This week Hon. Chikwanda released a statement that claims the performance of the economy in 2014 was positive. However, I think we can all see from the way so many Zambians are struggling with the high cost of living, limited employment opportunities and tough service conditions that this has not been the case.
The state of the economy as a result of the PF government is something that needs to be sincerely discussed, not falsely aggrandized.
Yes our economy is growing, but not enough if we are going to deliver everything we need to move Zambia forward. Better education and healthcare are dependent on us managing the economy more effectively, and 6% growth does not cut it for a country like ours so rich in resources and young talent.
[pullquote]In this statement Hon. Chikwanda commented that we had made great strides in the agricultural sector. If this is the case why have our farmers gone unpaid for so long[/pullquote]
The other problem with the current growth rate is that it is not trickling down to improve the lives of Zambians across the country. If we are doing so well then why have farmers faced such delays to their payments, why have students gone without their allowances, why have teachers not been provided their rural hardship allowance? Even while we have had this 6% growth, subsidies on fuel and mealie meal have been removed and prices increased sharply. So who exactly is this growth benefitting?
In this statement Hon. Chikwanda commented that we had made great strides in the agricultural sector. If this is the case why have our farmers gone unpaid for so long?
Hon. Chikwanda also spoke about inflation and the government’s pledge to keep it at 6.5% while it is now at around 8%. In fact, under the PF government we have seen food inflation skyrocket from 3.5% in May 2011 to 8.4% in December 2012, something Hon. Chikwanda failed to mention.
[pullquote]Our external debt as of September stood at US$4.7billion, a 34% increase on 2013, whilst our domestic debt stands at K21.9 billion[/pullquote]
Hon. Chikwanda also failed to note the strategy to pay back the vast debt accumulated in the PF’s short tenure. Our external debt as of September stood at US$4.7billion, a 34% increase on 2013, whilst our domestic debt stands at K21.9 billion. When you put the level of debt that the PF Government has raised next to the fact that farmers have not been paid, the cost of living has increased, civil servants are facing a wage freeze and we are struggling to invest properly in education, then you have to agree something is seriously wrong.
The bottom line is that in a country so rich with natural resources it is unforgivable that people are still going to bed early, even 50 years after independence. The problem to date has been poor leadership. We can change this on 20 January 2015.
We are pledging to end the cycle of debt, waste and mismanagement and instead focus on supporting our farmers, incentivising local businesses and providing training opportunities for youth – and doing so in a transparent way.
Dipak Patel
UPND Campaign Manager
Kabiyeni uko nobufi bwenu ba Dipak. pakati apa tamwalemoneka mwaile ku India mukufwaila umwaiche wenu hh tu juju. Twamipapata, ikaleni fye. Ala ifwe ni Lungu mukwai
@ Hamoonga with your name that should not come from you. You can campaign positively for PF but those are facts. Its the trickle down we need, Have you been to your village, I have to mine and even if its Luapula its horrific. But where these ministers where from probably its different. to be honest we need the same Trickle down effect that Super Ken had before he lost his brains. Its only HH that cab offer that now. Thinking of it you have interfaced quite well with that Bemba you write other your a fake boss
Only Useless people like you can say the current economy is on right track. Go and lean even Home Economics , at least you will understand what it means by the term Economics. Your president is a me also.
Confused Party, No direction ,No Planning , No coordination, No organisation . Everyone is a President ,every one can announce policies. Retirement age from 55 to 65 secretary to the treasury , No Ignore him, ………………………….55 is the retirement age…………Wage freeze up to 2016 ……………we are ,reviewing………………………..Pathetic Illiterate Fools. Go back to school and learn . PF is at Embassy Pack.
May your Party Rest in Eternal Peace
The truth is the state of our economy is bad…very bad..as much as we are pf or any other party,lets not convince ourselves,we only have ourselves to cheat by the end of the day..
Now that we do understand be dipak that our economy is not doing well,…lets learn to discuss solutions coz throwing pf out without direction can bring us leaders who are worse..it might be u ba upnd,better correct the thugs,pf, we know…lol
@ HAMOONGA
Impersonating a Tonga and speaking in your perfect Bemba tongue will not improve Edgar Lungu’s chances. You PF supporters are congenitally dull people we know that, but sometimes PLEASE try to pretend to be a little bit more intelligent. You are embarrassing even Edgar Lungu.
UPND are very consistent look at these things below:
UPND has remained a regional party.
UPND are consistent in insulting all those who have different views to theirs.
