THEY PROMISED MORE MONEY IN PEOPLE’S POCKETS…but look where they have ended up, Magande sounds distress over PF governance
By Patson Chilemba
Former finance minister Ng’andu Magande says it’s distressing to see where the PF has ended up when they promised more money in people’s pockets.
And Magande says it is welcome that the Chinese have deferred Zambia’s debt repayments for three years, but would be interested to know what Zambia is offering in return and what the government will do with the money that was meant for debt servicing.
Speaking with Daily Revelation, Magande said he would be interested to see what President Edgar Lungu would accomplish in this his full term going up to 2021, hoping he could bring up something that would change the country’s trajectory at the 11th hour.
Magande said the PF government had proved that party manifestos meant very little in terms of how the ruling party was governing the country.
“They (manifestos) can be beautiful, more money in your pockets, but you can see where they (PF) have ended up,” he said.
Magande said it was welcome that the Chinese had allowed deferment on Zambia’s debt repayment, but very little was known on the terms of that decision.
“If indeed it happened that is good news. The only thing is we don’t know who negotiated for us. It seems the Chinese just decided on their own. I think it’s just about transparency about our dealings with the Chinese,” said Magande, adding that he would be interested to know what sort of impact the deferment will have on Zambia. “And what impact it will have on any of our plans that if we get this money then we are going to do this and this. It’s good if they have allowed us to defer. I would like to know if the minister will give a ministerial statement.”
Magande said the money that was due for China should be channeled towards productive ventures, like in the agriculture sector, where with the onset of rains, government could procure equipment to increase production.
He said investment into the production, would in turn create demand, which was needed during these dire economic stresses the country was going through.
Magande hoped the money would not be channeled into election related ventures, saying during his time as finance minister under the late Levy Mwanawasa, the country did not experience over expenditure, saying even the budget deficit went down during the period of the elections.
Zambia has been granted a Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) by the Chinese government and all concessional facilities as provided by the G20 guidelines.
Zambia has also been given a one-year grace period and suspension of three years of repayment.
China has suspended and maximum debt service repayment for 2020 and rescheduled it amounting to $225 million which was due between May to December 2020.
Debt suspension for 2021 and 2022 amounting to $426.3 million and $428 have been suspended and rescheduled. -Daily Revelation