Dr Nevers Mumba

The Die has been cast. The new government has just cast their economic vision for the country, and we join the many ZAMBIANS in applauding them for the clarity and the direction and the points on which they wish to undergird their blue print for their proposed economic emancipation of the country.

In the Third World and in a country that is economically challenged such as ours, progress can be very slow and frustrating.

Once in a while, however, destiny throws us a lifeline that makes it possible to catch up with what we’ve lost and possibly take a giant leap forward.

That’s the kind of confidence that yesterday’s budget announcement represents.

It is a testament to President Hichilema’s desire to plant the “Seeds of Prosperity” and get the nation back on a long and hard but achievable path to propserity.

It is an answer to many Zambian voices that have worked tirelessly to push for a more decentralised and stimulating economic regime that will place opportunity right back in the hands of many small Zambian Business Houses rather than in the hands of a few foreign entities.

It is a dream come true to many Zambian households whose only real life’s goal has been to see to the education of their children, and yet live through the pain of watching even that slip through their fingers due to no financial resources to send their children to school.

It is a budget that, by increasing CDF to over, 25million, promises to deliver development right where it matters; at ward level and at the constituency, thus giving to the ordinary ZAMBIANS, what they have fought for, for years.

Under this Budget, families everywhere will be able to send their children to school, and allow them to channel the little resources that have into feeding and nourishing their families. With this, millions of our children will get a stronger start to life after their guaranteed Basic Education.

However, we wish to remind every Zambian and the New Dawn government that a vision, once cast, requires a measured, consensus driven, and steady approach to actually implement it successfully.

We therefore, now wait for the implementation of the budget and it is is in fact on this point, among Seven, that we decided as the MMD to partner with and support the UPND in their efforts to improve the quality of life of all Zambiana. One of the Seven Points that we chose to partner with the UPND on is in the area of fixing the economy of the nation and in ensuring that the debt stock is managed effectively. In this regard we are, so far, not dissapppointed with the manner our colleagues have crafted a budget that speaks to these CORE ECONOMIC NEEDS.

We however, are yet to see how this historic budget will encourage sufficient levels of investment in Agriculture, investments in clean, Renewable energy and investment in manufacturing and in value addition on our primary produce. This is what is necessary to place the millions of ZAMBIANS, for years excluded from the narrow and shrinking formal sector back in line to peruse a sufficient and sustainable livelihood in self employment.

As the MMD, we also wish to advocate that this government should relook at the Multi- Facility Economic Zones Act and see how they can be stimulated to be productive in order to start creating employment opportunities for our young people. When properly harnessed, they will create hundreds of thousands of jobs and help us, once again, create industrial towns like we used to have, in the Copperbelt before.

In addition, we also wish to place it on record that while we support the increase in the PAYE exempt threshold to K4,500, the upper band rate of 37.5% for amounts above K6,900 is still too harsh on the employees. It is from this band of workers that Most small businesses in Zambia are supported either directly or indirectly by the working middle class and to Tax them at 37.5% is really to stifle the only sector in the country that is guaranteed to stimulate investment into micro and small business units. We think future budgets should seek to bring this Tax down to not more than 16%

Yes, the New Dawn “Seeds of Prosperity” budget does NOT contain everything that the President promised and that some of us hoped. But that’s the nature of progress in a democracy.

The good news is that it represents a very well thought through and in my opinion, the best chance we’ve had in many years to build on the progress we had made during President Mwanawasa’s administration.

Let is all support it as it can address some of the most urgent and important challenges of our time.

On behalf of the Movement for Multi Party Democracy and Myself, I’m grateful to President Hakainde Hichilema, and the UPND and everyone who has raised their voice to call for positively budgetary and economic reforms in our country. This is your budget.

We believe that the fight is long and the fight continues, but today, we can take a momment and pat ourselves on the back on this landmark budget and recognise it as an important step on our long journey to get Zambia where we want it.

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