UPND are very consistent at making wild allegations and making careless statements without proof.
UPND have continued to wish other people ill health and even worse death.
UPND are also consistent with only a Tonga chap can be president.
UPND are also consistent with the fact that they have never gone to a convention since HH became president.
UPND are consistent with losing Presidential Elections.
UPND as a party have remained an under 5s party.
HH supporters are these lies.? Tell me why I should vote for HH when am non Tonga and yet HH is guaranteed 90% votes in Tongaland.?
Viva EL. Viva PF.
I recall a Dipak Patel who was in government for a very long time!
Hamoonga, you are typical of PF song birds, cadres. When you have failed to debate you rush for the insult book of your and start thinking from there. The truth of the matter PF has left more rural population in poverty than they found them. You seem not to understand that not paying those farmers in Mpika implies poverty for them. Shame on you.
Ba Patelo patelo kuwayawayafye!
“The bottom line is that in a country so rich with natural resources it is unforgivable that people are still going to bed early, even 50 years after independence.”
I would replace ‘early’ with hungry, uneducated, jobless etc… Made me smile as the punch line appeared off topic. Then I thought about it and considered that he means we are asleep.
Wake up. The numbers don’t add up and there are millions of people’s lives plus multiple regions full of evidence of our failure to manage our economy, resources and potential…
Dipack Patel was part and parcel of the MMD when our economy was being destroyed through the flawed privatisation of government institutions,HH participated and benefited from this same flawed process. Twebeniko fimbi ba Dipack.
I completely agree with Dipak. Anyone average person living in Zambia can attest that things are bad even those I see supporting Lungu but can not afford to eat three meals a day, take their children to school, or even drive to the village to visit his mum or grand mother in the village because fuel is costly. It puzzles me why you would even support a government. or vote for someone that has deprived you so much of the very things you should be entitled. I thought Scott cared about this country when he was against the Lungu candidate. It’s not about Lungu it’s about Zambia and the damage our great country has endure under PF and this needs to be stopped otherwise we will all suffer. Any party but not PF. Please vote wisely
Well said DP
As a mining professional, I’ve been advocating for a greater share of the mineral resources to the Zambian populace. On many occasions, I was pilloried, people quoting the ignominious collapse of ZCCM. We all knew that ZCCM’s failure was due to gross mis-management. I’m still convinced that 20% from metal sales should be returned to Zambia. 15% of which should go to the community where the mine is located and 5% to central government.
This should be the roadmap for the new president.
@Brenda Simbuleta….ask DP & HH why they never advocated for that when they were fully involved in privatizing the mines.
Dipak show us your record the last time you were part of MMD GRZ, You participated in the plunder of Zambia.
Just do your job silently.
Very interesting observations bwana Dipak. Iya ma facts aya.
On the other hand, it should be pointed out that if the economy is growing at 6%, then who is benefiting? It is obvious that our economy is very inefficient in the way it distributes wealth. That need to be addressed. People should not go to sleep early, at the benefit of the rich few.
The point is clear: the 6% is not inclusive not democratic. It benefits the infectors and a few corrupt people in the ruling PF. I am not sure if Lungu knows this. He does not sound as some one who knows other than just knowing that he can be the president of Zambia.
Are also indirectly saying that the 5% growth DP was part of was going into his pockets also. I can take such an observation from someone else and not DP. Growth under this tenure was still concentrated to the upper strata. This is a challenge faced by almost all countries. Nonetheless, I f this statement come fro the man himself the president in waiting, if it so happens (HH) it would carry more weight. Think!!!!dont be swayed by politicians.
Zambians we should wake up and do the right thing this time by voting for the right person who can address the economic challenges the country is facing. PF has failed and they are a bunch of confused people. no plans ,no vision to tackle current problems of unemployment, growth, dirtiness of cities and districts, our resources being stolen and so on.
what is frank lampard(jersey 8) doing in Zambia???after 50+1 years of independence we are still using half black boards or is is blue??
This is the sound and statement of a seasoned and intelligent politician. Not these monkeys who keep going round the country insulting Zambians with statements like “I have no vision, but vote for me” – and guess what, what I didn’t know is that these monkeys have a good number of follower-monkeys among the normal Zambians and these follower-monkeys are so dim-witted they can’t see anything wrong with such a campaign statement.
Thankfully, normal human beings are the majority and they hear you Dipak Patel and 20th January they will kick out these monkeys using the vote. We are tired. These monkeys know nothing apart from talking too much and stealing.
