The Patriotic Front says it has heard and listened with shock to the levels of dangerous ignorance and hypocrisy by the Opposition on many issues, including Government’s decision to restructure the national debt.
PF Media Director Sunday Chanda says with due respect to our local economists, these men and women understand the complexities that go with debt restructuring.
He says the debt restructuring undertaking demands for a firm with global networks and global influence in order to arrive at desired results in so far as restructuring debt is concerned.
Mr. Chanda says local economists such as Professor Oliver Saasa, Chibamba Kanyama including former Ministers of Finance and Bank of Zambia Governors know too well Lazard’s reputation and success rate in these endeavours.
He says these men know too well that in order to succeed, a country needs an internationally respectable firm with a successful track record such that even rating agencies such as Moodys, Standard and Poors, and Fitch can respect them.
Mr. Chanda said these men and women understand that a country needs a firm that can successfully restructure its debt and put Zambia’s story in respectable and influential international media such as the Financial Times, among others.
“We also must remember that part of the reasons why our economy has had the sort of downgrades by rating agencies is the sponsored propaganda in international media targeted at the financial markets by Opposition UPND and it’s funders to whom they promised to hand our natural resources to in return”, he said.
Mr. Chanda has alleged that as part of UPND’s regime change strategy is hurting the country’s reputation in the eyes of the global financial market by churning out sponsored lies about Zambia such as ZESCO and Kenneth Kaunda International Airport being sold to China.
He said it is the only reason the UPND leader has never said anything positive about Zambia abroad.
“On 1st April 2020, which also happens to be fools day, the UPND leader released a statement opposing Government’s plans to engage an international firm to restructure the debt. He argued that he was willing to work with Government to restructure the debt for free instead”, he said.
Mr. Chanda said this hypocrisy stinks because this is the same man whose firm, Grant Thornton, an international firm, as receivers of Luanshya Mine during Privatisation is reported to have received about USD 12 million and today he wants to misunderstand why international consultants are engaged.
He has questioned why Mr. Hichilema did not render the said service for free at the time.
“We will always remember how a whole President Frederick Chiluba was accused by his successor of having stolen money, including the said USD 12 million and yet this money went to pay a firm the UPND leader worked for as a local partner”, added Mr. Chanda.
He said many countries including Argentina have hired Lazard as a financial advisor in the restructuring process of a close to $100 billion public debt.
Mr. Chanda said the firm’s success rate in debt restructuring is something no serious former minister of foreign affairs should have challenges grappling with.
He noted that sadly, a former minister of foreign affairs and Presidential wannabe thinks such national debt restructuring is something one does by handpicking economists and not financial advisors from a lecture room at the university.
“Unfortunately this is the populistic but cheap mindsets of the so-called alternatives in Zambia”, he said.
Are you the government spokesperson or Ministry of Finance spokesperson? This is not PF vs UPND thing. And for the record, Zambia is in debt because you stole the money. It’s not because any one reported Zambia negatively to anybody.
You want to borrow some more to build a University for Corona Virus? Even if this was a joke it wouldn’t be funny.
I think the Minister of Finance needs to speak on this and no one else.
HH told you not to barrow recklessly but you called him names you see now were you have ended up are you not ashamed that you can’t pay back the money now you have to pay somebody to negotiate for you shame 2021 you must go.
Well said Ba Chanda, how can a thief promise to guard your house in your absence or a wolf to lead the sheep.?
This quack called Sunday or Monday Chanda does he think he has absolute wisdom in Zambia?
Yoi mean our opposition leaders should just remain quiet even when the country is being raped right and left.
What will be their purpose?
Why your PF government was borrowing recklessly without foreknowledge of failure to pay implications? The Zambians are questioning, why spend their 5 million US dollars for somthing that could have been avoided ?
PF must go!
What an *****. Trying to divert the discussion from the real issue. The PF (the president and his crooks) messed up big times because of their corruption and incompetence. But I agree that this adviser is necessary as those guys running government have no clue how to deal with this situation. Its way above their head. If you see these guys including this Sunday, you just know, you can take out a retard of the special school but you can’ take out the retard. They thought they or worse they still think Zambia will get HIPC 2.0, but this time they have to deal with commercial banks and these guys are at least 100 feet ahead. The mismanagement of the economy is only caused by greed, corruption and most of all incompetence. PF is like the malaria parasite Plasmodium Falciparum its eating its…
Another MORON in a gang of thieves……. (Need i say your brother was also feeding from the proceeds of stealing donor money)
Who told you to borrow what you could not pay? Where you not warned??
When we said Zambia will default on the Euro bonds were we not insulted?
Lazard will chew your money and walk away when they discover that you have been lying on the amount of debt on the books. Its not about Euro bonds only. If i have to restructure the debt you have from me…. i need to know what other debt you have.
