THE IMPERFECTIONS OF MR KINGSLEY CHANDA’S REASONING.*

Authored By Mupishi Jones

There’s an audio doing rounds on social media about Mr Kingsley Chanda on the debt restructuring of this country.
The tone is that of someone who feels irritated by those celebrating the successful negotiations of the country’s breakthrough in those seemingly unsustainable debts left behind by him and his employers on restructuring deal.Just like Mr Emmanuel Mwamba, it boarders on immorality for our colleagues to trivialise gigantic efforts made by their successors in many fronts such as debt restructuring, unlocking our mining sector rigidities.

Whilst Mr Chanda acknowledges the heavy debt burden they left behind, his point of departure is that this country has the capacity to easily pay back that debt without the hyphexed euphoria of the New Dawn government.He suggests this country has the capacity to pay all of it’s debt from it’s various sources of revenue without either restructuring the debt or looking for external support.
However, what Mr Chanda doesn’t realise is the debt was due in 2022! Therefore,there was no time to raise that money and pay.The only rational option was to renegotiate the terms in order to have enough time to mobilise resources in the manner Mr Chanda is suggesting.Mr Chanda and his paymasters had all the time to implement what he is bringing out today but squandered that opportunity and resources on unproductive ventures!

First of all, let me state on the onset that Mr Kingsley Chanda is the immediate past Director General of Zambia’s Revenue Collection Agency the ZRA.He cannot distance himself from the team that defaulted on the eurobond debt when it fell due during Mr Chanda’s tenure.Mr Chanda’s blanket blame on Zambia’s failure to pay it’s external debt is plausible.

Hypothetically, when a King insists on saying something which everyone in his kingdom believes does not exist, unintentionally, the focus of the conversation by his people shifts from the subject at hand ,to that of questioning the Kings mental stability.As the King keeps on raising the same utopia issues, in silent whispers, his own subjects would start asking themselves whether their King ‘s mental health is still sound.
This is the similar situation which Mr Kingsley Chanda is getting himself. It’s a situation which is very difficult for anyone to understand and believe no matter how much he explains.He is finding himself in the situation of Mr Edgar Chagwa Lungu where whatever he criticises on the current government, people will always remind him why he failed to do that which he is criticising.

These are the people that had their fingers on important buttons when it comes to revenue generating decision making in this country in the immediate past regime.These are the people who sat and decided to contract those astronomical debts from very expensive sources.These are the people who sat and decided to default on the debt which themselves contracted.Their collective decisions led this country into a shameful position of being the first country to default on it’s debt obligations.

Most of the taxes such as with-holding taxes and other painful domestic taxes which people are complaining about today were crafted by Mr Chanda.He decided to over tax citizens instead of implementing what he’s hallucinating today.The man seems not even to know that he’s moving from an action position to a mere rhetorical and political position.

Mr Chanda’s rapid shift from a bureaucratic to a critical public role could indicate a move towards politics,yet his limited track record and superficial understanding suggests he may be unprepared for the complexities of political leadership.If he is aiming for a political career, enhancing his grasp of economic and political strategies through deeper engagement with experts and further education could be beneficial.
I submit

Mupishi Jones
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