FINANCE deputy minister Keith Mukata yesterday told Parliament that Zambia’s external debt currently stands at about US$ 3. 2 billion as at September 1, 2013.
Mr Mukata told the House that Zambia’s external debt in September 2011 stood at US $1. 7 billion.
Mr Mukata said the internal debt currently stands at K17. 8 billion as at September 1, 2013, compared to the K13.8 billion as of September 1, 2011.
He said to avoid plunging the country into more speculative debate the ministry, according to the debt management strategy, conducts the Debt Sustainability Analysis on annual basis to determine Zambia’s debt carrying capacity and fiscal space for new borrowing.
Mr Mukata said this when MMD Chembe MP Mwansa Mbulakulima asked the minister of Finance what Zambia’s external and internal debt was on September 1, 2011 and September 1, 2013.
Mr Mbulakulima also wanted to know the steps that Government had taken to ensure that Zambia does not slide into another debt trap.
Let us unite make sure we get a 50+1 vote in our constitution . SATA must go. Sata is dismantling the economy piece by piece every day because he lacks basic education. Sata does not understand a single thing.
moreover these are old guys whose lives are a click away to the grave yard.its our childtren and great grand children that wil have to bear consequencest.we are now back to debt colonialism.
Thats what you get from such deputy ministers, Zambia twasebana. What about internal debts, start with KCM’s half a billion dollars?
Ask GBM and HH to pay ako ka $3.2 million…
What a second, are we talking about $3.2 BILLION???? And Sata knows about that?
@Nostradamus
iwe nostra… why do you want ba GBM and HH to help?? Hon, justice minister Mr kabimba SC,,, Said its okay… Zambia can borrow more and when the debt collectors come, he will deal with them upto the courts,,, so the borrowing party goes on!!!
President sata will sort this small problem out
Why worry about something so small; lets talk about strong investment jobs created etc etc
Atase
@Jo
I have failed to unroot the best way to understand that worrying analysis. The truth is, borrowing will still continue in this country being led by Ship captain in a drowning boat without a campus. This govt has borrowed enough and it looks like the harder they strive to beat the targets the more their non-led minds open up to borrow more (don’t even think they will pay back).
This is even worrying foreign missions in this country, to firmly fix their eyes on how long their will stay especially that they massively misappropriate funds for donor funded projects. That’s the reason why Country Directors in certain NGO in Zambia are never headed by Zambians. They know our flaws!
PF is the worst thing that has ever happened to Zambia since the Gabon disaster…
There’s a quote that says “The cheaper the politician,the more he costs his country” and it perfectly fits Sata and his reckless PF minions.
What a tragedy! And they say they are developing the country when they are actually mortaging it beyond our capacity to repay. Bane, let us stop PF from plunging this country into an irretrievably debt abyss.
@Enka – absolutely profound and spot on!!!
@jo ka cadre kabula amano, ukusapota nefyabupuba mukalya na mafi pa last. This gorvement has borrowd so much in 2 years of office, give them 20 years MMD ruled this country, Zambia will belong to another state.
What we need is to shift from depending on borrowing to finance Capital Projects to adequately taxing internal activities, especially the Mining sector.
Government needs to put up measures to ensure all Mining houses starting with KCM, to Kansanshi Gold to those owned by Chinese are adequately taxed. Government equally needs to critically look at all declared imput costs on a bi-weekly basis and see if there in line with global standards. This will ensure you have the correct picture each time.
Cries on mining tax must be the top agenda for Zambia politically, lets make all political parties involved to tell us in categorical terms at election time how they will collect these revenues
Try venacular languages…. I dont think they can comprehend
So ignorant these people….. I dont understand why people voted for that
Dont bla bla crap…..
@Lol
Me too. that Donchi crap annoys the hell out of me. I think the cultural reference is also lost on me a little because I wasn’t there.
Zabwino Palibe shuwa!kaloba ka k3.2bn and the government is still borrowing!!