Some reason the IMF walked away when you failed to disclose what other debt you have. This is free money for Lazard
Ot is the PF including you that stinks to highest hells. What is the use of employing people that work in the ministries of commerce and finance if they can’t have brains to reason and drive the country forward. You the PF borrowed money and put Zambia in the mess it is in and the same you want to spend money to get what you dull chaps can’t do for yourselves? What kind of moronns are you all in the PF government?
Let’s remember that Sunday Chanda doesn’t speak for GRZ, his opinion is that of a cadre nothing more.
They came, They borrowed, They mismanaged the economy, They left.
what a legacy.
Hehehe ……hohoho ……
Sunday chanda ……You are funny….
Now it’s HHs fault that you have uncontrollable debt ???
Hehehehe……
Unfortunetly for you most Zambians find that accusation ridiculas …..
Sunday Chanda, please recognize some boundaries. This is a matter for government to deal with. Is that too much to expect from you?
This is one useful 1diot who doesn’t know his job description, like Miles Sampa!
Forgive him.
People please see through the veil. PF are trying to justify a stupidd expenditure to divert more money from the country into their pockets. They burnt the market to justify the useless fire wheelbarrows purchase, used cholera to justify the ambulance purchases at exorbitant prices and now will use the debt issue Zambians are complaining about to justify this expense. PF are opportunists of disasters, expenses to justify fooolish purchases and natural disasters to justify their laziness and dullness in leading the country.
I honestly always get amazed at how shallow and dull Sunday Chanda appears to be. No matter what happens he always finds a way to blame UPND. It’s quite a talent he has
Yawn….
sunday chanda, a total disgrace to us bembas. Whenever this guy opens his mouth i feel embarrased…
Journeyman: I expect well-thought-out comments from you. That’s the standard u hv set for yourself on this site. Sunday Chanda doesn’t represent Bembas. Aren’t we trying to build a nation out of the tribes?
Really laughable this boy trying to justify hiring a foreign company to advise them on their recklessness… I mean Sata is turning in his grave these chaps dont even know what the Patriotic in PF stands for …they have no clue whatsoever
The young man has articulated himself very intelligently but as usual, zero substance from the comments above. What is seriously wrong with our bloggers???
I have searched everywhere to read statements by the local economists on this US$5 million issue. Not seen a single one, even their Facebook pages have nothing on it. Where did he get the information? Is this guy hallucinating or what?
These are government issues and not party issues please. The party never hired this company, so what is your role here. Is it painful just to keep quiet
Duda
What is intelligent there ????
It’s just ridiculous negative commenting from opposition. They are so desperate that they can celebrate the economy tanking because of covid19, when IMF imperialists set an agenda to pick our next president for some loan.
Why not appreciate that all global economies are in recession, Japan, USA, France (A recession so bad its worse than after world warII). Where would we be in the scheme of things? Yes the loans were great but we have seen great improvement in our standard of living continuing from Mwanawasa who with the help of Citigroup brought our debts to book. There is a frenzied attempt to blanket a natural disasters due to covid19 as an election manifesto item. LETS WORK TOGETHER.
It’s a pity and unpatriotic for any Zambian to berate this arrangement. “Kano ninebo” attitude from the opposition leader is shameful and will honestly cost him votes. Lazard Freres is a credible broker on the global financial markets and they are managing assets in excess of $248 billion. So the £5 million fee is nothing compared to what Zambia will gain in restructured debt arrangements. In October last year, multinational investment banks Rothschild and Moelis were shortlisted to advise on restructuring about $15 billion of debt at Saudi Arabia’s biggest construction firm, Saudi Binladin Group. Chibamba Kanyama or his friend Magande do not have the necessary skillset to negotiate the restructure of Zambia’s debt. This is a high stakes game.
Lazard Freres being credible does not automatically guarantee success, lets get this in our heads first, lest we mislead every body. We are talking about a huge debt here from different shylocks which we should have never gone into in the first place.
You guys are all ranting and grumbling, zero opinion on the matter to counter what the man has said. What is wrong with the Zambian inteliligencia?? Are we so backwards surely??
Sunday Chanda will never have anything sensible to say, except attacking, humiliating, denigrating and vilifying HH. If he thinks that the readers of his garbage do believe him, then he has absolutely no brain at all between his two ears. I often wonder how much formal education he has, if any.
Zambians , our economy is not about debt restructuring , we need a complete , but we need to come up with the total
national economic recovery , diversfication , industrailization and growth strtyaegy and within that is a key component of debt restructuruiing .
I even wrote to them earlier , the whole Ministry and Government is dead and Visionless . Look the matter at hand is Government and people or citizen ,not PF . But central Government can not even defend itself , so you these little boys make noise .
