WE’RE GOING TO BE ISOLATED
…Zambia isn’t creating friends in the region, warns Musumali
By Walusungu Lundu
WE ARE surrounded by hungry neighbours, says Dr Cosmas Musumali adding that “so when you produce your maize you need to make a decision, are you going to sell it in Zambia and then make a loss or are you are going to sell it to the neighbouring countries and make some bit of pro t out of it?”
He also notes that Zambia is not creating friends in the region.
“Zambia is creating friends in the US and maybe within South Africa, a small portion of South African white capital. The implications are that we are going to be isolated diplomatically. And the implications are that we are a danger to the entire region. The implications are that even at the African Union level, at SADC region, we are losing out on that harmony, on that cooperation that we used to enjoy all these years. We can’t take a lone stand simply because we have a party in government that was supported by the Americans,” Dr Musumali said.
The Socialist Party (SP) general secretary bemoaned the high cost of living in the country which he attributed to the high essential commodities’ prices such as mealie meal.
Regarding the debt situation, the country is grappling with, Dr Musumali indicated that President Hakainde Hichilema is realising the need to bring China on board.
He said this when he featured on KBN’s State of the Nation show.
“I have seen, was it yesterday or the other day, where the President was talking to the Chinese Ambassador [Du Xiaohui]. He was saying the right words. I think he is realising that you can’t handle this issue without also talking to China, without respecting China. Is it too late? I can’t tell but definitely we made a huge blunder, government made a huge blunder,” he said.
“There is a little bit of naivety in it. You are accepting the IMF and those conditionalities push the cost of living up. At the same time, you are pursuing a monetary policy that is pushing cash out of the economy. So there is no cash in the Zambian economy.”
He said China was not respected regarding the debt issue.
“Once you go to the IMF it means everything else has failed. I think the President is realizing that you can’t handle this issue without also talking to China, without respecting China. The IMF is the lender of the last resort. And the IMF has got conditionalities that must be met. So what has happened when it comes to debt, there is a significant portion, if I am not mistaken up to 40 per cent of our foreign debt is from China. But who made the diplomatic mistake? We did not address China as one of the leading lenders for this country,” he said.
“Our first visit where to the US, Europe, if anything actually we are hostile. The government was hostile towards China. And China is putting its foot down saying we can’t be the ones that are going to be making changes to the debt portifolio and then the private lenders from Europe and many others will benefit from the stance that we are going to make. And although bringing in some suggestions like okay let’s deal with the debt comprehensively within the general framework lets include part of the public debt that is owned by foreigners…that has got implications and the government is back peddling. China is saying let us talk about debt wholly but we cannot be the ones to sacrifice and everyone comes in at the end.”
Meanwhile, Dr Musumali said reviewing the relationship with the US is important.
He said there are more serious issues for Zambia and for the continent.
“Let us go back a little bit into history. At one time Africa wanted to liberate itself. We had formidable leaders, our own heroes. Patrice Lumumba was one of them. What did he say? He said the wealth of the Congo is for the Congolese and the Africans. And that was not good enough for the imperialist world and the US, France, Belgium were against that,” he said.
“Their mandate is to exploit this continent. They are after their own interests on this continent. So let us not be naïve, let us not be lied to. Lumumba was killed because of that. Kwame Nkruma made the same phrase, any African leader who stands up today and says the wealth which is on this continent is ours is regarded as an enemy to the imperialist world, led by the US.”
Dr Musumali lamented that Zambia is getting even much closer in being integrated into the American system.
“You have seen the MoU that was signed more recently in terms of the issue of electric batteries. We are becoming a new colonial state of the West order and that is what we should be reviewing. We should be looking at the issues that we should not allow foreign forces, foreign armies to use Zambia as a staging ground for protection for American interest. We are talking about AFRICOM and the office that they are setting up here. That office is unwelcome,” he said.
“Those are critical issues on our security, they are critical issues on the security of this region and in the entire region, most governments are worried of the developments that are taking place in Zambia. Those are the issues when it comes to the US that we should be looking at.”
Dr Musumali charged that the government is oblivious to the region.
He said the UPND administration is not listening to what is going on in the region.
“If you get into Zimbabwe today and talk to Zimbabwean officials, if they are honest enough they will tell you they are worried about the development in Zambia. If you talk to South Africans, they will tell you we are worried about the developments that are taking place in Zambia. So Zambia is not creating friends in the region. Zambia is creating friends in the US and maybe within South Africa, a small portion of South African white capital,” he said.
“The implications are that we are going to be isolated diplomatically. And the implications are that we are a danger to the entire region. The implications are that even at the African Union Level, at SADC Region, we are losing out on that harmony on that cooperation that we used to enjoy all these years. We can’t take a lone stand simply because we have a party in government that was supported by the Americans. Then you are selling off our foreign policy. That is wrong, that is unacceptable and those are the issues that we should be dealing with urgently.”
