ZAMBIA’S LASTING SOLUTION DOES NOT LIE IN THE IMF
By Dr. Fred M’membe, President of the Socialist Party
Those in power today should not blame anyone for the political fallout that is surely coming as a result of implementing a dreadful IMF deal. They made a lot of noise about the IMF loan. They sang hymns of self-praise for securing the bailout and attempt to drive out any reasonable voice that warned about the adverse consequences of the deal.
We warned that it was just a matter of time before Zambians would realise that there is no future in the past. We have been on this route before and it has not worked for us. It is not the first time Zambia has gone to the IMF.
UNIP under president Kenneth Kaunda went to the IMF in the 1980s though KK was quick to abandon the Brettonwood institution after they failed to answer his famous question: “are you able to design a program that will not require me to kill my own people?”
The MMD under Frederick Chiluba went to the IMF in the 1990s. The MMD under Levy Mwanawasa went to the IMF in the early 2000s. Where have all these previous IMF deals left Zambia? They have simply exposed our incapacity as a people to govern ourselves.
After winning independence on the ground that we can govern ourselves, does it really make sense for us to subcontract the running of our economy to the IMF, to return to the West and ask them to help us govern ourselves? As Simon Kapwepwe would say, Zambia twasebana!
The greatest beneficiaries of IMF bailout programs in Zambia are usually the same forces: Western companies, South African finance capital and the local businessmen connected to those in power. These forces are usually the ones who buy our state-owned enterprises at cheaper rates on the pretext that they are making losses. It is not different this time. The poor are been hit hard. The workers are been hit hard. Our people are crying for help.
Companies that even Chiluba refused to privatise under any circumstances such as ZAMTEL and ZESCO are this time likely to be sold to their business associates or the western firms. For years, those in power today told us when they were in opposition that they are very good at business; that the reason why state enterprises make losses is because of political interference from the ruling party and the politicians in power. Now that they are in power themselves, what will be their excuse for selling state enterprises since all they need to do is stop interfering in the operations of ZESCO or ZAMTEL and appoint competent people who can run such companies professionally and like private entities?
We repeat: the lasting solution to Zambia’s economic difficulties does not lie in the IMF. It lies in the collection of fair and adequate revenue from the mining sector for support to secondary industries such as manufacturing. It lies in the development of the arts, a hugely important industry that those in power today have reduced to a footnote in a ministry! It lies in increased state support to agriculture and enhanced food security, but those in power today are quicker to listen to the IMF and remove subsidies on farming inputs even when the US and other Western countries still subsidise their own agriculture industry. It lies in increased state investment to social sectors such as education and health.