@jimmy
iwe jim… dont you that kaloba is addictive??… once you are into it, you will never come out until you lose all you got. Maybe at some point Zambia will auctioned to cover the debt.
@Ndobo Kekekekekeke at Kaloba
Just take this mentally deficient ***** to Chinama and lock him up where he belongs. How can we let him destroy our mother Zambia like this?
Sata and his cabinet are committing economic war crimes against the Zambian people (us) without our consent. Once out of government, they must be stripped of all their ill gotten wealth to help repay these debts. I dont want my children to find themselves in the HIPC state Mwanawasa and Magande freed us from. Sata is creating districts, roads, universities etc as though he is a mad man. He knows that what he is doing is not for the good of the country but for his personal ego and political survival. Surely why didnt all his predecessors do that? Where did he think he was going to get the money for these grandiose projects. Abash lunacy!!
@ Mukulungoma, you’re on point.
@dudelove
yebo dubelove…. bashilubemba told you, the log fell on their feet (or legs),, so at the moment,, Zambia cant stand, cant walk, she is bleeding to death unless that log is removed..kekekekekek
Yebo Ndobo, don’t you know that to remove the log with regards these chaps we shall need heavy mining equipment? Njenya yaku Konkola deep project not just any funny mazembe ka!
Education is very important.Sata was put in office mostly by uneducated riffraffs who don’t appreciate the importance of objectivity and professionalism in execution of office.Empty populism won over sound economics and the result is our ballooning debt burden.
Well said.
@Enka this the conclusion I v come to as well. I do fear that it will take a long time for the majority of our population to reach a sufficient enough level to understand what policies and national direction is in favour of the progress of a country such as ours… therefore any riff raff politicians can come along sing a few silly slogans and dupe the public. This might carry on for another generation or so, therefore, our project must be to quickly work on raising the standard of education across the land on a consistent basis, for our own good. The majority of the nation need to understand a proper vision for this nation.
Zambia is one of the most poor countries in the world, and the PF gorvement does not see that. These unnesesary borroing will make Zambia poorer in the end.
Pabwatoooo kekekekekeke with a grade 3 captain
What shocks me the most is how the entire nation of highly qualified men and women can allow a grade “3” to lead them, promises to stay even longer than expected. Yet all they do is cry about how thorny and dark the road he leads them to gets, wouldnt you then agree with me that maybe this grade “3” is more educated? Yes he might not have submitted his Thesis, never discovered any laboratory medicinal cure yet he became bigger than all them scientists, engineers or the biggers inverstors? How is this possible if the so called educated can not use their education to solve this puzzle which seems deadly, one wonders how educated they themselves are!
What is my point?? Stop hidding and crying get on with your master plan to improve things or just dont say anything!
And dont you dare give me that excuse that you will be intimidated or that most voters are illiterates etc, use your education to beat that. If someone whom you refer to as a CNP is still the head then that chimbwi no plan has a plan, how else is he still on that sit? Othewise someone with a plan will have taken it away from him. Once again this convinces me more that most zambians are nothing but full of air, all they do is make empty noises without action, if there is one educated man out there, i challenge you to meet the finance minister and the president for your most effective plan to make that $3.2 Billion debt disappear right now right here, if you give a rats a*** about your country present yourself before the president, otherwise, you are all Chimwi no plan period!
In short Cindy, you want us to ‘coup him’. His mandate goes up to 2016 and the man NEVER EVER listens to advice. So all we can do, like it or not, is vent pa internet and dazzle each other with our tuma eloquent English and our knowledge of different economic hypotheses. Sad, but thats the reality. Zambians are not really docile. They are just very patient and act when the time is right, in this case, 2016. We cannot risk having an illegitimate govt shunned by SADC and the International community, like the Madagascar govt. We need to grit our teeth and shipikisha. PF is like a child who has been crying for years to drive until you get fed up and give him the car which he in no time crashes. You dont give him the car again and he in turn will have ceased his crying.
