By Gray Soko
It is now six months since the PF took over from the MMD and many are still wondering if the PF really has a different vision for Zambia from what the MMD had or is just seeking to improve on the MMD policies.
Some have asked the PF to clearly spell out what its direction for Zambia is. So far the PF has only been clear on what it will not do i.e. it is not for nationalization or introduction of the mining windfall tax. On these points the PF has been very explicit. The question that one begs to ask is whether there is a clear new direction the PF will take to move Zambia forward.
Recently the Minister of Finance said the PF was basically following the MMD 6th Development Plan, this may be because of the short time between the budget implementation and the PF coming to power but there were no major policy shifts indicated when the President opened Parliament either. The approach to the rehabilitation of the road network for example is still following the MMD style of road mending instead of taking a holistic approach to the road and rail network. Unless the network is changed, huge amounts of money will continue to be spent annually on mending roads. We have yet to hear of plans to open up new roads that will be different from the “ Cape to Cairo” network and open up new areas for development. We still hear the same MMD ideas on the agricultural and tourism side. “More money in your pockets” will only be realized if there is a major shift on job creation. We need to hear more about industrialization and value addition and trust Bob Sichinga is working overtime on this and not following the rhetoric of his predecessor.
On the governance side, apart from downsizing the cabinet with an increase in deputy ministers there have been no major changes. The much debated post of District Commissioner is very much in place and is generally being filled by party loyalists rather than professional administrators. President Sata has however indicated he wants the efficiency of the “colonial” commissioners to be reintroduced with the help of the British. There is of course a wish for effective decentralization but as Ms Nawakwi recently observed, unless there are concrete constitutional provisions, we shall continue talking about decentralization for decades without any tangible results. The PF Secretary General has scoffed ideas on federalism because of the “size” of the country which I find rather surprising. I would have expected that he would welcome ideas on how to make decentralization more effective and practicable rather than cling tenaciously to the “manifesto”. It is time we seriously took on board “Think Tanks” to put in place effective programmes and not rely on the self righteousness of party manifestos.
[pullquote]apart from downsizing the cabinet with an increase in deputy ministers there have been no major changes[/pullquote]
The Leader of the Opposition in Parliament (MMD) has come under fire from some MMD constituencies who have perceived him as not offering effective “checks and balances” to the PF. This may be far fetched because as of now there have really been no major policy shifts anyway. The MMD itself is taking a long time to recover from the September 2011 blow and unless a new visionary leader emerges to energise the party, it may be on unstoppable slide into oblivion like UNIP. With its parliamentary seats declining due to successful petitions, we may have a repeat of a defacto one-party state. We still have good political leaders ( General Miyanda, Charles Milupi, Elias Chipimo Jnr, Hakainde Hichilema , Edith Nawakwi ) but until they realize that in their divided small state their ability to influence events is minimal, the political landscape of Zambia will remain the same.
The expectations of the Zambians for the PF government to make a difference are indeed great and after six months of “stabilization” in government I expect the PF government to blaze a new trail for Zambia to move forward. With all our resources, material and human, we should not be where we are in the next five years.
Zero difference its dont kubeba all the way!
This is not a headline topic
This is the opinion of this writer who I doubt is as academically qualified as I am and I am only 28
Thanks
Few lines about yourself. What is the solution? Really Mushota you have no understanding of the history of economics of Zambia to offer constructive criticism. I can group you in the same category as our politicians.
this “ka” mushota woman is dump b i t c h!
For sure this is not headline news. You dont abandon a National Development Plan to create employment. Chiluba did that and we had no new roads during his tenure apart from completing the ones started by KK eg Lusaka Kafue
Mushota u are a perfect definition of an *****, 28 is the new 10, coz u think like a 10 year old..
Negative
#2 Mushota. At 28 you think like a still born!
The idea for King Cobra was just to taste the plot 1. He has no plans of moving Zambian anywhere apart from sliding it down the drains
MMD plans were formed on solid base enchored in the vision 2030. They have tangiable outputs, why change the plan? Its the Vision 2030 we are implementing divided into short and medium term plans which are funded by Annual Work Plans and Budgets (AWPB) and currently are implementing the medium term plan called Sixth Natinal Development Plan (SNDP 2010-2015). Both the V30 and SNDP can only be ‘reviewed’ and not ‘abondoned’. So far the PF Govt have nothing to review, so, what is the issue?
There is a big difference,Zambia is going backwards by all means than 6 months ago.
Plan 0 Massive U-turns
Plan 1 form commission of inquiries
Plan 2 Fire and rehire in various government positions
Plan 3 Reshuffles
Plan 4 Appoint relatives tribe mates and most of the post news paper employees
Plan 5 Hell in Zambia for MMD
Plan 6 Buy K8 jets
plan 7 Send tankers to malawi
Plan 8 is anybody guess
Plan 9 More reshuffles!
