Negative sentiments impact economy - Siamunene

NEGATIVE talk about Zambia’s economy should stop immediately because it is plunging the nation into a fast recession, former Defence minister Richwell Siamunene has said.

Mr Siamunene said it was disappointment most Zambians were fond of issuing negative and false statements about the economy.

He said in an interview that negative talk scares away foreign investors and instills fear in citizens who then loss morale to work hard.

Mr Siamunene, who is former Sinazongwe Member of Parliament said talking negative about the economy demoralizes people and leads to low productivity.

He said what Zambia needed at the moment were patriotic citizens who would market the country to attract more foreign direct investments.

Mr Siamunene observed that currently there were too many opposition politicians and civil society organisations that were feeding the international community with false and negative statements about Zambians.

He wondered what the motive of such people was or if they truly cared about the economic wellbeing of the country.

Mr Siamunene said negative talk about the economy should be stopped immediately because it undermined whatever efforts Government was making to revive the economy.

“It is sad that most politicians, leaders and civil society organisations are just talking negatives about the economy. How do they expect the economy to bounce back when they undermine whatever efforts Government is making to revive it? They are scaring away investors and locals also are demoralized to work hard.

This makes the economy collapse further,” he said.

And Mr Siamunene has advised Zambians to let law enforcement officers do their job with regards the spate of gassing that has rocked the country.

He said that posting alarming statements on social media and pictures from other countries was only instilling more fear among citizens.

Mr Siamunene said citizens who were living in fear were in bondage and likely to be less productive.

He said Government, through law enforcement agencies should be given chance to curtail the gassing and bring perpetrators to book.