The answer is not very simple @Cindy. The obvious one is that Zambia’s population is mainly semi literate to illiterate and hence were convinced by the lies that Sata and his gang fed them during 2011. The other blame is on the educated who are benefitting from the chaos and hence can’t be bothered to stand up and call a spade a spade. So long as the majority of our people remain ignorant and do not understand that an elected government has an obligation to share the national resources equally whether they cast votes for the government or not, this majority will continue to vote for ideologically bankrupt governments for fear of not receiving a share in developmental projects. I have heard those fears expressed in rural areas many a time.
@ dude love,
In short i want to see and hear development, solutions, positive change am tired of constant weeping over spilt milk, it hurts to see how bad things are everywhere but most especially in my birth country, if there is one educated man or woman with a miracle to sholve that $3.2 Billion debti the deepest hole, then i want them as president, in short Dude Love i want answers!
@ Mfumu,
Thank you for that, i see answers in your coment, Lets analyse what makes this guy popular to the illiterate, if he can manage to convice them with his Less academical qualifications, then we the educated can do even wonders, because we are more equipped with knowledge in all areas, Economically, Socially and also in the health sector. Why dont we use our communication skills, Marketing skills to steal these voters? With the education we are able to analyse the markets, the minds of the buyer in this case the voters, we can feed them with the information they want to hear, i have no doubt this is simple now that we even have more reason to convince them that PF doesnt deserve their votes. Forget about 2011, lets focus on the present and the future.
@ Mfumu,
With those educated benefitting from the chaos, lets just say they are the lost sheep and should be thrown overboard together with their counterparts.
I know it is not easy to change someones mind who has never seen the other side of a coin but thats were working hard and patience comes in, how do you work out a locked mind? Mfumu so many answers to reach out to those “iliterate voters, unlock their minds via constant speeches, actions speak louder that words try presenting something tangible, avoid being too defensive as it wont help for they have been indoctrinated and their allegiance is too strong, in short education should be your weapon to sort out this mess easily without your opponent blinking twice. its not easy but we cant go on complaining without any action…
@cindy
I also used to ask the question my dear. I even decided to dig deeper to get to the bottom of the problem by looking at the calibre of our MPs. What I unearthed really shocked me. 70% of our politicians have qualifications up to grade twelve and as such they have no clue of what sound economic policies are. What matters to such politicians is ukulilapo.
The calibre of our politicians evokes questions like ;where are all the qualified Zambians? Why are they not actively participating in politics?
My observation are firstly most qualified Zambians have left the country for greener pastures are too comfortable to even think of going back home. Secondly those that are remaining are either too poor to engage in politics or they have comfortable jobs which they fear to loose.
Now that most us in the diaspora have been exposed enough to understand how things are supposed to done,we need to gather patriotic courage and make plans to go back and contribute our bit not just blogging which does not even help to change things on the ground.We need to deal with our fears of going back by asking ourselves this very important question; are we men and women enough to survive in Zambia? If uneducated and unexposed men and women are making it why can’t we with our vast knowledge and eduction make it? Life is a gamble after all, so taking the gamble going back home and help lift country it up is worth it and thats what patriotism is all about.
By the way, I on my way this December and I am appealing to all well meaning patriotic Zambians to join the trek back…
Its not only through politics that you can make a huge contribution to Zambia. There are numerous ways you can help , for example starting an exporting business or a manufacturing plant now that some of you have gained vast knowledge in product design and manufacturing. Some of you by now understand how important the invent, manufacture and innovate cycles after having worked in reputable product design and manufacturing companies. Lets go home and take this vast knowledge home. The Indians and Chinese have done it and I strongly believe we can.
With out the invention, manufacturing and innovation there is no way Zambia will develop sustainably. All these mining problems can easily be solved if we can come up with our own technologies to dig up the copper and refine it and add value .
@Cindi …I just enjoy ready what you write.i share your view also.
@ Wanzelu,
So sad seems as though there will never be a solution but there is always one. Am so glad to hear you are actually a man of action, go create jobs and contribute to Zambias Economy massively, be alert for moochers are on every corner most of all always have a plan B in case things dont go the right way.