Plan 10. Kunya fye amasushi
useless article indeed.
Indeed no significant positive change. It is all CNP (Chimbwe no plan).
Useless Article really with a useless or eaningless title. ou wonder if this guy/lady who authored this really did some english language or communication skills…..?
the administration of govt and national affairs has been a disaster under PF. More lies, threats and abrogation of the constitution by PF since getting into office.
@Mushota. He gave evidence. hw many people hv u heard who hv bn employed,fired, reshufld? hw is our kwacha doing? Am workin in a hospital wer we dont even have ORS despite gastroenteritis out break… we hv 3 bottles of nalidixic acid the whole hospital n we live in constant sqdness of losing patients frm preventable death… i voted mcs coz i thot things will be better bt we r now at our botton… things r worse than in RBs tym. U really dont know wat u r talkin abt dear.
@13 chipolopolo, don’t waste your time on Mushota. It’s an infant with a huge psychosocio complex. Unless you’re a shrink…
No 13 Chipolopolo
I am sure you will get a better job that working in the hospital if your grammar, punctuation and spellings were fixed.
People that type incoherent words like that make me sick, thanks for spoiling my lunch!
Thanks
You sure are a piece of work at 28…the fellow has given you serious issues to digest and all you had to say to him was thanks for spoiling your lunch!? Am sure you must have other things on your mind like doing another PHD lol!!!
Are you sure you are in the US and talking about lunch this time?? Its lunch time in Zambia but there its around 07hrs
mushota don’t u think you have done enough to show your stupidness?
you are probably sucking on a white man’s d!ck, enjoying his hard work and filling up his sewage,,
The article is irrelevant because Mr Chikwanda has confirmed that there is no change in economic plans. PF had no plans, no ideas, no vision. The change is in personnel only – only PF cadres and Bemba tribesmen will be in place. PF and Sata’s primary aim was to grab power without knowing what to do with it. At least MMD had a view of how to implement their Vision 2030. PF are like a bunch of hijackers of a Spacecraft who have no idea of its flight controls, its flight path nor its destination!! Enjoy the flight!
PF did not grab power. they were voted in.
Take the issue to voters. They are gullible or the base on which they vote is faulty. That’s where teh problem is.
#13 Chipolopolo – you are working in a hospital in the USA by the look of things. With all the negatives in the article I think the following strides taken by PF are different from MMD and the author is oblivion to that: a) Reverse of Zamtel privatisations to bogus investors, a) raising the threshold of income tax contribution to 2M kwacha, c) Strong message from the president that Zambia has corruption and the need to fight it where RB pronounced that there was none, d) decentralisation is underway and if you thought this could be acheived in 6 months then God help us, etc. However, I am against public utterances especially by the president on issues still under judicial review. All in all PF are doing their best and we need to help them as they cannot have all the answers.
hat dividends has Zambia earned from the reversal apart from the impending cost of compensation? If you’re in Zambia calculate your salaray vis-vie the 2million threshold and show me the money grown? WHAT strong message of corruption when we all know that a finance miniter is renovating state house on single source tendering, defence minister tanker trucks hauled fuel to malawi without any transparent tender process, musa mwenye trying to quash the debt owed to DBZ for friends of sata(mmembe, nchito and co.). Unilateral dismissal of directors and replacement without following advertising or following procedure. Employing relatives to all foreign missions which is tantamount to the highest level of nepotism a reciepe only befitting genocide. Divided the country on tribal lines as northerne
@MUSHOTA
Please forgive the #chipolopolo kaponya. He is texting from a mobile phone and does not wish to pay for longer messages due to his poor pay from the PFooter government. Treat his message like a mental challenge or quiz to see sense in his squalid grammar. Enjoy your lunch!
@Anti-Kaponya, mushota claims to reside in the US but looking at the time she blogged it cant be lunch time in the US perhaps it was 07 something there
I agree with most bloggers apart from Mushota’s comment….this article is rubbish…praising Bob Sichinga what a worst and embaaracing minister of the entire cabinet….almost all his speeches are made like a man with no head old socialist economist damn what a waste
Read the paragraph mentioning Bob again. I don’t think the author is praising him, is he?
I wounder what kind of background this Mushota thing has. she’s a real pain in the ……..
I like the line – apart from downsizing the cabinet with an increase in deputy ministers there has been no major change..LOL.PF has never had a plan.They just wanted to come into power.They are probably frantically looking at all the records MMD left,for guidance.All our president has done in the last 6 months is swear in people at state house,and utter irresponsible remarks to the media and nation.I think after KK told him to tone down this has lessened
Changes have included loss of investor confidence,a decrease in the National treasury reserves, unprecedented tribalism in Zambia,More jobs for bemba speaking people,decline of Kwacha,victimization of political opponents,presidential interference in coporate Zambia……..
