I read the article by Barnabas Zulu challenging the United Party for National Development (UPND) leader Mr Hakainde Hichilema to say how he would solve youth unemployment in Zambia with interest.
I am not a politician but I think that in a democracy we are all free to air our views and to subject our ideas to scrutiny and a healthy debate. I commend Barnabas from the civil way in which he has brought up this issue and I also feel the pain that the young people are going through in Zambia today.
I was a student once, at the University of Zambia when in only my second year of study there, I got a holiday job with Barclays Bank. I was paid a Teller’s wage and my job was always available whenever I came home during the term breaks. Shortly before I finished secondary education, we were visited by scouts from the Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines (ZCCM) in rural Zambia and told that ‘employment in the mines was second to none.’ I do not think that I would have joined the mines if these people had not come to talk to us. As soon as our Cambridge Overseas School Leaving certificate examinations were out, ZCCM was ready to offer scholarships to whoever they fancied. These were the days when the United National Independence Party (UNIP) was in power. Was there no corruption, tribalism and nepotism at the time? Of course there was. These vices are as native to any people as the air they breathe. Where there is more good being done, corruption is hidden and does not affect the overall outcome of events.
There was an obvious downside to ubiquitous availability of employment. The most obvious was that remuneration was poor. At one time, ZCCM employed more than 50,000 people and thousands more depended on the mines as contractors. As long as labour is a commodity, it will be subject to the laws of supply and demand. Where there is a semblance of free market rules, wages are inversely proportional to the availability of labour. Under socialist economics employers can be forced to employ as many people as the government wants and the result is that the workers are paid less. You can tell how little we were paid in those days when you see that very few graduates owned cars, let alone television sets! Even fewer owned their own homes because the majority rented accommodation from the employers or private landlords.
This background information is obviously of no comfort to the young people today, but I believe that it is important to set the scene. It is a widely held myth that politicians CREATE jobs. They do not. We the voters have come to believe this codswallop and as a result they have come to us promising heaven but delivering hell. Others have a belief in governments that make the rich richer and expect more crumbs to fall from their tables so that the poor underneath also have more. The ‘trickle down’ theory is also just a myth. This fails to take into account human greed.
It is a widely held myth that politicians CREATE jobs. They do not
The reason why government cannot create jobs is the same as what Ronald Reagan once said, ‘Governments do not make money, they spend money.’ The money government spends is our money. It spends the money it takes from us to pay us! Originally people paid the state in the same way shop owners in the crime ridden inner cities pay for protection against criminal gangs. We have just elevated the principle to national security. So, this leads me to say what the role of government is. It is to make for conditions that enable the citizens to attain their goals in peace without let or hinderance. In our villages, the whole community contributed to look after those who were unable to look after themselves by reason of age or infirmity. We have given this role to government AND we pay it to do so. We also pay government to protect us from thieves and to keep our borders secure. Where corruption and such like vices are rampant, government has failed and is instead stealing money for goods it is not supplying. The leaders who enrich themselves while failing to level the playing field so that others can rise are thieves.
Now, this is where the issues Barnabas raised are important. It is government’s role to LEVEL the field so that everyone has an equal opportunity to have a go at life. Once in a while, in a crisis, like war, government may have to divert jobs from certain industries to Warcraft. It is not creating employment, it is just changing the nature of employment. If there is a natural disaster or an economic meltdown, the government may engage in building infrastructure ONLY when it is the only institution that has the wherewithal. It is wrong for government to do this when private citizens can do. Government should never compete with individuals in the financial markets. You cannot have a loan at reasonable rates when government is also borrowing from the same bank.
Lastly, on the matter of seed capital. You are right Barnabas that it is difficult for one to get a loan to start a small business in Zambia. Apart from the reason I alluded to above, there is also the lack of a culture of saving in the country. How many parents have ever opened a bank account for their children? A bank lends to its customers and not to strangers. You bank with them, they will lend to you. Here is a role government can play. It can set every child on a banking path by opening trust accounts for every new born baby and probably extend it up to 5 years of age. We have too few personal bank accounts and even fewer life insurance holders in the country. The services industries are now the biggest contributors to wealth building in any developed nation. For commerce to go well, we need INTEGRITY both at personal and state level. People MUST pay what they owe in the time they promise to pay. If this happened, an employer would have money to pay wages in time and even create more jobs. Sadly, this is woefully lacking in Zambia. We do not even blush when we cannot pay what we owe. Our government has the same disease.
By Charles C.
Can someone from diaspora please tell.us the results of the by elections. Even that ka photographer has gone quiet on his Facebook. The majority of the youth are happy with pf that is why they have voted for us in these by elections. It’s a litmus test for what is to come in 2021. Tonight regina my wife and I will celebrate and drink to yet again my grassroots work. We have even popped a bottle of dom perignon.
I don’t drink with these kind of thinkers. Is it to show off?
Study that picture carefully, those are not “youths”, those are grown men who fix tires to buy chibuku. Look carefully, there are chibuku packages in that picture.
Don’t just go about condemning youths. Listen to what BFlow are telling you, the young men are up to good generation. If I was HH I would put them in parliament.