@ Chinyama,
Good to know theres more of us on the same page and thanks for appreciating my writing i will definately keep more flowing.
Education you know nothing what matters is your credibility and how wise you are see how the educated RB was corrupt and stealing was his only way of life walking naked in swaziland womanising sata has done exceptionally well let’s just support him zambia is better of
useless cadres,can’t read and this statement is from his minister.Minions like you do not deserve to be Zambians
Iwe chi shilubemba is there any credibility here of balowing the debt??yuou are the chaps who are making our tribe look bad because you fill happy even when your thieving tribemen are stealing as if they share the loot with all of us UBUPUBA.
You must be am imbecile. Your reasoning is cockeyed.
I can now see why this guy call himself “Ishilumubemba”! Mentality similiar to Sata!
Fili ukotuya!! I suppose is his daily mantra!!
Iwe ulichipuba supporting him to do what? To continue rooting our economy?. Cadres must stay away from such constructive discussions. I curse you Satana
@nshili
You are being deliberately obtuse. Is it to annoy everyone or because you are benefiting from this r.ape of our country?
nshilimubemba you need to shut up and leave RB alone, he has nothing to do with this debt. right now we need answers about the debt because it’s going to be a moose around our necks for a long time by then the people responsible will 6feet under and our children will have to bear those billions dollar debt
MMD left something in the reserve. You came in and blew everything and even went ahead to borrow more. Stupid govt.
When PF lunatics came into they ransacked the GRZ confers as monkeys in the maize. They did not know that to run a country there should be some financial threshold in reserves. Wagon sweeper to State house there is surely something we have learnt as Zambians
And there are still some foo.ls like that nshilibemba guy who say RB stole. What exactly did he steal if he left the country’s coffers full but somehow those who are not stealing have landed us into HIPC status again in less than two years?
For freedom we are set free! The late heroes Mwanawasa Levy and Cardinal Mazombwe campaigned that we are set free from the most enslaving power of international “KALOBA”. Some people who had helped in accruing the debt then come back to ensure Zambians are once again enslaved in debt. Surely, they will not feel the immense pain and suffering Zambians will endure because they are too old to see those days! Maiweee! Cry my beloved Country – God save our Zambia!
As employers of these people who turn round and became bosses, please Zambians let us learn to employ people who will serve our interests! Blessings!
Alexander Chikwanda who was Finance Minister in the 1970s borrowed billions in the name of building colleges and roads. But us who went to school in the late 70s found crumbling buildings/classrooms without desks. The same Chikwanda is borrowing billions again to build substandard infrastructure which will be no more in ten years time.
That is the true cost of cheap PF rhetoric and promises!
Politics of appeasement!
Please refocus!
You can’t please everybody!
ABC still practicing old Economics of borrowing, borrowing and borrowing!
I support calls for him and the self-styled A team to retire in the national interest!
My simple projection is that by 2016, unless something is immediately done to stop this madness the national debt stock will be in the region of US$17 – 19 billion. Oh yes, and yes again it will certainly be more than US$13 billion in principal. It goes like this. You build a road and you do not generate money. You need maintainance. Add to the cost. You build 10 universities and you do not charge economic fees. You need furnishing, books, lecturers, lab equipment, bursaries etc. Add to the cost. You create districts. You need full district infrastructure and administration costs and of course employees. Add to the cost. Bottom line is that we are in BIG DEBT TROUBLE!! We are marching in long strides (as mumembe would say) to triple HIPC status nation.
Uhm, am guessing you guys haven’t heard that we are also about to issue a Eurobond to the tune of US$2.2 billion. I read that in the Post and not Pa Watchdog. So with our current debt as it stands and add this eurobond, well, you do the math, considering it took bene Chikwanda 27 years to plunge us in a debt of US$7 billion, this is gonna be a new record. 🙂
We are already in another debt trap within two years.The sad story is that those employed in the new districts as of now they have no treasury authority and the ministry of finance is now trying to upload the system as they have no money to pay their salaries.These people will stay months without being put on the pay roll but been accommodated in lodges when grants are not sent to districts.Another borrowing coming but sharing office space with the us.
