SOBER DEBATE PLEASE!

CALLS by one of the members of the so-called Opposition Alliance that Minister of Finance Margaret Mwanakatwe should resign or be dismissed over the country’s economic challenges smack of mischief. In calling for her dismissal yesterday, Republican Progressive Party (RPP) leader, James Lukuku, claimed that Ms Mwanakatwe was a drunk. Mr. Lukuku said it was not right to keep Ms. Mwanakatwe at the ministry when both the local currency and the economy were nose-diving as she had no capacity to manage it. We do not agree with the RPP leader that Ms Mwanakatwe is responsible for the state the country’s economy is in. If anything, his argument is flawed and we feel this is not how leaders in the opposition ranks ought to behave. They must base their arguments on facts. Name-calling will not solve the economic woes. Mr Lukulu’s statement in which he spewed venom on Ms Mwanakatwe as an individual lacks intellect and is a clear departure from politics of engagement that is expected of all leaders whether in opposition or government. For the uninitiated like Mr Lukulu, the country’s economic policies are arrived at after advice from technocrats at the Ministry of Finance as well as the Bank of Zambia. The Zambian economy, despite the many negative forces within the country that pray for its collapse has done quite well. Mr Lukulu must realise that the state in which Zambia’s economy finds itself in are a culmination of many factors – most of them beyond any human control. It is common knowledge that in the past few years, the poor rainfall pattern has had a telling effect on the power supply in the nation when Zesco was forced to start load-shedding. That move resulted in a lot of companies cutting on production drastically thus affecting their contribution to the national treasury. As though that was not enough, agricultural production has also suffered with some provinces not having any rains to sing about. But still, the country has continued to soldier on. Farmers have been able to produce enough maize for example, resulting in the Food Reserve Agency having enough in its reserve silos. Mr Lukulu thinks recalling former ministers like Mr Ng’andu Magande or Dr Situmbeko Musokotwane will reverse the country’s economic fortunes. We do not agree. Not that they were incompetent. They did their tour of duty under different circumstances for which the nation is grateful. The least Mr Lukulu should do is to avoid misleading the public that one person is responsible for the economic problems facing the country. Ms Mwanakatwe has already assured that through sustained fiscal consolidation and enhanced domestic resource mobilisation, Zambia will rebuild fiscal buffers, be flexible and growth-friendly, and strike the right chord between ensuring debt sustainability, supporting demand and safeguarding social objectives. That is the message she delivered at the recent annual meeting of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in Washington which remains the bedrock of the government’s economic programme. That is where Mr Lukulu and his colleagues must focus their energies and see how they can make a meaningful contribution to improving and strengthening the economy. Name calling does not make economic sense.