichilema, for holding tight onto an economy wanting to gallop into the full red, I blame him for allowing our politics to degenerate back to mindless wallowing in the mud.
Exchange of insults, prevention of opposition parties from holding meetings, ruling party unconvincingly not being involved in PF internal madness, arrest of opposition leaders at the drop of a hat for illegally extended periods – what was all that??

My view is that the government, HH especially, felt the pressure of citizen unhappiness on the economy. Now, rather than speak honestly to the country about its inability to fulfil promises, naively, if sincerely, made in opposition, the powerholders inexplicably decided to undo the gains they had made, on quietening the political temperature. Take, for example, decisions like allowing Inspector General of Police, Musamba, to sound and act as unprofessionally as the worst IGs we have had. In this country, the political environment is largely determined by the conduct of the police. Well, in 2023, they were drunk.

Social

In 2023, we as a country continued to display the extent to which our education system is failing us. The frivolous issues that caught our attention, and the important ones we ignored, showed us to be a society with a very weak ability to think critically. To ask the simple question – does this make sense? Our ability to be totally consumed, for extended periods, by the absolute nonsense happening in so-called celebrity lives is award winning. I need not speak about our national ability to be conned by Papas.
Eh, head aches just thinking about who we socially can be.

There is an upside to us, though. It is that we remain a thoroughly humorous country. I cannot count the number of times I have found myself laughing hard at something hilarious, said about a serious matter. Our mungulu is 5-star, as is our easy nature. All said – Zambia is a beautiful country to live in, and that was not different in 2023.

Legal

The big win was the passing of the much-awaited Access to Information Law. A surprisingly good law, it turned out to be. One that we will need to test. We, however, still await constitutional amendment as well as that of the Public Order and Cyber Security Laws. These are a problem for our democracy. With the need for law reform, 2023 ended with a judiciary, few people trust, still needing fundamental change.

Other

As ever, there were intriguing sideshows to 2023.

There is the presidential marriage. I doubt we have had a presidential couple that does so much for this institution that is in so much trouble in Zambia. HH, and his Mutinta, come across as a genuinely loving and self-contained partnership. I mean, how many times, in this country, have we seen someone with the kind of money, and now power, that the chap in State House has, who does not play a string of away games. We can only hope that this period, in which this couple is in the limelight, will bring some minimum stability to marriages – kaili we like copying those in power. Why not copy some good? Also good to observe is that we do not have a rogue presidential child, hogging the media.

Next aside, is my good friend, Sunday Chanda. His ability to reimagine himself remains riveting. Hmm, if truth be told, this man should be feared. Kuli kuchinja kwa so?? What other versions of him exist??

Anyhow, what Sunday has managed with his constituency, by use of the CDF, is something to applaud. CDF can change communities, if those that manage it can simply understand what really matters to people, and deliver on it.

Then we had the Copper Queens! Just loved, loved, loved them – all round!

Here is to 2024! May it be kind!