Sata cut the size of your cabinet and deputy ministers and introduce windfall taxes.
You are used to Kalova,no wonder.
Zambias,the caritas,oasis forum,trade unions where are you now.
You raised your tails when Mwanawasa was doing good things but when bad things are happing you are mute.Tribalism is a threat to development.
I rest my…
There is nothing wrong with borrowing for capital projects as long as the debt is within manageable levels. Why do you people want to remain stagnant with the same roads and university KK left and then feel good about statistics like reserves, blah blah …! We want to just continue singing the song of Zambia being rich with natural resources without adding value to them. Copper in the ground is nothing but just soil. We cant even dig our own copper!
Are we investing enough productive capital formation so that capacity is built to repay?
Most critical to me for now is the high internal debt. What this means is that by not timely paying local suppliers GRZ, being the biggest buyer for our SMEs, is starving them of liquidity they need so much for working capital, salaries and wages and loan servicing. If a business cannot meet those obligations and operational requirements then the GRZ is sabotaging its own policies and programmes to promote entrepreneurship, build business and creating the much needed jobs.
This issue is so critical that, in my view, I GRZ should borrow internationally in order to pay local suppliers. Come on economists at Finance, use your knowledge you have accumulated from so many workshops, short courses etc.
We are now in a debt conundrum cum tornado. What you are stating is very correct; government’s debt to SMEs is defeating job creation not to mention prosperity. And yet to borrow from foreign funds is also unsustainable because we do not have the capacity to pay!! What do we export other than ‘soil’ sure for us to borrow like we are industrial exporting giants like China, USA, Germany or Japan?? And soon the ‘soil’ will be depleted and the debt will be replicated.
@ I have this to say,
I totally agree with you, such is how to develop the nation econocally. But if the government starves the SMEs, then more trouble to the economy because countries world over are developed by their own citizens.
Am not an economist but I understand such simple concepts and steps in national development. Economists seem not to be helping us as Zambians or as a country. I WISH I can one day be an adviser to some of these people in policy making offices. I JUST WISH also that some of the knowlwdgeable bloggers on this site can be employed in some of these offices.
Spartan. We are borrowing for consumption (Salaries & By Elections). The Capital projects your are taliking about are not even planned for i.e they are not in the budget. Thats the problem!
In any case why borro w when you can raise sufficinet revenues internally?
My brother, your analysis is a breath of fresh air. Such like you are supposed to be in government to save and serve our nation. See where this PF is taking this country; back into HIPC debt cliff! Surely, does it make sense to borrow a third of your value of salary to fund consumption (chicken and chips and chibuku) at kaloba interest rate?! MMD rescued us from Kaunda’s debt and now comes PF with Kaunda as their high priest and are dragging us crocodile style into the toxic river of debt! God save Zambia from PF misrule.
Which budget did you read my friend? send me a copy, I might have got the wrong one.
People can criticize the govt as much as they wish about these debts, but wait a second! Can we have any projects running in the country without these debts. Let us stop being naive, Zambia has got no money as a country and any development project they will enter into they are bound to borrow money period. It is fine if the money borrowed is put to the intended purposes. Your copper has value but it is definitely in the hands of the foreign investors who are on a tax holiday. You cannot blame the PF govt for the borrowings. Unless you have other means of funding any project without having to borrow!
Sir or Madam, you cannot borrow beyond your capacity to repay. That is what all reasonable bloggers have been advising. Kaunda, Chikwanda and Sata are the ones who brought us into HIPC with US$7 billion. Chiluba, Mwanawasa and Magande took us out of HIPC. And now Sata, Chikwanda and Sata are back!! And debt is back!!! And soon it will shoot beyond the US$7 billion we inherited from mushumfwa whose finance minister at one time and who borrowed the most was can you guess……….Mr Alexander B Chikwanda.
Chile exports the same copper that zambia exports and it earns the same int’l prices for it.Why is Chile more developed and has more money?