It was a time to test plot one if you want to win a girl tell her lies you are done.
Please people no government in africa care’s about its people,in zambia as a country we av alot of resources which can bring about development but the people in office only think about themselves & their famillies.So please stop complaining about wat the govt of the day has done or not done,its up to u to develop & do something concrete wit ur lives.africa could av being one of the worthest continents, if it was not for selfish leaders,to me all these govts are the same.
@ 20 Baron..let me finish it for u…Mushota is the most pain in the Asssss…
Now back to business fellas before u go on critising I for one believe if we corruption which looks like is really being fought right now I have no doubt we are heading into the right direction…
secondly the Vision 2030 was and is still a great plan so like finance minister mentioned there is no need to change that, I would rather have the un-educated PF than the educated MMD… for the past 20 years what did they do..? squander tax payers money…
Mushota were u really having lunch or punch from your cheat boyfriend..? keep quiet if u dont have anything positive to say we can do without ur blogs no hard feelings just grow up whilest u can coz u act way below 14 years…
The difference is hard to see when you’re mimicking republican US strategy and screaming from day one hoping to drown out the sound of years of corruption. 20 years is too long for parties to rule. It does them all some good to work in opposition and taste loss so they can refocus :) PF made themselves an easy target with their campaign promises but no different than watching any political party in the world. Watching David Cameron squirm as his ‘promises’ catch up with him lately. The difference is there is a new sherriff in town :)
please give the pf and mcs some time,we gave mmd 20 years to spend our money!!
……and also put an unprecedented $3bn in your bank account with pledges of more than US$12bn in private sector FDIs by august last year!!! In 6 months PF has managed to spend 10% of that money and not put a single dollar on, with the level of investment and capital flight due to the current chaos, you will be lucky to get even 20% of the investmentment pledges from last year!
Sata was in MMD for half that time. When were you born?
PF govt is a mixed grill policy shoft institution. One day they are for the vision whose founder was called all sorts of names by MCS. How can PF achieve a vision they do not have a buy in? Just the tax issue, PF manfesto is pro-poor, meaning less tax. Then how do you fund the 2030 vision without adjusting the vision to say 2050? Something is missing, this govt where they do not have answers or plans they look up to MMD brilliance, then why did they take over without an agenda or plan for the nation. The question is which MMD is being referred to here? Is it the RB one which was called the worst govt of all time by ba mwine? PF please have a stable and reliable position and stop behaving like you are still campagning.
At least takulaba abena James Pompwe and Henry Nshibila nsala, so difference epoili, but ifilubo fyena nisotambe
At least takulaba abena James Pompwe and Henry Nshibila nsala, so difference epoili, but ifilubo fyena nisotambe.
Did anyone surely hope for anything different when you put a UNIPIST to replace another?
writing such an article is a waste of bloggers time. Some of us knew that PF just wnted to taste power kwasila….from now until 2016…SSSSshhiiiiii donchi ku complaina sana!
# 24 makes sense!!!
what a difference? useless article & wasting energy, % no thinking on that.
what is the difference? Banda & Sata.PF won elections
The Vision 2030 “Zambia – A prosperous Middle-income Nation. By 2030” is founded on seven key basic principles. (i)sustainable development; (ii) upholding democratic principles; (iii) respect for human rights;(iv) fostering family values; (v) a positive attitude to work; (vi) peaceful coexistence; and(vii) upholding good traditional values.
It starts with (district development plans – District Dev Coord Committee) that are then studied at provincial level (provincial dev plan – Prov Dev Coord Comm) then they come up with a national development plan (MoFNP) based these findings basically (SWOT) then GRZ need to find resources and put in place policies/programmes to achieve various plans (district, provincial & national) as long as the plans satisfy the Vision 2030.
In short Vision 2030 national development plans come from a careful study of the nation from district to national level. Therefore, this a solid plan and there no need to abandon it, the cornerstone of achieving the Vision2030 -> 6th Nat Dev Plan -> Provincial Dev Plan -> District Dev Plan -> Community Dev is indeed DECENTRALISATION!!! The MMD was never keen on decentralization becoz of fears central gov loses out on control of resources and funds. So fundamentally, the difference in manifesto between MMD and PF is the implementation of the V2030/NatDevPlan and not the plan itself! PF claim they will be more pro-poor and implement decentralize and this certainly cannot be achieved overnight.
@26 most wanted, were have you been for the last 20 years? Your beloved new kid on the block Mr Michael sata served the mmd for the first 10 years of those 20 years! He was the secretary general of the party. He also served as local gov’t, health and minister without portfolio. Scott, luo, sakeni and chikwanda were all mmd govt officials. Please be honest with your reasons for supporting these guys…….we know who they are…….they are retreads with ancient ideas. The reason they fought to be in govt was more for themselves and their clans and not for Zambians across the country.
