President Sata has said Industrial Development Corpoartion(INDECO) will lead to modernization,diversification of the economy ,wealth and prosperity for Zambians.The re-establishment of INDECO is aimed at having all parastatals to be under one Conglomerate and maintain sovereign wealth under one firm.
However Prominent Economist Oliver Saasa said creation of a parastatal body might be contrary to the liberalized economic policies that Zambia has been implementing.He wondered why the PF Government was keen on establishing parastatal bodies which were inefficient and loss making during the UNIP era.
Former INDECO executives said there is for less political interference if the Patriotic Front is to re-introduce the parastatal company.The Executives who sought anonymity said that the major problem that led to the scraping-off of INDECO by the Fredrick Chiluba regime was political interference.They wondered what style the PF government is going to use in order for the parastatal to benefit the nation.
Below is the Full Press statement from Statehouse
His Excellency, Mr Michael Chilufya Sata, President of the Republic of Zambia, says the Industrial Development Corporation [IDC] will be a tool for the modernization and diversification of the economy in order to create jobs, wealth and prosperity for the Zambian people.
The Head of State says the state will through the IDC maximize the value of Government assets by establishing a sovereign wealth fund which will focus on stimulating investment in strategic non-mining industries among others, thereby expanding the country’s investment portfolio and thus creating jobs.
President Sata says the establishment of the IDC shall also boost the contribution of State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) to national development by placing them under one umbrella holding entity to deepen their reform, enhance efficiency and maximize returns.
The President says the IDC is Government’s strategy to enhance domestic capital formation, wealth creation and preservation by focusing on exploiting the country’s advantages in natural resources and actively developing industries and enterprises to create jobs for the people.
President Sata reiterated Government’s commitment to job creation and industrialization in order to create a better Zambia for all. To date more than 355, 335 jobs have been created since the PF came into power.
Issued by:
GEORGE CHELLAH
SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT
PRESS AND PUBLIC RELATIONS
“Mushololwa” and his son in the picture
The press statement from George Chella sounds like he copied and pasted something he read on the Internet.Throw a few big words here and there to confuse people into thinking you actually know what you are talking about.Its all hogwash if you ask me.Under our current constitution where the president has powers only second to God INDECO can not work.The Sata who can demand information from FRA on GBM then give it to his friend Mmembe to publish can not be trusted.What is he now going to do with the information he will garner under INDECO which will bring companies under his armpit.
ukwanomics Chumbu mushololwa: Zambia is in reverse gear until we get back to colonial times.
Some free advise to Mr Sata.
Economic prosperity of a nation and it’s people (in this case Zambians) can never come from Govt and/or parastatal run enterprise. You will simply inflate the already inflated Govt wage bill and “create jobs” to PF cadres while claiming that you creating jobs for Zambians.
And so it is that Fr.ed Lin.emba Mum.embe control State House…..if you have any doubt read his commentary in his pf tabloid for today!! He glorified INDECO as the young chella replicates in this pf statement.
The other chap looks like a vulture wetting his appetite
The vulture is a patient bird
IDC or INDECO is a desperate avenue for the PF govt to justify further borrowing and lopsided agreements to which they will commit the Zambian populace! Behind this is the invisible resource hungry Chinese belly that will in-hesitantly offer financial and technical backing on long-term but cunning terms tied to our rapidly depleting meager natural resources!
Its also a tragedy that in zambia we think cement,mealie and cookin oil production as a mark of industrialization. INDECO = 18th century industrialization…and even that is a big insult to 18th century British rail engineers and indusrialists.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
These pafwaka have run out of ideas. Why was not this idea put in their manifesto? What are the cost implications of such a colossal undertaking? These are the things one would have hoped will be in the budget but alas the president just woke up and came up with this ill feted and out of date strategy. This is the knee jerk reaction which simply implies that; they have reached a dead end. We are in a capitalistic economy where supply and demand are the major factors affecting the economy that’s why your intervention in the price of mealie meal has only benefited the millers. My hearts bleeds.
I last heard that that word when Zambia won AFCON 2012. Mu Zambia tatuwina wina.