The answer is prudent resource management which zambia is lacking atm.So your point is moot,nay…extremely naive.
……….And now Sata, Chikwanda and Kaunda are back!! And debt is back!!! And soon it will shoot beyond the US$7 billion we inherited from mushumfwa (Kaunda)……..
John we cannot allow the government to borrow recklessly beyond our capacity to pay back. You want us to go back to HIPC? GRZ has been advised by stakeholders to collect windfall tax from the mines, have they listened? They have been advised to broaden the tax base, eg how about collecting tax from thousands of landlords and bus operators instead of putting us into a debt trap! twakana. What about reckless spending on bye elections and a bloated cabinet and many other financial mismanagement ventures.
Borrow to finance a white elephant in Mongu? come on get real>>>
Mulemba how did Sata contribute to the Zambian debt, please educate me. Kaunda and Chikwanda they may have contributed to the debt because they sent you or your parents to schools for free!
Kolwestans at work
We have to borrow to finance new roads, better school, health centers and infrastructure development. MMD was in power with three different presidents and 7 vice presidents but we had no single new road opened, same old universities that UNIP and KK had left.
Chiluba had the best cabinet and Ps well educated but thieves, the likes of Stella Chibanda, Dr. Katele, Ben Mwiinga, Richard Sakala.
see my response to @John
the three debt musketeers who got us into the US$7 billion debt (Kaunda, Sata and Chikwanda) are back with a vengeance. Now they will sort us out with an even bigger debt unless we stop them now.
It was the same Chiluba who helped us out of the debt trap with his unpopular IMF medicine. Then Mwanawasa assisted by Magande made us cross into the promised land of freedom from debt.
But now that old crocodile, Kaunda has come back and will not rest till we are shackled in debt. Kaunda… iyeee……ulekwata uluse. And that chi Sata following the master Kaunda like a silly disciple.
hahahahahahh
This reminds me of a case in finance to put it in simple terms its like this:
If you are earning k2,000 at your current job and you go to the bank they tel you you can only borrow K500 in relation to your earning. your are borrowing at 25%.
If the next month you get a job and you are earning K5,000 and you go to the bank they tell you that you can borrow K900, your debt has increased by 90%.
question.: does it mean you have become financially irresponsible?
Comments here are unbelievable, such as – “They will pay back once out of office”
Tell me one ex- Leader who has paid back state money, & resources plundered whilst they were in power. I think itself ZERO.
Plunder of State funds pays in Zambia. In China one faces lengthy Jail terms, even Firing Squad!! Now that’s what I call a deterrent.
huh..this is so terrible..how do you get to that figure..?lack of planning eish..CNP sure..
A one year to report on movement of the debt portfolio is long enough in the current informative positions change over night.A monthly standard report or quarterly will be good enough for the GOV.Posting also the Financials on their Ministry site will be most helpful to help others see and remove speculations.
I think the song has been heard to regear and reduce the Operational and Financial reverage of doing business by the GOV.
I think thoughtfulness has been seen of late to improve the revenues and reserves without any externality on the grow and direction of the economy
You are talking to people who do not understand or if they do, they do not care, therefore the end result is the same. This end result is that they will do as they please anyway.
@Zed
That’s the sad truth
We have intellectual bankruptcy in Govt. It’s bamba zonke no one cares about the future.
MMD built the economy but these guys are just going round the world with the TITLE DEED to borrow. they are behaving like an UNCLE ADMINSTRATOR from the village who comes in to sell everything and drink every day leaving the widow and children in the cold.
They are too lazy, too dull and too old to sit on the computer and analyze simple economic equations like X+Y=10
Cement price has been doubled because the Chinese have all the cement leaving domestic developers stranded. KITWE – NDOLA dual carriage way was not in bad sharp to be worked on today.
@ vigilantee. The extreme end of what you are saying is behaving like a villager who owns thousands of cattle but lives in a ramshackle and cant even buy himself a decent pair of pants or shoes. You can use your title deed to borrow money and invest it in a viable business. If you know what you are doing, the money can multiply in a short time.