The donation of Five million US$ dollars worth of fuel is shocking to me.There was no consultation and what was the motive for the donation.On top of the donation include transportation and the figure will shock you.Now in a country where poverty levels are in the range of 75% it is too hard to understand.Which budget line has funded this donation because some of the budgeted programmes will suffer whether we want it or not.Was there an alterior motive behind the donation.Is it possible that some the donated fuel will come back as PF money,this is a possibility and can not be ruled out.How can a government decide to donate such a huge amount of money in fuel terms and everyone is quiet,It is shocking that we re as a country struggling to meet a lot of our peoples needs can donate such .
And what was that noise about Ukwa being a ‘man of action’? No action to talk about so far and we are still waiting!
Nowonder zed is the way it is, you *****s are busy checking mistakes on your fellow bloggers instead of discussing real issues, foolish *****s you will never be whites for your own information, your did your fellow English man ftj took us? English will never develop zed you fools.English is just
No wonder zed is the way it is, you *****s are busy checking mistakes on your fellow bloggers instead of discussing real issues, foolish *****s you will never be whites for your own information, where did your fellow English man ftj took us? English will never develop zambia you fools its just a language.
Perhaps the real change is that Zambians now feel empowered, realising they have power to change govt.
Amazing how many people actually point at the same fact over and over. The one which is that Sata/Scott were MMD. If they were the problem then why did nothing change when they walked away!!! Simply put – a business partnership loses some of its partners who set up their own business. The new business becomes the leading business while the old partnership loses its market share. Who was in the driving seat of the old partnership and why is the new business responsible for what did or did not happen after they left? Easy to point out errors but hard to positively help our country. Let’s move forward.
The political landscape of Zambia wont be the same as from 20 january 2013.Watch this space.Zambians will have a viable and concrete option.We need to take this country to the next level and forget about the current incoherent regime.We need to embrace development,industrialisation,good governance and a positive future for Zambia.Of cause roads are key to any development!no marks for that Gray!GOD BLESS ZAMBIA.
@34 & 35 Steel, Interesting!
@ Ant Kaponya
If you can agree with the crap Mushota has puked have your head examined.
It is a pity that it has taken some people such a long time to realize that Sata’s intetion was only to go to state house. The only plan he had was the obvious one – just undo what your predecessors did that he did not like. THEREFORE to expect the Sata led Govt (with Winter kabimba as it’s general secretary and M’membe as its Vuvuzela specialist) to have a vision to drive the Zambian economy to a higher level is being naive. The article talks of Six months in power? what happened to the whole month left out? It is seven (7) months and very soon it will be 2016. I hope we will have something to write home about. Let us pray for these leaders to have a bit of wisdom to concentrate on important things for development.
@mushota,anti kaponyas u are the worst bloggers fro bambaland.USA my foot,blogging frm a chinese phone.boasting na njala!! aferall u are not,and will never get a descent job.
Its a big shame.Someone with Levy’s drive has to take over.I offer myself
I concur that Sata and by extention PF had no plans on how to run Zambia and are especially clueless on the economic front.They’re much like pathetic guys who utter sweat words to a girl,take her to bed but have no plans of marrying her.What Zambia needs is decentralisation so various regions can levy taxes and use them for local needs like rds & schools.The bureaucrats in Lusaka are too far and the current set up starves some places and only rewards them during elections.
Personally, am better of in Chimbwe no Plan Govt, than in corrupt MMD govt. Zambian always surprise me, already they a seeing MMD to angels (Levy, said Zambians have short memory of a chicken).
hat dividends has Zambia earned from the reversal apart from the impending cost of compensation? If you’re in Zambia calculate your salaray vis vie the 2million threshold and show me the money grown? WHAT strong message of corruption when we all know that a finance miniter is renovating state house on single source tendering, defence minister tanker trucks hauled fuel to malawi without any transparent tender process, musa mwenye trying to quash the debt owed to DBZ for friends of sata mmembe, nchito and co.. Unilateral dismissal of directors and replacement without following advertising or following procedure. Employing relatives to all foreign missions which is tantamount to the highest level of nepotism a reciepe only befitting genocide. Divided the country on tribal lines as northerne
6months is not long enough for anybody to achieve much.My observation is that it is a listening government.Lets wait and see cos God put Our president for him to cleanse this country of the immense corruption Zambia has ever witnessed.Many may not know but corruption was deep rooted in the past 3yrs. We have seen council employees and ministers acquire land and built mansions in the last 3yrs.Where did the money come from within such a short time?Am very sure that things are going to improve although PF has to consider giving jobs to all and not only notherners/Muchingas
My foot if you think Miyanda & Nawakwi are good politicians!!!!