It’s surprising that many people are trashing this IDC just because it is modeled on the lines of UNIP era INDECO. Can anyone tell us how many Zambian owned industrial companies have been set up since FTJ “liberalized” the economy?
The only thing that is evident in the last 23 years are South African based companies setting up shopping malls that sell predominately South african products.Foriegn industrial companies like Illovo,Barrick Gold,KCM,Larfarge who externalise their profits.How can anyone be proud of this?
Pa Zed shopping or being seen at Manda Hill or Arcades Mall is regarded as a sign of personal success.What a country? Even Tutembas are stocked largely with Zimbabwean and South African goods.
Despite it’s short comings,INDECO tried to develop Zambian run companies.
Unfortunately Independent, for many of us we see KK-UNIP-PF-INDECO = FAILURE. What ever good it may bring, though I doubt it very much, the closeness of KK to PF and the failed KK policies that led to his eviction raises more questions than answers. We see KK style of politics, shortages, rocketing prices (have you checked mealie meal of late?) in all this. Coupled with Bufi, we simply find it hard to believe the PF can come up with well thought out solutions.
Do we even have money to pay the bunch of executives to be employed at INDECO doing very little if we cant pay council workers and government employees are paid from kaloba from europe and china? Why do ZESCO, ZAMTEL??, ZAMPOST etc need indeco now? What is it that INDECO will do that ZESCO can’t do on its own?
Bwalya N’gandu will move there with his BOZ salary as will the other officials they will be secondees…only the new staff will receive a salary based on old zimco conditions of service…..with inflation factored in…..thanks
Will it be Munkombwe to lead the modernisation?
More bereaucracy in the operation of parastals, as if the current ineficiencies and nepotism is not enough. Add to this that the President, with all his unpredictability, will actually be the Chairman of this board and then also sprinkle some indisplined, uncouth, corrupt and ignorant party cadres looking for jobs, well I must say that if ever there was a recipe for disaster we must be staring at one right now. Good luck fellow citizens.
INDECO will be a conduit for corruption and national indebtedness. Surely it will benefit the politicians; not ordinary Zambians. Have we not learned from the past failures that its not the way forward?
Lets not fear the unknown.You are the same guys who cried murder when PF wanted to introduce the current currency when you screamed that it will bring about inflation.it was about 6 months ago when the new currency was introduced and yet inflation is at 7.1%
The same mudered was screamed when PF introduced the new minimum wage but up to now we are yet to see the inflation arfising from the said minimum wage. In short, you can not live and succed when you choose to live a life of fear of the unknown based on stupid econonmic theories such as free market economy!
@DANK, I doubt even people who are opposing this idea believe in the illusions of this ‘economic animal’ called “free market.” I am yet to see a country on this earth that has a ‘free market economy.’
If not through parastatals, it is through regulation or financial instruments that govts participate in the economy/markets. A good example of this is the giant American telephone company, AT&T. On the surface it is a privately run corporation, but look further you discover it is under the FCC. The US govt telecom regulatory body. From the time Graham Bell invented the telephone, AT&T (under several names), with the help of the US govt was run as a telecom monopoly in the USA until the 1980s. Maybe I am blind, but I am yet to see a “pure” free market economy anywhere!
This all thing is the way to still by PF. Employ cadres and give themselves contracts to supply to indeco thereby loot this nation
I never heard anything in the 2014 national budget about the so called INDECO. I wonder where the funds are going to come from. This is the problem when you go into GOVT without a clear plan. Its indeed very sad for Zambia.
There is what is called supplementary bughet Bwana Chisushi!
There is no need for INDECO. Put all Zambian parastatals under ZCCM – IH and ypu could rename it appropriately, after all it already exists and all it needs is refocusing and more functions. Don’t create tax money gobling monisters, which is what INDECO was.
There is no reason why ZESCO, ZAMTEL, ZR and all other parastatals can’t operate effectively, efficiently and profitably under the ZCCM – IH.
We appreciate that whenever there is market failure government needs to intervene to protect the masses. Start by diversifying FRA to have a milling plant to compete with other millers and you will see how quickly mealie meal prices will drop.
