by Dr. Charles Ngoma
As a little boy in the renamed town of Fort Jameson in the late 60s and early 70s. I was fascinated by two ‘white’ men. They were very successful businessmen in the town. From their farms, fresh produce flowed day in and day out, supplying the town folk. Forty years later, I look back and from their names, I gather that they were Jews. One was Cohen, which is the Hebrew for ‘priest.’ Today, the arid lands of the Middle East are feeding the lush lands of Western Europe. The desert sands of Egypt export potatoes to Britain! Why are Jews and Arabs so successful? To understand this, we need to be careful about how we define ‘the poor.’ The UN defines poverty as ‘the total absence of opportunities, accompanied by high levels of undernourishment, hunger, illiteracy, lack of education, physical and mental ailments, emotional and social instability, unhappiness, sorrow and hopelessness for the future. Poverty is also characterised by a chronic shortage of economic, social and political participation, relegating individuals to exclusion as social beings, preventing access to the benefits of economic and social development and thereby limiting their cultural development.’
This is a mouthful! When I look at each component of this definition closely, I realise that anyone of us can fit into this definition at any time. Perhaps, the underlying factor of poverty is ‘the absence of opportunities.’ We can never all have the same material goods, and we cannot all have the same wealth. Communism tried that and failed and that is partly because it mis-interpreted the writings of a great Jew called Karl Marx. The essence of Marx’s teaching is fundamental to Jewish and Arabic prosperity throughout the ages. Since Zambia is a ‘Christian nation’, bear with me while I quote the words of Christ, the Jew. ‘The poor will always be there for you to do something about…’ and elsewhere he talks about a widow who is ‘poor.’ Now the English is confusing here, because it uses one word for two different kinds of people. The first ‘poor’ are the destitute, beggars and those who are totally bowed down that they can never ever get by without help from another. The widow, on the other hand, belongs to the poor who have low income, but there is potential to grow that income through hard work and opportunities. Jesus is saying that the first type we must feel sorry for and we must help. The world will never get rid of those who are disabled, infirm and at extremes of age; these ‘poor’ will always be with us. These will always depend on charity unless ‘good news’ is preached to them!
I may be wrong, but I believe that when people talk about poverty, in general they are referring to low income groups. That is not poverty! Here is where Karl Marx was right; we must give as many people as possible control of ‘the means of production.’ Is the man who lives in a mud-walled, grass-thatched hut, on an acre of land in rural Mazabuka, but has 10 herds of cattle, 20 goats and some chickens poor, compared to an employed miner in Wusakili, Kitwe? The miner has a mobile phone, television, toilets with running water, electricity and possibly a jalopy! I put it to you dear reader that this miner is poor, because he is employed and he does not own the means of production. He cannot plan to increase his ‘yield’ at any time, except negotiate his salary through his union! The owner of the mine will always have the upper hand!
Our nationalist fathers wanted every Zambian to have ‘an egg a day’ for breakfast. We dreamt of public ownership of the means of production. I was young then, but I understood nationalisation to mean that Campbell Booker Carter stores (CBC) would be ours when it became Zambia Consumer Buyers Cooperation (ZCBC). We were promised that there would be no poor people in Zambia. We sung, ‘Dziko la Zambia ndilapamwamba!’ We would own the copper mines too! Who would be poor if they did own these golden geese that laid golden eggs? It was not very long before this dream was shattered. They too, mis-read Marx. Kaunda’s UNIP government discouraged personal enterprise and ambition. Mass employment was government policy. To be employed is to be enslaved! For a nation to prosper there must be as fewer people ‘employed by another’ as possible. More and more people must be entrepreneurs who create wealth.
What should be the role of government in all this? Well, I see two roles:
1. Level the playing field to give equal opportunities for all able bodied citizens to prosper in whatever they put their hands to. Legitimate self enterprise and entrepreneurship should be encouraged. No able-bodied person, fulfilling his God-given potential can remain poor. Some who lost their employment can look back and say that their sack was their luck. We need more wealth builders. We have graduates from University who can start up on their own, but are knocking from door to door ‘looking for employment!’ Engineers, teachers, doctors, nurses, pharmacists and so on, must be taught business skills so that they can start up on their own! Plumbers, electricians, carpenters, builders;, why should they be un-engaged? All these groupings could set up ‘Kibbutz’ (co-operatives) and create their own wealth. The more wealth is created, the more revenue the government collects in order to do the next part.
2. Provide for the needs of the real poor, that is those who are disabled, infirm, maimed and at the extremes of life. The HIV/AIDS pandemic is adding more and more souls to this camp. Some of these people did a great service to the country and now the country must serve them. In a civilised country, no one person should die because the society cannot look after them.
Corruption is a menace to progress because it ‘un-levels’ the playing field. ‘Wako ni wako’ disadvantages some people. This is very well written and I hope someone cares to take note of how we can get rid of real destitution while at the same time not dishing out handouts to people who should get off their back sides and work. I could even suggest that foreign aid should go into micro-financing so that Zambians can build wealth. Aid should not be given to governments but directly to group projects and business plans. It is impossible to completely eradicate corruption in government. We all know of scholarships that are advertised after the closing date, when all the relatives have taken them up!
I really like this article, because it gets to the point of the real issues. Also, with 70% of the people living on $1,- per day, the poor is US. Unlike in developed nations, this is a national issue affecting everyone and everything, not just the unfortunates of society.
I have a few policy prescriptions that could help eliminate poverty.
1) Tax the mines $1.2 billion a year or more. This will make money available and stop the government from borrowing, so money is available to entrepreneurs at reasonable interest rates.
2) Directly fund local government from national revenues. We can double the incomes of local councils, eliminating the need for local taxes and levies except in special cases, and preventing the Zambian people from getting double taxed (once on income, and again for local services). This in itself will keep more disposable income in people’s pockets and stimulate the economy by raising demand for goods.
