Zambia’s economic plans held hostage by 5-year political cycles, notes Haabazoka

Zambia’s economic plans held hostage by 5-year political cycles, notes Haabazoka



By Thomas Ngala



ZAMBIA’S development agenda is nothing to write about, observes economist Lubinda Haabazoka.

He notes that “our economic plans have been held hostage by five-year political cycles where our leaders plan to win elections and not for the future”.

In a statement, Dr Haabazoka said Zambia has no systems, ideology or even the patriotism to move the country from the current breadcrumb position to the caviar stage.

He said for a country to develop it needs to understand its weaknesses and strengths.

“We know our strengths and our blessings but the approach we have taken over the years is in abundance of water, a fool is thirsty. When identifying weaknesses, we mention lack of capital, skills among other things. But that’s not true,” he said.

Dr Haabazoka said Zambia’s greatest weakness is laziness.

“We might not be lazy as individuals but we are definitely lazy as a group. We have adopted an economic model that only belongs to fairytales that a country can be developed by FDI (foreign direct investment) and advice from Bretton Woods systems,” he said. “Having had the privilege to go through an education system created to produce greatness for its people and country, I find some of the assumptions we make back home laughable and very naive! For example, when a country has mineral resources, it’s just common sense that these resources should be controlled by citizens or the state! Mineral resources are given by God to help diversify the economy.”

Dr Haabazoka said there is no country in the world that has developed from foreign controlled mineral resources.

“Saudi Arabia controls its resources, Kuwait, Norway, the USA, UK and many other countries have a firm grip on their resources. It’s for poor Africa that the World Bank prescribes FDI and foreign companies to run our major sectors of the economies because I quote – ‘foreign companies have the company and expertise to do so.’ Many economists support this notion because the type of schooling that was available and the textbooks used suggest so. Some economists will even blast you for going against the IMF or World Bank because in their brains these institutions are next to God. Such is the brainwashing we have gone through over the years,” he said.

Dr Haabazoka also zeroed in on the threats by the IMF on the country regarding the dedollarisation programme.

“Many people have argued with me that the IMF is not to blame for our problems. When BoZ (Bank of Zambia) announced the very good de-dollarisation policy, Zambia was blasted by the IMF and warned (not told) against doing so. Why? Because it’s in the agenda of the IMF to maintain dollar dominance and ensure foreign companies are able to externalise their profits in the same currency,” he said. “The advice given by these institutions is to have ZRA tax the informal economy (poor people) more and say nothing about major companies. To tax us the working class and the informal sector is to keep us poorer so that we don’t challenge the world but be preoccupied with looking for food.”

Dr Haabazoka noted that the country’s mistake is that even the development plans being made are a prescription from the West.

“Funded by them. We become hostile to people like me because that’s what they tell you to be. Any patriotic person is considered a danger to their own country! Look at [Aliko] Dangote, he owns no assets in the West and because he was to break Nigeria’s foreign oil dominance, they are not allowing him to refine oil. Nigerians think it’s normal to export crude oil to the West, have it refined there and then import back refined products. Such thinking is what has made Africans a laughing stock of the world. We need to have an interdisciplinary indaba to go and craft the masterpiece of Zambia’s economic development agenda! No foreigners should be invited there but only Zambians. This masterpiece should be about Zambian driven economic development and any political party that comes in should not be allowed to deviate from this masterpiece! The masterpiece should be drafted by brave men and not cowards. It should be crafted by confident men and not men who believe in FDI to even come and clean the streets,” said Dr Haabazoka. “We have become too complacent and with no direction. Our economic plans have been held hostage by five-year political cycles where our leaders plan to win elections and not for the future. The new government that comes in, comes with its own plan. You can’t develop in the long term like that. In the absence of such thinking, we are doomed, trust me.”