Excellent contribution.FRA shall put up milling plant across the country and instead of subsidising maize to private sector milling plants mill it and distribute within the province and adjoining provinces.
ThankU Mr. MundiaM
Bwana mundiaM, that what we call constructive blogging because you are providing suggestions rather than insulting in the name of criticising!
This INDECO thing is PF’s first step toward re-nationalisation because the aim is to create 1m JOBS & NOT to create wealth. How can one put all parastatals under one firm; ZRL, ZAMTEL, ZAFFICO, ZCCM-IH, MANSA BATTERIES, ZAMPOST, ZESCO, WATER UTILITIES, TAZAMA ETC. And to be chaired by the President? Where will he get the time/skills/energy to effectively oversee such array of enterprises & still be able to govern a country? Not forgetting RDA as well. What business credentials go with merely being President? What happens if the next President doesn’t want to meddle in the running businesses? Without deterrents such as death penalty for corruption, bribery & embezzlement, in Zambia & indeed other African countries, nationalisation is absolute wastage.
CONTD: Zambia is NOT China where state enterprise thrives on fear of draconian laws. This INDECO will trigger capital flight & reverse the gains of the privatisation programme. Cronyism will make the initial start-up projects fail & as a reaction to fufill the 1m jobs the state will now start grabbing companies like Zambeef, Parmalat, Trade Kings, SABs etc. Then there will be inevitable inefficiency, shortages & the emergence of a BLACK MARKET. Pliz PF slow down and think, INDECO to resuscitate & limited to failed companies like NCZ, Mansa Batteries & Mulungushi textiles etc is a bold & risky step but excusable experiment. But INDECO for all parastatals to create 1m jobs is utter madness and political suicide. The quickest route for PF out power in 2016 otherwise we go the ZIMBABWE way!
Bwana theoretician, thats what we call fear of the unkown .Thats where you guys are missing issues, what PF is trying to run is a mixed economy and not a totally commandist economy as was practised in KK,s time. Dont forget that we still have good laws to deter the corrupt. what we need peharps is a strong opposition and the civil society to blow the wistle were the problem will be seen to be taking place in the running of IDC activities. Dont worry on what will happen if the next president wont need to be a chair of IDC. All he/she will need to do is to appoint another person of his choice to chair or bring in new innovations all together.
@ DANK Stable countries such as RSA, Botswana, kenya, ghana have mixed economies/ state companies but these are NOT mis- mashed into one dysfunctional INDECO/conglomrate neither are the companies chaired by presidents Zuma, Khama, kenyatta etc. Such lunacy could only happen in unstable failed economies like zimbabwe and NOW Zambia! Be levelheaded & ask whether the president has proper advisers! Dont just support blindly. Think and draw lessons from history. Shocking is all I can say!
@ 19.1 Theoretician well said.DANK & Sata are proof that Zambians indeed have sight but no vision.
@Theoretician, are you against implantation or against the idea of bring back INDECO altogether? We can surely debate the implementation part but I think, has you have rightly pointed out, the idea itself is sound. So, try to separate the two components to this and lets debate the merits and demerits of parastatals in mixed economies like the countries you have mentioned.
I am also uneasy with the idea that the President should sit on, let alone be board chairman of bodies like INDECO. If anything, this is what will doom INDECO! But with a descent and properly thought-out regulatory framework to protect parastatals from undue political manipulations, the idea per se isn’t bad. I hope we can learn from countries who have succeeded at this. Like those you have correctly mentioned.
Oops; not “implantation” but “Implementation”. This ain’t a topic about fertility—hahahaha….!!!
@ yambayamba See my posts on 36.1 & 36.2 suffice to say even KK started off with good intentions or sound ideas. But experience has shown that the idea is utopia. Reasons varying from bad workculture, political interference, cronyism, bad corporate governance, lack of economies of scale, misconcieved projects, tribalism, niva boma attitude, no consequences for failure etc. On a lighter note I remember defunct contract haulage trucks & supaloaf trucks being used to drop off and pick up individual primary/nursery school kids back in the 70s & 80s. And that was just a tip of the iceberg!
