ZAMBIA HAS NOT DONE WELL IN TERMS OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
….the country is too rich to be poor, observes Dr. Mushalika
Lusaka… Thursday May 23, 2024 (SMART EAGLES)
An Academician has observed that Zambia has not done well in terms of economic development since getting independence 60 years ago.
Dr. Joseph Mushalika says in as much as the country has tried in the area of infrastructure development, it’s worst performance is in the area of economic development.
Dr. Mushalika, who is also Chief Executive Officer of Build Zambia 2064, says Zambia is too rich to be poor as it is endowed with natural resources.
Dr. Mushalika said this when he featured on the Conversation Podcast hosted by Amb. Emmanuel Mwamba.
“We have done well in terms of trying to develop infrastructure in Zambia, we have done well with self governance, self rule but of course there are things we have not done well. If you look at 60 years of independence, that is quite a long time. And I think our worst performance is in the area of economic development. And why do I say our worst is in the area of economic development, is because of what kind of a country we are, resource wise. We are too rich to be poor,” he said.
“Look at our mineral wealth as a country. You know when we were in grade five or six we knew there was copper, gold, diamond but we didn’t even know there was a thing called sugilite. Those hills in Mkushi we didn’t know that there is manganese. Look at our timber, our rosewood, Mukula etc we are just too rich.”
He said even if the country is experiencing effects of climate change, it is still predictable.
“Even if there is climate change, our climate is still relatively predictable. It’s not as bad as it maybe in the future. Given that scenario and the history we were given that at independence we were richer than China, Singapore, South Korea and Malaysia, the question our children should be asking us is that what did you fo0ls do?” He added.
Dr. Mushalika said politicians have a tendency of creating a culture of dependency saying this should be avoided.