How To Reset Zambia
UPND President Hakainde Hichilema has shared some suggestions for how Zambia could reset in light of current economic and other troubles.
Taking to social media Mr Hichilema issued the following advisory note.
“We now all know that we are in an economic mess of significant proportions. As stakeholders in the Zambian economy and a team that brings to the table in-depth economic management expertise, it is our considered view that action must be taken at the minimum on the following;
a. Implement the findings on the Financial Intelligence Report for 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019.
b. Follow through on the findings on abuse of public resources in the Auditor General's reports for 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019.
c. The executive must lead by example and respect the guidance from other branches of governance, specifically, taking advice from the Attorney General (AG) in earnest; for example, in 2016, Mr Edgar Lungu disregarded the AG's legal advice that it was unconstitutional to keep ministers in office after Parliament's dissolution.
d. Enforce Mr Lungu's statement that ministers must pay back what they earned illegally, and not let it end as just another press statement. We need concrete steps towards the recovery of the money to assist replenish our treasury and address some of our immense social spending needs.
e. Let the Anti-Corruption Commission, Bank of Zambia, Electoral Commission of Zambia, and other oversight institutions operate independently and without political interference.
f. Respect the tenure of office of those occupying tenured offices.
g. Stop contracting loans without approval of Parliament. Only the Minister of Finance should acquire the loans as provided for in the constitution.
h. Revise the 2021 budget, anchored on concrete commitments on macroeconomic policy, and cut all wasteful expenditures like the slush funds, huge emoluments spent on politicians' lifestyles, bogus expenses on harmful and sub-standard goods and services. We need transparency, full disclosure on the fertilizer and input program for 2020/21 and 2021/22, and the contract that may have been signed.
In conclusion, the relationship with the IMF and the prospects for stabilization over the coming months will depend on a relationship of trust based on transparency and full disclosure. We, therefore, call for greater transparency, especially the terms on which the debt was contracted (for example, interest rates, collateral, guarantees,maturity profiles) on our public external debt, domestic debt, and private debt by quasi-government institutions that are not publicly guaranteed (including those contracted by companies now owned by ZCCM IH and IDC), arrears to suppliers of goods and services to the government, and the extent of the VAT refund exposure.”
