By Amb. Emmanuel Mwamba
Bashitisha Icalo
SCANDAL; Evidence Lab, embedded at Ministry of Finance and National Planning, established and to be run by foreigners
We should have seen from the branding at the launch!
In February 2024,.Minister of Finance and National Planning (MoFNP), Dr Situmbeko Musokotwane announced that the Ministry of Finance and the Zambia Statistics Agency announced their ambition to establish an Evidence Lab within and inside the Government of Zambia.
What we were not told was that this is a laboratory that will be set up and run by a foreign entity!
The International Growth Centre (IGC) a research and think-tank majority funded by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), will run this lab inside Ministry of Finance.
Shahrukh Wani an Economist who has been appointed as Country Manager for Zambia at the International Growth Center, announced in the United Kingdom for the jobs available in Zambia.
“We’re expanding our partnership with the Government of Zambia, and you can be part of it! We’re building an Evidence Lab in the Ministry of Finance—a team of economists & data engineers connecting data with policy. 1 role is open now, with more to come, which I’ll add here:”
“Right now, we’re seeking an experienced economist to lead the Lab’s day-to-day operations and shape its strategy.”
“The ideal candidate will have strong analytical, management, and strategic skills.
jobs.lse.ac.uk/Vacancies/W/25…”
“We’re looking for an economist to report to the Head of ZEL (above) to deliver analytical outputs, working with large government data sets in a cross-functional team. jobs.lse.ac.uk/Vacancies/W/4”
This revelation has outraged economists and other stakeholders in Zambia, including Dr. Grieve Chelwa, Associate Professor of Political Economy and Chair of the Social Sciences Department at the Africa Institute based in the UAE, immediately tweeted:
“Only in Zambia where our leaders have such
low self-esteem and such low regard for their
own people that they are willing to have foreign nationals set-up an “evidence lab” right at the heart of our Ministry of Finance.”
“The British government or the US government or any government worth their salt would never grant any foreign nationals or entities such intimate access or grant them such direct influence over the setting of economic policy”.
IGC claims the Evidence Lab seeks to bridge the gap between data and policy by generating data-driven outputs that can be used for informed policymaking.
Driven by demand from policymakers, these outputs will range from data visualisation, in the form of data dashboards, to rigorous policy evaluations, which capitalise on IGC’s global academic network.
“The Lab will be embedded within the MoFNP, and it will foster strong collaboration between academia, government, and the private sector. “
At the heart of the country’s state power and institutions are already foreign entities; The Brenthurst Foundation and the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change based at State House and Ministry of Finance.
This development is highly dubious and should be strongly opposed. What is the government to achieve by using foreigners such as Tony Blair who conjured up the famous dodgy dossier on Iraq. Be weary of his underlying motive!!!!!
I CRY FOR MOTHER ZAMBIA!!!!
Rotten government