Iwe ka Chanda and all PF goons including the now shame faced fellow who sang about the so called “Zambian Enterprise”, I have a few questions for you all:
1. Where is that dinosaur who claimed that Zambia’s debt was sustainable when we complained about the pace at which debt was being contracted?
2. Where is the sinking fund that you lied to have put in place? You should all repent of this sin!!
3. Why are you accusing the opposition of creating your problems simply because they commented on your decision to pay money to Malinso, when you need it to pay salaries?
4. Iwe ka Sunday, when did you become spokesperson for the Government of the Republic of Zambia? Let Dora Siliti come and comment because she’s paid to do for that, to the extent of catching Covid-19 as she did…
Sunday Monday what a clown…. you really need know what day it is. You borrow, you chew it then you contract some1 how to pay the debt.
What a joke.
I am not UPND but I can tell you that these guys have completed failed. Are we better off now than in MMD times, answer is a big NO. Are economic indicators for Zambia pointing in the right direction, the answer is another big NO. There is absolutely no contest here. PF has made a lot of wrong decisions, and certainly this one of hiring buluzi to sort out our debt and pay $5m cant be right on any given day. And your country has the second worst performing currency IN THE WORLD. In civilized countries, these chaps could have resigned on their own in the wake of crystal clear failure.
Get these fools out quickly!
Zambian Citizen?? Getting someone’s user name to push forward your upnd agenda?? Be reasonable, please.
@34
Do you hold the proprietary rights to be the only one who can address yourself as a Zambian Citizen?
Get a life my PF friend. It’s not my fault that you can’t defend your Pathetic Failure project. I’m only being objective in my contribution. Fault my presentation and not my birthright to mother Zambia!!
Lungu got drunk yesterday and peed in his panty. It was HH’s fault because his picture was shown on ZNBC. Sounds familiar- was Sunday Chanda’s justification of what Lungu did. It didn’t even have anything to do with PF! Sunday, Sunday, Sunday..,,,
Monday chanda,that K90 000 000 can surely clear all retirees and other related debts. HH warned you not to over borrow you insulted him. The worst government ever I wished President SATA did not die (MHSRIP) HE HAD A BETTER VISION FOR ZAMBIA. Now this hand picked ecl with his team are the worst the whole Africa. Now you want to blame opposition when they were advising you not to over borrow. I wished God could make tomorrow August 2021 we are tired of this regime of every day accusing innocent people over their own mistakes. Chilufya and Dora after they have stolen have faked covid-19 and are in 120 days at home isolation. Twanaka pliz.
Ba Chanda naimwe, spare us from your absurd ignorance and arrogance! Respectable entity with international connections blah, blah, blah…why didn’t you respect yourselves in the first place by avoiding excessive borrowing which we Zambians warned you about? What language do you understand kanshi? What level of ignorance is this? Who tells you Moody’s, S&P among others, downgrading of Zambia is as a result of smear campaign by your enemies? Get this into your head, Zambia’s pitfall is as a result of your reckless economic management credentials and your lack of humility, PERIOD!
Credibility of the consulting firm will not pay the debt. Why should we look for a consulting firm NOW, why NOT when we were contracting the debt? All these years, PF government have been denying the fact that the debt burden was becoming sustainable, NOW they have agreed…Very sad, so ,many years of denial. Not sure what to believe about our government.
This guy is a time waster who gets sh!£ blown off the fun most of the times .We know the economy is in such a mess because of chronic industrial scale thefts which have been happening .The watch dog carried of a story of a guy who has been given a contract to supply PPI at the ministry of health .Look at the house he has build on facebook .There no way that he could have done it with dodgy deals from the Ministry of Health
This guy is a time waster who gets sh!£ blown off the fun most of the times .We know the economy is in such a mess because of chronic industrial scale thefts which has been happening .The watch dog carried a story of a guy who has been given a contract to supply PPI at the ministry of health .Look at the house he has built on facebook .There is no way that this guy could have done it without dodgy deals from the Ministry of Health
BUT HOW DID WE GET HERE?
A LOT OF HAPPENINGS ARE NOT BEING EXPLAINED BY THE PF.
WAS IT NECESSARY TO CONTRACT THIS HUGE DEBT WHICH YOU ARE NOW FAILING TO PAY?
EXPENSIVE FIRE ENGINES WERE BOUGHT UNNECESSARILY.
IVECO AMBULANCES WHICH WERE TOO COSTLY AND EXPENSIVE TO MAINTAIN WERE PURCHASED AND YET THEY CANNOT OPERATE ON OUR BAD ROADS IN RURAL ZAMBIA. GOD GIVES US GOLD BUT YOU DECIDE TO GIVE 51% OF IT TO SUDANESE REBELS. MAY GOD HELP US. ALL WE SEE ARE PF SYMPATHIZERS BUILDING MANSIONS, FLATS. MAY GOD HELP US.