The name INDECO brings to memory the days when the news paper was the main form of toilet paper in most offices and homes in Zambia; and when one had to go and hunt for what were then known as “ESSENTIAL COMMODITIES!”
Most of those who are yapping in favour of the reintroduction of INDECO have no idea as to what I am talking about. The fact of the matter is that INDECO was a mere wrap-up, a conglomerate under ZIMCO that produced no product of its own and added no real value to anything in terms of services.
Thank God for ESAP (Economic Structural Adjustment Program) that was imposed by the IMF on Zambia, under which INDECO was scrapped. Sad that somebody at State House is dreaming to resurrect INDECO. How disgusting!
Essential commodities were things like roller meal, cooking oil, bath soap, sugar, salt etc. As for fabrics, one needed to travel outside the country to destinations such as Malawi and Swaziland to buy something new. Otherwise, SALAULA was the main stay.
Haven’t we come a long way to think of going back to the days when INDECO impoverished everyone and drained the coffers of the country because Kaunda’s government was forced to keep on borrowing from external sources in order to bank-roll the payrolls of loss-making INDECO companies?
Spot on. .tell them there was a time when you had to smoke out the cooking oil to just to remove the smell before usage.
@Mei Matungu, I think the INDECO you are talking about was a result of mismanagement, ineptness and cronyism. And NOT a product of a BAD IDEA per se!
INDECO, if implemented correctly can be a vehicle for economic transformation and diversification from a largely commodity dependent (copper mining) to manufacturing, construction, service, commercial agriculture, etc. These are areas that private capital is unlikely to make an dent at all. As the 20 years of HANDS-OFF experiment by the MMD has clearly shown us. If anything, this approach has only managed to turn Zambia into a huge consumer economy for goods from South Africa!
And yes, I too lived through all those days of the “essential commodities!” Even days before that. I say this lest you accuse me of being a 1990s baby.
@Yambayamba: They say that ‘once beaten twice shy’. We are talking about 27 years of total disaster by INDECO. What was it that we could not learn and correct in 27 years? Any idea where the country would have been today, if INDECO had been a success story? Should the country be taken yet for another mindless ride to who knows where?
This is like opening a can of worms all over again! What’s Mr. Sata really up-to? Mocking the poor Zambians?
Though you claim to have had your share of that bitter pill, I doubt that you really experienced the trauma of seeing even giants like Zambia Railways, Zambia Airways crumble and the whole country being declared bankrupt! Mismanagement, yes, but what will make the difference now?
@Mei Matungu, I am not here to defend the ills and failures of INDECO in the UNIP era. NO! And I surely hope you are not trying to monopolize the suffering due to the economic malaise of the Kaunda era. We were all victims of the circumstances!
Anyways, having said that, I wish you guys who are against the idea of bring back INDECO can tell us what the alternatives are. You say 27 years of INDECO brought nothing to Zambia, well that’s fine. But has the 20 years of the so called “FREE MARKET ECONOMICS” of the MMD done to Zambia? We are told that now we are a “middle income” country, but what does this mean in real terms to ordinary Zambians? If anything, most Zambians are worse off today than they were in INDECO days. Joblessness is the order of the day in Zambia today.
cont…
And those who are employed is mostly on ‘casual-worker’ basis. Employment with NO benefits such as pension or job security. So what’s your soln to this problem? The FDI that has flowed in to give us the illusion of an economic miracle is mostly in the mines and consumer oriented sectors. Investments we all know can leave as quickly as they came in. The moment profits drop, you will see these companies folding and scampering back to where they came from.
So this is the time to start THINKING BIG! Both as a govt and country. Copper is a diminishing asset/commodity. Soon or later, if we don’t start working on developing indigenous industries/companies, we will find ourselves in even worse off situation than when INDECO existed, because then there will be no Copper to fall back on.
@Yambayamba above: The desperate situation you are describing is not what should have been tenable for Zambia fifty years after its independence from Britain. It only goes to show the quality of leaders who have been ruling Zambia since independence.
