‘INVOLVE LOCALS IN ALL INVESTMENTS’
ZAMBIA’S investment model should place emphasis on empowering the indigenous people especially in agriculture, former Copperbelt Permanent Secretary Christopher Mutembo has advised. Mr Mutembo said in Ndola yesterday the Copperbelt Investment Exposition was a well-thought-out initiative, but that investment realisation would have to involve the locals to guarantee success. After the Copperbelt expo, he observed, focus should be tilted towards getting investors that would have the interest of the local people at heart. “The focus should be on empowering the indigenous people in all areas of investment. For example, if investors target the agriculture sector, they should set up out-grower schemes so that the local people can produce and supply to the same investors,” he said. He said poverty reduction would succeed if the locals were confident and given hope by the people who were bringing investment in the country as opposed to abusing them through displacement. Mr Mutembo observed that most of the arable land was still available in the rural areas and therefore, development should be delivered in outlaying locations. He said many youths were “saturated” with education while jobs were limited, the reason why an investment model which should blend foreigners with the locals. There would be need, he said, to utilise the indigenous knowledge which was available among the Zambians. Mr Mutembo said there were also some tourism spots whose knowledge was reposed in the Zambians, stressing that investors must always involve the locals. “The locals must not be displaced from the land for agriculture or tourism. They have the knowledge about these area and therefore investors should work with the locals for development to take place. We don’t have to remove the confidence from the local people,” he said. He pointed out that poverty would set in quickly if indigenous people lost self-esteem once they were side-lined.