ADMIT FAILURE, DO NOT MASK IT
By Faston Mwale, SP Deputy General Secretary – Political
Claims by the UPND government that they have successfully delivered on their promises is, to the say the least, hollow and is political flattery seeking self-consolation in the light of failure to deliver development as pledged during the run up to the 2021 general elections. If indeed the UPND has fulfilled its promises, then, why is a 25kg bag of mealie meal costing K418 instead of the assured K50, for example? Masking the shame of failure could be more damaging than openly acknowledging that things have been very difficult. Who does not know that Zambia is enduring the worst cost of living crisis under the watch of the UPND?
In the face of systemic crises, it is proving impossible for the broad masses of the people to escape poverty. Given a disabled energy sector, a broken agriculture sector and a rundown health and educations sectors, breaking out of the vicious cycle of poverty is not easy. It is not a secret that the neoliberal prescriptions of the International Monetary Fund religiously pursued by government are not reducing poverty, rather, they are exacerbating the crisis.
Today, large numbers of households including middle class families are experiencing the inhumanity of hunger, poverty, starvation, deprivation and social exclusion. 60 percent of Zambians are trapped in a vicious cycle poverty while approximately half of the population has already been pushed to the edge of the cliff.
Thousands of our young people who otherwise must be in tertiary institutions are not able to access higher education because they have been excluded from a bursary loan scheme. Yet, we have a government that cannot account for $3bn illicitly drained out of government coffers in a single year. The crisis of accountability over public resources has been occasioned by ruthless forms of rent-seeking behaviors and grand corruption that has become the norm rather than the exception. If one closed their eyes for a moment and imagined about how many of our young people would be awarded bursaries from a $3bn to advance their education, they would be profoundly amazed.
In today’s world, development dynamics have changed drastically. No country can move forward if it ignores tertiary education. The systematic exclusion of thousands of young people from educational processes especially at tertiary level is a grave mistake which cannot be remedied easily. The main thrust of the 21st century education must be the acquisition of science and technology backed by research and development.
We in the Socialist Party have repeatedly belabored the point that the development of countries nowadays no longer hinges on the geographical size of the country, nor on the size of the population, nor on the mineral resources buried underground but on the brain power of its people. This is precisely why the Socialist Party in government will spend not less than 25 percent of the national resources on education besides socializing the educational sector. Under the socialist government, no child must be excluded from education processes at any level on account of fees. Every child is special and has a right to education. This will be complemented by a commitment of not less than 20 percent of the national resources to the health sector to enhance social capital formation. Healthcare will be free and socialized.
I must put it to the UPND leadership that they have lamentably failed and must own up. Masking the shame of failure by claiming credit in the face of a visible shortcomings is not leadership but the worst form of fascism. There is honor and respect in admitting failure. It is only when one acknowledges their failures and deficiencies that a path is set for reform. To obstinately deny that there is a crisis of leadership in Zambia is being disingenuous. Zambians of today are not dull to be constantly fed with a diet of lies. They know too well that their predicament is enshrined in the insatiable lust for wealth accumulation, propelled by rent-seeking behaviors, corruption and wanton looting of state resources perpetrated by those who wield political power.
Zambians must not succumb to the fear of change. In our current circumstances, change is inevitable. But change must be thorough. It must not be superficial change just for replacing one set of failures by another but must be change that entails socio-economic, political and cultural transformation. The construction of a society that is less ugly but more humane, less discriminatory but more inclusive is possible but building it is but a collective task.