The biggest damage was done during the UNIP erra. At independence in 1964, Zambia was the richest country in Africa, north of the Limpompo. Twenty-seven years later when the MMD took-over from UNIP, Zambia was ten times poorer than it was in 1964 and had become one of the poorest countries in Sub-Sahara Africa and the world at large.
Notwithstanding the corruption in MMD, Zambia’s economy has been growing by an average of about 5% since 1991 when the MMD took-over from UNIP. PF want to bring UNIP back to life!
Yes we need niec and ubz and zcbc
For what?
na nga mwaiseni stores lol
These are sure signs of a leader that is clueless on where he should be taking his people. White elephants like INDECO should be left at the grave yard because that is where they belong. He has simply failed to attract credible investors and is now resorting to policies that failed us in the 70’s, 80’s and early 90’s. This just goes to show how simple minded and vague the so called ‘man of action’ is.
Funny that the folks fronting this illadvised idea and those to be running it are folks who’ve failed in their own enterprise pursuits.
Chitala as CEO of INDECO, ops, IDC.
The world today in most developed countries has mixed economies meaning the private and the government manage the economy. There is no such a thing as an absolute capitalist country in the world by practice otherwise if that were the case then even the most capitalist country the United States would not be bailing out failing banks. There are places where the private investors can’t go and there are certain investments that private investors can’t do because of their size, their profit margins. We need some sanity back to Zambia because Zambia has been a large scale Kantemba since MMD came to power. I don’t think INDECO is going to chase the likes of Shoprite out of Zambia but we need INDECO so we can have good big companies coming back, run by Zambians and create wealth among…
support the idea reading from the communique and its intent its a good thing
Remember melt down in Us and Europe that exponsed the failure of private and gov hard to panic to fire fight and reformed the industrial structure and participation
If your english is this bad,then your mathematics and analytical skills must be SHOCKING.
Start with these three key industries you dont need Indeco: sugar production, cement production, mealie meal production, salad or sorry cooking oil production and letter to others. also consider agriculture in line with the three. Let tham operate seperately not under one umbrella which will be transferring problems from one failled company to the other
No @wrt, we already have private sector investments in those areas. Though not enough. But I will suggest what industries/areas the new INDECO can venture into:
1) Construction: Roads, Refineries, Rail roads, Housing, Water supply systems, Sewerage systems, Electric grid, Telecommunications, etc.
2) Manufacturing: Steel, Copper wire, Electric generators, etc. Yes, use some of that copper to make generators which we can then export for a higher profit than in its raw form.
3) Service Industry: World class Airports, professional game management, museums, etc.
4) Rural Development: Rural electrification (bring down urban migration), Dams, Irrigation systems (canals, aqueducts), Dependable road systems, Bridges, and value addition to our agric products(food processing), etc.
cont..
Yes, the profit margins in some of these areas are slim to none. And only govt can invest in these areas in any substantial way. If you have been to America, you realize that infrastructure built in the 1930s and earlier is still being paid for today. For example if you have been to California; at the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco, tolls are still being paid. And no private business entity would wait that long. No FDI will come to Zambia to electrify our rural areas in order to unlock the economic potential in agriculture and food processing.
And if we don’t develop some of these areas, we might as well forget about thriving local industries that can compete locally and regionally. We shall forever remain a consumer market for RSA, Zim, Namibia, and Botswana’s goods
You can also consider transport. starting with rail and road
This INDECO, FINDECO, MINDECO, ZIMCO nonsense belong to the archaic socialistic economic structure of the Kaunda era. If they could not survive and stay profitable in a monopolistic setting, how may they be expected to be profitable in a dynamic and hostile competitive environment of a free market economy?
Someone in Ukwaland must be missing the improvised news paper toilet tissue they used to use back in the day when INDECO was INDECO.
Looks likes 2 characters at the hague standing trial
Asked differently can Zambia survive a major recession and come off with jobs for the locals given the current private now as seen in the other regions
Looking at past in skills and experience combining with current acquired a difference can be made in contribution to private
Financial Analyst you are an embarrassment to first year business students!!
Waste of space on earth.