I salute you HH, son of the soil, son of my motherland, son of Africa. U mean very well for our country. U are genuinely concerned with the state of our economy. U are the rite man for the job. The rest are counterfeits. They will take Zambia nowhere. Under PF, Zambia has been in reverse gear. They talk about roads but they do not talk about over USD4billion loan in just 3 yrs. Mthly repayment will be over USD120,000,000 for a long period of time! Y surely did they do this? If PF is let to continue, the economy will crash. The Kwacha will crash. By the way, exchange rate at 31/12/11 was K4.928 to USD1.00. As at 31/12/14, it was K6.45 to USD1.00. This represents 30.9% depreciation in the value of Kwacha in just 3 yrs. If PF continues, we are in “maningi” trouble.
PF brags of road infrastructure. This really shocks me. Anyone Govt that is reckless in borrowing could have put up similar infrastructure. MMD under RB wud hav done so if they wanted. But they kud not do so as they fully understood consequences of borrowing. They did not want to put the Zambian pipo under a yoke for many yrs to come. Wat is the point of driving on gud roads when u have no medicine in hospitals, wen u can not afford to buy even ARVs 4 yo pipo, wen u can not afford to pay yo farmers, suppliers to govt agencies & ministries! Reasoning of PF is shameful, is dangerous, is injurious, is retrogressive. Let us liberate ourselves by voting PF out. God, please forgive me for voting PF in 2011. Forgive those who still believe in PF 4 they don’t kno wat they are doing. AMEN.
Be sober. Zambia’s GDP is $25billion. The debt is $5billion. Every country needs debt. Has the government increased your taxes? No. Do not go around mentioning points when you do not understand figures. Zambia needs infrustructure, regardless. How long will we keep looking at South Africa like it is heaven, we are done tired!
@Brickforce wire……ask any serious economist and they’ll tell you that borrowing for infrastructure development is good for a country cause it benefits even the future generation,what is discouraged is when you borrow e.g to meet salaries of civil servants.
@ voldermont; GDP alone is meaningless. Per capital adjustment of GDP makes much sense: USD 25B/15M Zambians gives us $1667 as productivity of average Zambian annually. We can further adjust this by the purchase power parity and given Zambians high cost of living this figure will diminish drastically. My point is that with such low productivity, a high rate of contraction of debt does not add-up. It maybe be sustainable compared to GDP, but the debt growth rate (34% annually) is totally unsustainable compared to a pantry GDP growth of 6%. We feeling the pain of interest payments; delayed payments to farmers, underfunded health and education sectors. investments should target key economic drivers like manufacturing alongside infrastructure lest it becomes white elephants.
SO Dipak Patel thinks he is better than the IMF. Look, Zambia’s economy remains stable and the credit rating remains at a solid B+. The debt of 34% of GDP is fine. The US had debts at 100% of GDP. Zambia is stable. The question is this, the UPND has also been in governance, you have 30 or so MPs, but why is it that you pass budgets together with the PF? Why don’t you prepare alternative budgets and publish to the Zambian people. Look, we have seen people like you. Just another desperate party looking to do more of the same things if elected. Save us the brouhaha!
UPND are very consistent look at these things below:
UPND has remained a regional party.
UPND are consistent in insulting all those who have different views to theirs.
UPND are very consistent at making wild allegations and making careless statements without proof.
UPND have continued to wish other people ill health and even worse death.
UPND are also consistent with only a Tonga chap can be president.
UPND are also consistent with the fact that they have never gone to a convention since HH became president.
UPND are consistent with losing Presidential Elections.
UPND as a party have remained an under 5s party.
HH supporters are these lies.? Tell me why I should vote for HH when am non Tonga and yet HH is guaranteed 90% votes in Tongaland.? SORRY HH
Viva EL…
I love the analysis. And what is amazing is that UPND enjoys the fruits o tribalism. HH must be envious at how Edgar Lungu is enjoying neutral support around Zambia!
TB Joshua the Man of God prophesied PF wins 2015 elections, its going to be bad for a whole lot of pipo
You mean TB Joshua the Satanist who just killed a lot of people in his lodge and still refuse to assist police with investigations??? Well, typical of you PF supporters, no brains, you follow blindly…even TB Joshua. Good luck with your blindness.