Lungu is an a disaster! Are these the 500 000 jobs in the above picture that he promised to create? He is a small-time thief but he is slowly metamorphosizing into some little dictator. He has gain unexplained K23 m in record time and has surrounded himself with the likes of dunderhead Lusambo and Kampyongo who speak from their Ar$es. Lungu recently said his running-mate will be as useless as GOGO and potentially one who will be running to him when he coughs? Lungu is a small time conman heading nowhere but disaster!
The writer forgets the government is the biggest employer. Kaunda created employment by nationalizing companies and what is PF doing shutting down companies and wrangling with mine owners and anyone this carders don’t like. Politicians can search and find ways they can provide employment including reducing taxes on companies who are able to hire locals instead of them importing workers depriving the locals
Unfortunately what you have written does not make sense in a country like Zambia were now even graduates are now illiterates.
Well reasoned Charles C. Govts only create conditions to facilitate businesses to create jobs and entrepreneurs to thrive.
The truth is Zambians have Dependency issues. They raise children to believe govt is going to provide. We don’t have a welfare system because our govt is on welfare from Western govts. Our economy broke in the ’70’s. We don’t get much from our Mines. We give away our resources to investors who then under pay the locals. It’s not about which party is in power since 70’s. The truth is we have had to climb out of a hold and our economy is just beginning to take shape under with new infrastructure. In truth that process has created lots of jobs in Construction, Retail and a young entrepreneur culture, all in the last 10 years. PF have kick started job…
Wht we hv to understand is tht, geographical position determine wht a youth can be, it also plays a part. A youth in America will start up with nothing but an idea ad bcome a billionaire bt in Africa whom hv u heard of becoming a billionaire like tht? It’s inheritance or sons/daughters of Presidents.
So if our govts can’t come up with ways to create jobs for us, poverty will be on the raise. We hv the resources, let our govt exploit us than the Chinese or foreigners, better we be patriotic to our nation for a better tomorrow. Due to tht the nation will hv more revenue to create more industries ad more jobs. This foreigners are parasites ad won’t appreciate us bt they will be insulting us because the govt are waiting for the taxes. Why can’t we raise our revenue from our resources…
“……It is a widely held myth that politicians CREATE jobs. They do not…..”
Ok, what if we say foringners can not create meaningful jobs for you or relying on forigners to build your country is wrong as is the case now ……
Then what ???
In truth that process has created lots of jobs in Construction, Retail and a young entrepreneur culture, all in the last 10 years. PF have kick started job creation.
The rest is up to Youths. Create things. Be rich in creative ideas. Parents bring children into the world, maybe nowadays we need social policy that encourages or put the onus onto parents to provide seed loans to help their brood into business. It’s more the parents duty to help their children. We need to revisit family planning. It means having children you can support. Youths need to be creative with new ideas for their demographic. Social media is creating opportunity for selling online. If the govt hire it would be at low wages in any case.
Was hoping to get the gist of the headline by the second or third sentence in the article, but No. The start was is usually unpredictable, but then the writer went into personal aggrandizement and then to something remotely unrelated to Youth Unemployment…
Useless , meaningless article!
Waiting for a job nowadays is suicide because as recent events have clearly shown i.e COVID-19 which result in the loss of millions of jobs, as a graduate or soon to be graduate, you are better off thinking of how you can fend for yourself through other means like entrepreneurship before thinking of looking for a job. If you are a smart person selling talktime and you have the drive, you will surely grow that business. Get together with your former classmates and look for a franchaising opportunity don’t worry about capital. Even when you find formal work, you will be of high value to your employer because you have shown that you have initiative. Don’t just sit on your back and complain and drink beer the whole day. Certain areas like engineering and health are safe bets but if you are…
….if you are some business, economics, or humanities major, you just have to put in that extra hustle. But all in all, talented people will always find jobs even in a recession. Lifetime employment is a goner though, adapt or starve.
Boma Iyanganepo!
It has lamentably failed to create an enabling environment for business enterprise! That’s all Zambians need! Zambians don’t need employment. Zambians need empowerment the way Chiluba and Mwanawasa did. Government should have no business in business! See how they have crowded out the private sector because of excessive borrowing. Interest rates are now prohibitive! We also have too many new legislations that make it expensive to employ Zambians. We need Deregulation which can only be achieved by changing ubuteko!
Highly articulated article and seemed well researched until the writer said government does not create jobs. Does he know what exactly he is talking about? And what it means when people say government creates jobs??
Charles C: This is a good article. Many graduates didn’t own cars during UNIP’s time in govt because there was little foreign exchange to import them. Further, the import taxes on new vehicles were prohibitive and the PF government whn Chikwanda was finance minister increased import duties on new vehicles to a ridiculous level again. Locally-assembled FIAT cars in Livingstone were not just of poor quality but were also expensive and unable to meet demand. On crime and state protection from it, this is our challenge: the inability to establish a “night watchman state “.
By the way, there were not even showrooms for new cars during the last years of UNIP, let alone decent pubs for decent people to relax in. We had a few showrooms for used vehicles.