Its unbelievable how Fred and the post can sink so low to support wrong things. They can’t even articulate issues properly. They told the people to support the removal of subsidies and now they want us to support this INDECO monster . We shall take our business out of this Nation. You natives I don’t know how you are? But I think you still need us whites to rule you.
No Offense!
steek dit in jou fokken vet hol jou moer
no offense
If INDECO comes back to life today, good positions will be created for sure and Mr. Chikwanda will most likely get another EURO bond and use the proceeds to advance the re-based INDECO some $125 million to subsist on. The trouble is that this new INDECO will be devoid of any capacity to create wealth and capacity to even service the EURO bond, much less to repay it. At the end of the day, it will be the poor tax payers who will have to come to the rescue of the country in meeting its obligations to the external financiers.
Clearly, Mr. Sata does not think and reason like an economist. Fortunately for Mr. Sata, an average Zambian is excitable and easily falls prey even to senile sententiousness and servile stupidity. Someone must call time-out or else we are in trouble.
I am not a PF supporter. If I may ask, what did the privatization of our companies bring to Zambia or tell me what we benefited from selling our mines and corporations? Leave out Chiluba’s high heeled shoes and gold chains. Probably ukwa has a plan that will remove us out poverty.
What did we benefit by selling our mines? The Chief benefit is the Zambia of today as opposed to the Zambia of yesterday. All indications are that the economy has improved significantly.
Unfortunately, Zambia is one country that is yet to demonstrate maturity when it comes to managing its resources. Countries like Botswana have been doing a fantastic job of balancing between private and public ownership.
For Zambia corruption and stealing are our achilles heel in this respect. Otherwise, the country has tried everything from Zambianization, indigenization, nationalization, you name it, and everything appears to have been back-firing so far! Stealing is in our blood. Look at what is happening even at a simple thing like the constitution!
Sorry, left out “Ukwanization” above.
@Theoretician
We get your point.What is the solution to the high unemployment ,especially among the youths, if you are trying to shoot down the INDECO idea?And do not tell us free market, because it has also failed and this is the reason why this INDECO monster has resurfaced.
@ yambayamba 19.3 & kuna matata 36:Tell me which country used state companies to create employment and survived USSR is no more, Cuba is in perpetual crisis, Eastern Europe crumbled. It is only China & that because of its “liberal” and effective use of the death penalty. PF’s solution lay in the already financially strenuous if not untenable road, stadia and university projects coupled with basic skills/artisan training in thing like bricklaying, carpentry and plumbing so that local labour is used rather than Chinese artisans. A modest/realistic target of 500 000 jobs over five years. You cannot create 1m million real jobs in the small Zambian economy overnight by mere pronouncements or pumping borrowed money in failed govt enterprises.
CONTD: How do you avoid political interference & jungle law from govt/politicians intent on giving jobs to millions of cadres in order to win the next election.Yesterday it was restarting a national airline & building new airports, today is INDECO, and tomorrow it will be compulsory national service for school leavers. All this in the midst of serious budget deficits and a shifting trend from trade surplus to trade imbalance, rising food prices/inflation due to execessive public sector wage increases (250%) Lowest govt worker/sweeper gets 500 usd same as a qualified nurse. By 2016 exchange rate will be 20ZMW to 1 USD or fixed by govt and forex in short supply. Please read a book of basic ECONOMIC THEORY!
@Theorectician, please study the economic development of the Western world and Asia (excluding China) and see how they did it. In fact the entire European economy was a public/govt sponsored project. Britain just privatized SOME of its huge public corporations as late as the 1980s. On top of that, read up on what led to the economic miracles of countries like Singapore, Taiwan, and South Korea. Then come back with an enlightened perspective to argue knowledgeably.
Don’t give me the bunkum of Socialist fanatical despots such as Cuba. No one here is arguing for Socialist command economy by saying that the ideals that INDECO was founded on are still valid. Why don’t you give me countries such as South Africa, Botswana, or Namibia and see how their versions of INDECO have worked?
cont..