Sunday Chanda , Donchi kubeba , bally will fix it!
Zambia’s debt is a mixture of commercial debt( Eurobonds), trade debt (supplies to Zambian govt by commercial entities) and bilateral debt (wht Zambian govt owes other govts). All this information Lazard Freres will collect and then ascertain actual debt. Then a creditors’ meeting will be called in Paris. Zambian officials may attend but not necessarily to say something and will be staying at the Ritz Hotel, the most expensive hotel in all of France.
Hamble requires control and no Zambian can do it. So let the resoectable French company do it for us.
Hamble requires control and no Zambian can do it, I mean to control Hamble. So let the respectable French company do it for us.
Just go back to sleep iwe, check your calendar its not yet Sunday for you to disturb our peace, fukn PF cadre.
….I have no problem if Dr Bwalya Ng’andu suggested this and approved the selection of this advisor. Because with that comfirt in my mind I would support Dr Ng’andu by saying
1. 5m dollar is a tiny and worthwhile proportion of the ridiculously stupendous humongous debt carelessly incurred by one so called Hamble man and his clueless
2. Its not just the numbers, those consultants are internationally respected and are able to open doors.
3. We may have good Zambian economists and financial experts, but who in the world would trust them to be free of corruption seeing that the world now associates every Zambian with PF corruption and theft? Just look at some PF liquidators, you cant trust your kantemba with them!! Now here we are talking a debt of 80% of our GDP, can you appoint a…
3. We may have good Zambian economists and financial experts, but who in the world would trust them to be free of corruption seeing that the world now associates every Zambian with PF corruption and theft? Just look at some PF liquidators, you cant trust your kantemba with them!! Now here we are talking a debt of 80% of our GDP, can you appoint a liquidator type consultant as our advisor?
4. And Bally will only fix it at a commission of 10% of national debt, we cant afford that!!! Besides, he cant even fix it anyway, as a politician Trible HH Bally is just as bad as his adversaries in every respect, in addition to the Sejani mantra.
Junior jj: This is where u lose it. Where does tribe come in here? Anyway, the truth will be brought to light some day. I think it’s increasingly looking like it may not be a conspiracy theory. But we hv to ask the right questions to find out.
Ya, ya ya ya!! Payipa pano!!
I remember when the rating agencies Moody’s,standard & poors & Fitch, commented on Zambias economy fast approaching junk status, P.F Cadres on L.T said and I quote “These agencies are tools of imperialism, don’t mean nothing on the ground & Zambia’s economy is thriving under the able & wise leadership of President Edgar Chagwa Lungu”
Manje’ lelo ba Monday (Red labia) ati ‘these firms understand debt restructuring & will help us”. The question is you P.F Chule’z have always professed you are sovereign nation that doesn’t need imperialist assistance as you “ARE AN INDEPENDENT NATION” & have all the technocrats who know what they are doing.
YOU PF GOONS HAVE JUST REALISED, RUNNING A STATE IS NOT LIKE RUNNING A KANTEMBA CHAWAMA BOTTLESTORE…
cont;
RUNNING A KANTEMBA CHAWAMA BOTTLESTORE.
Mw@nya!! Iwe Monday (Red Labia) na mukulu wako McPherson will be tu Sweet Gelo servicing ba kaidi in Mukobeko, Hiimbokaila & Mwembeshi correctional facilities, so start now doing T@k0 exersises!
You fools, you’re truly maddening! Just why the hell do you go out there over contracting debt that you are clueless to restructure? Now you’re incurring further debt to rearrange old debt, this is a spiraling cycle into hell, these clueless Coronavirus infected fools must go!
The truth is a nation is made of entities called people but we choose to trust the running of our affairs into the hands of a few individuals. Now they think everything else they do on our behalf is right and u can’t question them. The whole wisdom in this is that the country could record success depending on the type of leadership in place. And so the question that begs an answer is what sort of leader did we appoint to run our economy? Here lies in the answer to the problem at hand. It is also said that the quality of any nation is identified by the quality of people it has. Choose you now if you want to be serious about life.
A lesson for Sunday Chanda part 1:
The role of the consultant is to provide the client with tractable solutions. The client will client will evaluate the options and select what they think suites the implementation structures in place. With the question of debt we all know it has to be paid. The discussion is if it is deferred how is the adjusted interest Going to look like and what is the impact on local commitments (just to be clear – I am excluding pilfering by senior PF officials from local commitments but you can add that in Monday Chanda).
So the big question is what plans have you put in place for the deferred debt which will come at a higher interest.
You should have invested the USD 5 million in youths who will be paying that debt and there children and children’s children…