His Excellency Mr Sata is fit and is working hard at state house. PF are damn liars. Fooled Zambians on the status of the late president’s health until on the day he died! Can u trust these pipo anymore?His Excellency Mr Sata is fit and is working hard at state house. PF are damn liars. Fooled Zambians on the status of the late president’s health until on the day he died! Can u trust these pipo anymore?His Excellency Mr Sata is fit and is working hard at state house. PF are damn liars. Fooled Zambians on the status of the late president’s health until on the day he died! Can u trust these pipo anymore?His Excellency Mr Sata is fit and is working hard at state house. PF are damn liars. His Excellency Mr Sata is fit and is working hard at state house. PF are damn liars.
What about Maureen mwanawasa and Patel including Felix. they all concealed mwanawasa’s health. They are all crooks just like those who concealed sata’s health. For me we need to wipe out all such politicians especially in 2016. For HH just use them and if u win don’t betray those mps who have stood by you all this while. But as facts still stand, it will be difficult to unseat the PF.
Some people here want to claim to know about the IMF better than Dipak Patel. Please spare us the nonsense. Dipak Patel’s MMD team in 1991 are the ones that started the democratic and economic system that you are enjoying today. Dipak Patel knows more about the IMF than you because he used to visit their offices in USA and meet with them, and at the time you yourself probably still thought the earth is flat. You and your PF monkeys put together are no match to Dipak Patel ALONE!
Chikwanda is useless. His knowledge and skills are outdated and non-operational. For a Minster of Finance you need a person with fresh and relevant knowledge, and skills to effectively analyse the economic barometer, and bring creative ideas to the table that can help solve economic problems.
It is foolish for Chikwanda to deliberately present an incorrect image on the country’s economic performance.
Having served in almost all governments one would expect Chikwanda to demonstrate mastery of economic performance matters through his gradual accumulation and practiced facility in higher-order skills: researching, reasoning and problem solving, inquiry and assessment, discernment and the formulation and articulation of a defensible, if not persuasive economic performance point…
of view such as one presented by Patel.
You right Sara. This is the man who sometime last year in May argued with a BBC Financial Report when he was challenged as to the causes of the weakening Kwacha. He (Chikwanda) went on to issue tirades of racial remarks.
Please Sara could you switch to non-bold font. The bold font is “killing me.”
EDGAR DO NOT HAVE A VISION SO DON’T VOTE FOR HIM CHOOSE ANOTHER CANDIDATES.
Too late, decision was cast in concrete
Ok in short, Chikwandanomics!
abena lampard arr even coming to school in zambia.viva kambwili
abamano. Tell them!
The truth of the matter is that things have improved for those in power, their families, friends and allies: They are now Ministers, Deputy Ministers, driving very expensive cars financed by taxpayers, their children and relatives are employed in Parastatals and embassies even when they don’t qualify. As for the rest of Zambians, they are still trapped in abject poverty, they remain unemployed with poor housing, poor sanitation, poor health services, lacking clean drinking water! If anyone wants evidence that Mr. Chikwanda’s statistics are detached from reality just visit any shanty township: Kanyama, Misisi, John Laing, etc you will see for yourself the squaller in which the majority of Zambians live! It is shameful!
You are right DP.
On the other hand, I think we have tried. Look at various companies that have been rebumped by PF and infrastructure development. Change of government might even worsen. I think it works well to allow PF to continue so that the economy can steadily improve. Sooner we should begin to see fruits of on going projects. I have seen your picture of pupils learning on the open. PF is still building a lot of schools. Its my home that all these will be assimilated in due coarse. Don’t expect PF to finish all problems in the three years they have ruled. You are being impatient with PF.
You are right DP.
On the other hand, I think we have tried. Look at various companies that have been revumped by PF and infrastructure development. Change of government might even worsen. I think it works well to allow PF to continue so that the economy can steadily improve. Sooner we should begin to see fruits of on going projects. I have seen your picture of pupils learning on the open. PF is still building a lot of schools. Its my home that all these will be assimilated in due coarse. Don’t expect PF to finish all problems in the three years they have ruled. You are being impatient with PF.
Well dpark raises true and important issues. But since he stands from one another political club he fails to balance his argument. Perhaps if he had the right education He would have. Maybe thats why Mutati was the the most preferred candid ent for the UNCTAD job. Economic growth under the mmd gov was smilingly the Same. And non of them as commerce ministers translated the same to benefit ordinary people. Having worked under dpark I can not take away the fact that he was willing to deliver. But he is such a compromised person. Eg, as minister of trade, he had to trash a report from the competition commission which found that Zambia sugar was excessively pricing sugar. This was because he was sitting on the board if Zambia sugar which he still does. And today sugar is exorbitantly priced.
My advise to HH. Use their brains and don’t bring such people near your cabinet.