While you are busy espousing economic theories that sound good from the mouth of a professor in a lecture hall, China is busy following the same path that Western countries took in their economic development. Soon, when the time is ripe, the Chinese communist govt, like Western govts before it, will relax its hold on the Chinese economy (i.e. govt’s business of doing business) and people like you will come along and start giving the same theoretical mishmash about China. Forgetting the exact path China took in order to develop.
@yambayamba: I have already explained that in stable countries like RSA, Bots and Kenya parastatals are not mish-mashed into one dysfunctional INDECO/Conglomerate neither are the chaired by presidents Zuma, Khama or Kenyatta. Such countries have legislated local content laws, restricted certain categories of jobs and businesses to locals. In Bots an expat can now only work for 3 years whilst training locals to take over in Zambia some expats have clocked 50 years. You cannot set up certain businesses in Bots and RSA without local partnership eg upto 75% in local aviation in RSA & 60% for banking in Nigeria. This is how African success stories are doing there thing. Pliz don’t talk about UK or Malaysia India or China. This is Africa so cite African examples
Only in zambia where we consider a state conglomerate involved in basic stuff like cement, cooking oil or mealie production as status of being industrialized.
I think we need to wait and see what this is really about
@Mzambia wa zamani
“Only in zambia where we consider a state conglomerate…”
PLEASE DON’T COMMENT FROM A POSITION OF PARTY CADRE IGNORANCE. INDECO IS IN OTHER COUNTRIES LIKE ITALY, CHILE & SOUTH AFRICA. IDC & INDECO IN SOUTH AFRICA ARE A SUCCESS STORY.
WHAT CHILUBA & HH COULD HAVE DONE, AT THE TIME OF PRIVATIZATION, WAS TO BREAK UP INDECO IN SMALL MANAGEABLE ENTITIES & SELL THEM TO INDIGENOUS ZAMBIANS, WITH FINANCE FROM GRZ. BUT THE FELLOWS WERE TOO PREOCCUPIED AT THE TIME WITH ILLICIT MONEY FROM PRIVATIZATION.
TODAY GRZ IS BUYING BUSES FOR INDIVIDUALS, WHEN UBZ BUSES & WORKSHOPS COULD HAVE BEEN SOLD/GIVEN TO INDIVIDUALS OR EMPLOYEES AS SHARE HOLDERS. THIS GRZ AT LEAST IS TRYING…JEALOUSY ASIDE..
But you’re misquoting him/her to suit your warped view.
He/she said “involved in basic stuff…..as being industrialized” Therefore he/she is NOT against INDECO but merely arguing about basic vs advanced.So its you who’s exhibiting ignorance.
@ Mei Matungu asks
“What did we benefit by selling our mines?” GOOD QUESTION.
LUANSHYA TODAY IS A GHOST TOWN..
ASK HH, WHY?
CHILUBA & HH BECAME INSTANT MILLIONAIRES AFTER THE PRIVATION EXERCISE?
@Tumbuka pride
INDUSTRIALIZATION SIMPLY MEANS A PROCESS WHICH HAPPENS WHEN PEOPLE START TO USE SIMPLE TOOLS/MACHINES TO DO WORK THAT WAS ONCE DONE BY PEOPLE. IT CHANGES SOCIETY AS IT HAPPENS.
IT SHUD BE PART OF AN ONGOING PROCESS WHERE WE DOPT EASIER & CHEAPER WAYS TO MAKE SIMPLE THINGS. AND ALONG THE WAY PEOPLE START USING BETTER TECHNOLOGY, WHICH MAKES IT POSSIBLE TO PRODUCE MORE GOODS IN A SHORTER AMOUNT OF TIME.TUMBUKAS & NGONIS START USING BETTER TOOLS TO CATCH RATS FOR FOOD!
THIS IS THE ROUTE COUNTRIES LIKE CHINA, SOUTH KOREA & TAIWAN ETC TOOK. WE’VE GOT TO START FROM SOMEWHERE, ‘POLE POLE’, SLOWLY. IDC/INDECO IS PART OF THAT LONG PROCESS.
DO WE NID OLD MADALAS LIKE SATA TO WAKE US UP? TO BUILD MORE UNIVERSITIES? TO REFURBISH OUR ROAD NETWORK? 50 YEARS ON?
