Ukutwala ubufi naku basungu! Umweni akaya!- Amb. Emmanuel Mwamba

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Ambassador Emmanuel Mwamba

By Amb. Emmanuel Mwamba

Ukutwala ubufi naku basungu! Umweni akaya!

As USA, IMF and President Hakainde Hichilema seek a solution to the debt crisis, all eyes are on China, which is the single largest creditor to Zambia’s $14.8billion external debt.

So If China is key to unlocking the work of the creditors’ committee to restructure and obtain possibe debt forgiveness, why is it being attacked without provocation?

The shocking statement by President Hakainde Hichilema that the apetite to obtain these loans was driven by corruption is not true and is actually regretable.
The loan facilities extended to Africa were done under the Forum on China–Africa Cooperation (FOCAC).

Further President Xi Jinping developed one of the most ambitious foreign policy intitiatives- the Belt and Road(BRI). Since 2013, the programme became the centerpiece of Xi Jinping’s reign for expansion, especially in Africa, and a defining policy of his first term.

This infrastructure-driven strategy saw a Belt and Road Initiative presence in nearly 138 countries that included Zambia.

Zambia was a mere beneficiary of financial facilities negotiated under the umbrella of the Africa Union/China Cooperation.

China offered preferential loans and export credit lines at every FOCA Meeting with the 2015 Johannesburg Meeting getting pledges of $60billion extended to Africa and another $60billion at the 2018 Beijing Meeeting.

To this effect, Zambia has since built schools. It built iver 110 new secondary schools and expanded by 14,000 new classrooms.

New hospitals; health centres, clinics, district hospitals, mini hospitals, teaching hospitals and nursing and midwifery schools were buuilt. Government also built new roads, bridges, and international airports. Dams and power stations were built that saw an increase in power generation capacity from 1,600 megawatts to 3,500 megawatts.

To therefore hear President Hakainde Hichilema claim that this policy was driven by corruption is sad and clearly a case of display of ignorance of international proportion. These were international programmes that Zambia tapped into.

These insults and diplomatic gaffes will not help Zambia’s case to resolve its outsanding debt with China and will not inspire diplomatic cooperation to resolve the case with the Creditors Committee as regards to China that holds a third of Zambia’s external debt.

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