Good morning
It is very easy to get outraged and shoot at the government for borrowing but how about bringing forth contributions and suggestions on how to avoid the debt trap?
One thing people should know is that is there has always been a concept to keep Africa underdeveloped. Once It was physical colonisation but now it is re-colonisation at an economic level.
The plan is to keep African countries financially on the hook so that certain forces can subsequently gain control over their vast natural resources. Africans need to very careful that they don’t lose hegemony in their own continent or else their children and grandchildren may wind up as bond-men and women.
Nine Chale, firstly apologies for demeaning you in other posts, i try not to get too emotional, but sometimes, you know, anyways, even if we were to come up with contributions to avoid the debt trap and present them to government, in your honest opinion, do you think they would even bother considering these contributions? Are you sure we are dealing with the type of people that would take on ideas not produced by themselves? In my opinion we are dealing with one-track-mind people who will not budge from a set course no matter how reasonable the uproar. And i thought the removal of subsidies was supposed to also help us avoid the current financial crisis we are on.
I agree with you on the deliberate concept to keep Africa (Zambia) perpetually dependent, HOWEVER, I believe that concept is not responsible for our irresponsible Expenditure: bloated cabinet and thousands of permanent secretaries, stealing public funds, almost no say on mines(low taxes) as if we don’t own them, weak narrow tax base, etc
@dude, no beef bro. We’re moving on. I have good reasons to believe that the good suggestions are being heard. The more ideas they get the broader their scope.
Enka, for your information the mines in Chile are still controlled by government and there is continuity in the affairs of the country, unlike here its sangwapo. lLet us reflect what happened during the 20 years under FTJ. Chiluba president then LP.Mwanawasa vice, G Miyanda vice, E Kavindele vice. Mwanawasa was then elected president with E Kavindele vice, L Mwape vice, Pastor Mumba vice, Rupiah Banda vice. Then came Rupiah Banda as president, G Kunda as vice president. The 20 wasted years in Zambia are the same 20 years of great infrastructure development in chile. Zambia is changing for better, creation of new roads to decongest traffic in Lusaka. We have to give credit where it is due.
pio
Yes we have to give credit where it is due, not on reckless borrowing by grz no sir it wont happen like that, advise the government to put its house in order, eg bloated cabinet, bye election, and to begin to have a policy direction and to be focused. Not this harp-hard way of doing things we are seeing.
@Fili Uko Tuleya….policy direction,focus,good governance and a respect for objective orderly roadmap to national goals are priceless ingredients….perfect response.
perhaps Dambisa Moyo should hold a seminar to re-aducate our politicians on the cons of debt…..Or better still let us all take time to read “Dead Aid” her book which expounds soundly lessons on debt dependance
This govt is far from showing signs of understanding how things should work. They think borrowing is a good thing. Borrowing is only a good thing when the investment has been well thought through way in advance and the investment will be able to pay back on its own. Clearly PF is borrowing for the seek of pleasing it supporters at the expense of the young people who will have to pay back this money later, like Kaunda did in the 80’s. What a shame. PF has no plans to improve things at all, look at how they are handling agric sector. A sector which could have assisted a lot of youths and the economy to move forward.
While others are talking , the president is laying the foundation stone for the KK airport.. the arrogance of this man sometimes works to his advantage..
only if you knew that the air port in question will not be owned by Zambia for a long time.
Those are normal deals in business. were are you as Zambians goinf to ge money to build an airport in the next ten years? its like the first car you bought. Technically , it was not owned by you, though you drove it.
Iwe cinshilubemba don’t be stupid! Can’t you even understand simple literature? Compare those 2 figures for 2011 and 2013, do they appear the same to you! You suck son of a business woman!) Left this country with a better external debt than ma rubbish ya government ili manje *****!
and dont come back..
The problem we have in Zambia at the moment is that, most of you people making sound arguments on this forum do not even come close to the numbers of those who do not understand a thing including our president. Alas! these latter people ” the president and his subjects” are the ones who play a crucial role in Zambia’s inferior politics.