3) Reduce government waste, through direct oversight and monitoring of projects. Over $300 million is lost every year because of corruption and overpaying for government purchases.
4) Eliminate unemployment by starting large infrastructure projects. The roads need upkeeping. There can be better connections between the region’s economic hubs. There is need for massive use of irrigation, as only 3% of arable land is under permanent irrigation and 97% of arable land is rainfed. With increasingly erratic rainfall because of increased climate change, irrigation is likely to become an issue of national security and food security. We need ponds and small dams, and swales to keep water on the land as long as possible. This will both immediately create jobs and create jobs in agriculture, as well as lower the price of food, and generate enough food for export.
Zambia is there to be developed – by US, not some foreign corporation which can then claim ownership of a part of Zambia. This is what the current government does not seem to want. Zambia belongs to the Zambians, not Equinox Corporation.
I completely agree with Dr. Ngoma, that a man with 20 heads of cattle has a lot more security than a miner who can be fired at any time. This is why Zambia also needs a good system that ensures security of tenure (collective land ownership, so that land cannot be sold to some foreign corporation at profit by some national politician or local civil servant).
We policies to uplift the millions of farmers and marketeers and bring them to the next level of economic production – guided and directed by they themselves, not some know-it-all politician.
Dr Ngoma is the solution for our economic problems in Zambia.The major one being THE MIND SET.At less than 11 billion US$ GDP FOR ZAMBIA,Some politicians still think you can grow this economy in 3
months and put k2,500,000.00 in the pocket of very ZAMBIAN. PUT 5000,000 ZAMBIANS TO DO SOMETHING FOR THEMSELVES ,THEN YOU GROW THIS ECONOMY TO SHARE THE WEALTH
0F ZAMBIA.FOR NOW WE CAN JUST SHARE THE POVERTY OF OUR MIND.
Excellent article. Dr. you have the points. I agree with you that a man who owns goats, cattle and an acre of land is better off than the miner, the so called middle earnning class. I think this corruption thing will go own for some time. Like my collegue metioned the wako ni wako aspect will always be there. Agriculture is the key right now, people can creat wealth from this field. There should be more action than talking from the govt.
Brilliant article – the soluton for Zambia: compulsory and free education from Grades 1 to 12. Fully commercialised higher education with student loans; independent non-political local government structures based on “strong-mayor” model; innovative, efficient, effective, corrupt-free tax system; reform of land tenure system; promotion of agriculture and agro-processing industries; promotion of tourism; independent free judiciary (respect of rule of law and separation of powers); more loans to locals from DBZ; the list is endless … but for Zambia, maybe, the next 250 years … to happen
I like this article because it is well articulated, and to the point. We need more Zambians to do productive business. We have for a long time just complained whilst leaving foreigners seizing opportunities at our expense. The government should be seen encouraging and supporting its citizens regardless of political affiliation instead of just favoring foreign firms. :-w
Charles! Well articulated article I may follow the others. You have listed channels to sutainable wealth creation and many Zambian politicians know this too well, and they know
1.It is a lot of sacrifice empowering people, and means priotising resources into long term plans and goals which political mandate does not live to fulfill.
2. A politician’s time in Zambia is maximum 15 years the following years after, are years of hook and crook to keep the status quo afloat, the people are aware that the deliverence is far!
3. With more exposure; deliberate like yours Charles through education; and unconsciously through experiences of responsibility, experiential awareness is developed, this breads vision and forecast.
Politicians fight against this experience. It cuts their term…
in office. If you went to Zambia with these well articulated ideas, you will need to fight and wrestle for it and alliances and dynamics within and out of your collaboration may not be with you in this long suffering fight. The simplicity of the matter is that change is intrinsic and experiential.
The family unit is the basic principle of change and it is the one that needs to be looked after to build a nation. If they have food, they have good health and an education give Zambia my nation 100 years we will prosper.
However, Zambia has moved from where it was, but poverty is corrupt, is short term Pamela oriented, is HIV/Aids gripping, is everything inhibitive and that is why this commentator has taken this time to write. Charles start small and work with Zambian families, Like…
Obama.. The masses are not stupid, they will join your fight. But mind you, the myopic politician is aware of you and your intellectual effort to free Zambians, but pursue it with the like minds. make sure you have your children educated, or something like that….
You are great and there are many others who would follow your trail.
…………??????????……:-?
Poverty in Zambia and other African countries is mainly due to poor leadership. Most of these Presidents we have in Africa are managers and not Leaders. Infact calling them managers is even overrating. Qualities of a leader include integrity, magnanimous,decisiveness, fair,empathetic, approached and undogmatic. The list may continue but leaders mostly have followers who have faith in them. The policies formulated by those in leadership are the reason why charles and i are living abroad. The policies support the pillars of poverty by any definition. THE POOR- what can be done for them? Voting for leaders and not ?managers in higher offices.
I agree with the author. A good example would be empowering stone breakers. Where they break a ton a day, loan them money to invest in technology so they break a thousand tons a day. This will ensure economies of scale in the long run. Institutions such as DBZ and other investment banks should take up the challenge to empower citizens with the aim of poverty reduction. The Citizenship Empowerment Commission is a good thing but let us restrict the documentation to the amount requested. KK opened up SIDO, though it had no proper framework.
B a Charle mulikwisa nombo, … I am sure you miss the Fort fimo fimo
days…:o:o:o
I love this article it is straight to the point and Dr Ngoma has pointed out all vital issues that needs to be resolved. If only those pipo in authority could read such articles and act accordingly.
THE POOR: What can be done for them?
the answer is simple…get poverty out of their heads…of course it’s not as simple as that.