Honestly and surely Do We Have To Wait For 15 years for Madalas Like Sata To Tell Us That We Need New Universities? To Borrow Money To Refurbish Our Dilapidated Infrastructure?
Mr/Ms, Without IDC/INDECO, Where Do U Think Our Kids and Yours will Find Jobs When They Come Out Of Universities Which Are Busy Building?
The Opposition Know That They Have Been Beaten To Ball Hence Their Opposition To This Noble (INDECO) Idea. They Have Be Caught With Their Under Pants Down…They Know, They Will Have Nothing To Talk About Come 2016 Election Campaigns…
I am so ashamed of this boy called Chellah. He gets th South Africa’s IDC mission statement and fabricates it to be Sata’s statement. You cant run a government on cut and paste policy. Firstly where is Zambia’s industralization policy? How does INDECO and please not IDC, fit into this policy? If indeed there is a policy, what are the strategic goals and implementation program? What does Sata mean by modernization and diversification of the economy? Who are Sata’s economic, political, legal…..advisors? This government is indeed RUBBISH..MATUVI CHABE
The Industrial Development Corporation idea is the best idea for the people of Zambia. This is definitely the way to go if we want to industrialize our country. The opposition has definitely been caught pants down and want to criticize anything the Government proposes without giving alternative solutions. The IDC is there in the PF manifesto under the commerce section and the President’s speech to parliament which Kaingu tore without understanding its content, it is also budgeted for in the 2014 budget. I feel very proud that this Government is taking such bold steps to improve the lives of its people.
The PF is not serious about INDECO in the real sense. It is just a 2016 campaign gimmick (Donchi kubeba part II) which will be discarded as soon as they are given a second term in 2016. Even Fred Mmembe himself knows very well that INDECO is useless for any liberalised economy like Zambia that is why he writes those extremely long editorials with little misleading substance in support so that you get tired of reading and just leave the editorial alone. For example, what will INDECO do that Zesco can’t do now on its own? INDECO was dependant on a system of cross-subsidisation of industry by industry when Copper prices were high and Zambia owned those mines. Today where will govt get money to subsidise politically inclined and inefficient industries? Even just the salaries of those executiv
to run INDECO, where are they going to get that money? From another loan Chikwanda will get from Europe after being given a hefty commission? Are they going to renationalise mines? If not then it is a non-starter. Let them conduct a serious and independent feasibility study on the re-establishment of INDECO and then we can talk. They are trying another donchi kubeba on the masses with the massive unemployment numbers existing in the country. They want people to give them a second term with the hope that INDECO will come and rescue their situation. But we are ahead of them. Let them try something else. But for now up to after 2016, they will establish a head office for INDECO with a skeleton staff of very well paid chaps to deceive Zambians that better things are coming.
Zambia’s desperate situation as we see it today is not what should have been tenable for Zambia fifty years after its independence from Britain. It only goes to show the quality of leaders who have been ruling Zambia since independence.
The biggest damage was done during the UNIP era. At independence in 1964, Zambia was the richest country in Africa, north of the Limpompo. Twenty-seven years later when the MMD took-over from UNIP, Zambia was ten times poorer than it was in 1964 and had become one of the poorest countries in Sub-Sahara Africa.
Notwithstanding the corruption in MMD, Zambia’s economy has been growing by an average of about 5% since 1991 when the MMD took-over from UNIP. Now PF seem clueless as to what to do next, except to reintroduce failed UNIP ideas!
Zambia has some very qualified economists and some of the brightest minds on teh continent, who could have helped chart the way forward and out of this economic turbulence. The trouble is that under PF, the anointing is only on the members of the family tree! The tribalists are wrecking the country and destroying its economy, not because they want to, but simply because they don’t know any better. They are using trial and error methods and old fashioned experiments.
The Zambian people must demand that this government resigns because they simply don’t know what they are doing and are wasting everybody’s time. Zambians have suffered too much and for far too long. Now even resource strapped Malawi is way ahead of Zambia in human development and economic growth!