You are so right. We can wax lyrical all day (and hope that the relevant people glean something) but in reality, as long as the gullibility persists, it will never end. I am not even attributting it to the lack of education – I think it’s something else. I think that That “simplicity/fun-loving//peace-loving/christian nation” thing is a double-edged sword.
I have no confidence that this will never happen again. All it takes is someone shrewd enough to harness the gullibility and bingo! – you’re in.
If the money is used for development of infrastructure , then no problem but please , not on consumption subsidies!
Clueless government. They think they are playing ‘snap’.
You know what…? Birds of the same feathers flock together, this PF government’s marriage with some sections of media is learning borrowing trends from the those same sections of media, how to borrow and assume that some law technicalities can sort things out when it will come to paying back.
Chikwanda was the last Minister of Finance in UNIP before 1991 elections and he left a credit of 7billion which MMD managed to clear when the country reached HIPC with Hon. Magande Minister of Finance, now this same again just 2years he has commited the country to this debt which will be cleared by another political in 2016
Since when did human beings see monkeys in a maize field planting maize for tomorrow’s consumption? Theirs is to eat, plunder, destroy including budding plants.
They are clueless where their next food will come and careless of even their own siblings survival. Zambia’s external debt under PF govt has grown to 90% K17.8 billion from the time they took over as govt of Zambia. A huge problem for Zambian’s next govt. They must be stopped before it gets worse.
Agree.
I would consider an implosion within PF a Godsend – especially if it got rid of them for good.
You have to borrow if developement has to be attained.We are seen the results.3 Billion dollars is nothing for a nation on the growth path.We are building the country and you wanted the money to remain idle in the bank.Why do you borrow to improve your social status like buying a car or house and start strive to compriseyour diet at home.Once infratstrature is up repayment wont be much of a problem.Why get worried as if the money will o be coming straight to your pockets.We cannot continue leaving like this with run down infratcure because we should fear to borrow.Why are capital markets there and why are the baks there.That is why you chaps cant borrow to start a business becaus you fear of getting broke in case your business plan did not work.it is not the business plan that fails
In Ghana a rich man is called wesekeni,in the local language it means he who does not spend.I agree with some bloggers that over borrowing to feed consumption and non urgent projects like Ndola Kitwe rd is not wise,Yes setting up manganese processing plant,is being focused.as Long as we over spend we will remain poor.Govt address people’s concerns..how will we pay back by building Mongu stadium?a school was better,,
A good chunk of this debt is from by-elections and the blotted cabinet/government, yet the PF insists that all by-elections are budgeted for…..and they don’t even try to justify why some ministries need to have three deputy ministers! 2016 kwalepa mwebantu!
If you have no money dont borrow because you cant pay back. If you have no money dont run a bloated cabinet. If you have no money dont dont speak districts into existence. If you have no money dont award yourselves salaries which you cant pay. If you have no money dont create unnecessary by- elections. If you have no money be allergic to corruption for real.
@Wanzelu,
You raise good points. Yes, many of us Zambians who could otherwise have contributed significantly to the well-being of our country are out. I have met many Zambians who have gone back home and were utterly rejected by the system there. I did it myself. I returned but my education was not often welcomed, my ideas were shunned my business was not given a chance by fellow Zambians/Govt who opted to do business with foreigners even when I offered superior product/service. So I left Zambia again and for the last time. If we are to be part and parcel of the dev then govt need to create a deliberate policy to bring people home. I certainly wish you the best on your journey back home. Hope you will last longer than I did (6yrs) and not run back to the UK. Good luck
where is miles sampa??? has he quietly exited from PF disgrace? or is he still around as one of the 4 deputy finance ministers?
by the time this i.d.i.o.t and his party steps out of office,Zambia will be in soo much debt and much more poor.Thank you old man, for ruining our hopes,dreams and a bright future promised to the youths of Zambia.
Do you have any video of that? I’d love to find out some
additional information.
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