UNRAVELLING HICHILEMA’S ECONOMIC FAILURE BLAME GAME- Fred M’membe

UNRAVELLING HICHILEMA’S ECONOMIC FAILURE BLAME GAME

It has now become a tradition for Mr Hakainde Hichilema and the UPND to pass blame on Mr Edgar Lungu and the PF for their economic policy inertia without being introspective.

Who are the key economic managers in any government who are key advisors to the President on economic matters? It is the Central Bank Governor who is responsible for Monetary Policy and the Minister of Finance who is in charge of the fiscal policy, including being custodian of budget formulation and execution.

Now let’s look back: who was the substantive Central Bank Governor during Edgar Lungu’s rule? It was Dr Denny Kalyelye who was only removed 11 months before the August 2021 elections. So we can agree that substantively Mr Lungu’s monetary policy was anchored on Dr Kalyelye. So when you say PF left high inflation, then it should point to the office holder.

Who is the current Central Bank Governor. Same person. In addition, even the deputy served under Mr Lungu and is still there. So introspect if you want to blame Mr Lungu and PF who left the kwacha at k15.89 per to now K27.

Now let’s move to the Minister of Finance. In 2016, after PF won the election, what was Zambia external debt balance? Approximately $7 billion (I stand to be corrected). Who became the finance minister post-2016 elections? Mr Felix Mutati. How much debt did he contract? He can answer for himself! It is estimated that by the time he left, it was around $11 billion (again, I stand to be corrected).

Where are these economic managers at the moment? Serving in Mr Hichilema’s government.

So the bad you blame PF is part of your core team.

In a nutshell, stop the blame game and fix the problems. You are now heading to 3 years in government, so stop the blame game. If you have failed, just admit, we will forgive you. You are not God, so every human being is fallible.

Just admit your failures and seek help.

Fred M’membe
President of the Socialist Party