Building on 50 Years of African Solidarity and Striving Towards Peace, Development and Prosperity for All

Its 50 years today since African Freedom Day was founded during the first Conference of Independent African States, which attracted African leaders and political activists from various African countries in Ghana on April 15, 1958. Interestingly, with the leadership of the great Kwame Nkruma President of Ghana only Government representatives from eight independent African states attended this conference, which was the first Pan-African conference in the continent. Despite the majority of African countries being under the yoke of colonialism, Zambia included, this group of ‘not so powerful’ eight countries certitude to purposely declare the day 25^thMay 2013 to annually mark the liberation movement’s progress and further symbolize the determination of the people of Africa to free themselves from foreign domination and exploitation was a huge act of African patriotism. For those who may not be aware, Ghana was the first African country south of the Sahara to secure independence from colonial rule in 1957.  By 1960, nearly 17 countries in Africa gained their independence and indeed the 1960 was declared the Year of Africa. Obviously this gave way to for the birth of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) on 25^th May, 1963.

It should be acknowledged that Africa has undergone massive changes socially, economically and politically in the last 50 years. It should also be noted that despite the awakening of the African renaissance and the handing over of political to African leaders, it is clear that colonial powers never left as witnessed with the continued meddling in the Affairs of the independent states. The extent of their meddling went as far as their ability to sow seeds despondency that duly elected leaders were being hounded out of office at their instigation. This trend by and large has affected our passage to be completely emancipated from the pangs of imperialism. It is common knowledge some military coupés which became the order of the day in the 60s, 70s all the way to the 80s where machinated and executed with the help of the foreign powers that had turned Africa into a ‘playground’ or a battlefield of ideologies. To this effect, some African countries have to date never recovered from the social, political and economic damage the foreign powers have caused in the last 50 years of Africa’s freedom. While some African countries appear to be getting a clench on their destiny, the African social, political and economic story is so gigantic that one article cannot tell the entire story.  

With all the social, political and economic instability Africa has under gone, the fundamental questions that perceptibly rise are whether its destiny is still its own hands. Are we truly socially, politically and economically emancipated? Do we have the capacity to survive with the without foreign interferences? Are our resources working for us? Are we building on the dream of the founding fathers like Patrice Lumumba, Kwame Nkruma, Captain Thomas I. Sankara, Kennth D. Kaunda, Sekou Toure, Jomo Kenyatta, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Gamal Nasser, Yakubu Guwon, and Julius Mwalimu Nyerere? The fact is that we are still very dependent on outside forces to survive as seen from the fact that we are constantly knocking on the doors of the foreign powers for aid. This has led many countries falling prey to dictations and meddling.  Africans should constantly seek inspiration from the past pan Africanists if we have to hold our own in the globalized contemporaneous world.  They had a clear vision of where they want the continent to towards self-sustainability at all strata of our being. Despite some important economic and political gains Africa has made it is clear that after 50 years, the challenges of peace across the continent remains challenge to an extent that its offshoots such as poverty are evident. There are countries like the Somalia that have practically been ungovernable in the last 20 years.  

 Propitious enough, the African continent has made great strides towards unity and enhancing Peace and security as can be evidently seen through the growth and maturation of politics and economies coupled with regional integrating bodies such as COMESA, SADC that enhances the African renaissance. Therefore, the theme ‘Building on 50 Years of African Solidarity and Striving Towards Peace, Development and Prosperity for All’ is very appropriate because it also directly challenges Zambia to continue playing its noble role of being a hub of social, economic and political development for all to prosper.

Subsidies. Decisions Have To Be Made

Zambia in the contemporary weeks has experienced massive debate on the emotive issue of the government decision to discontinue subsiding fuel and the agriculture sector. This decision has clearly sparked emotive  debate to an extent that an assortment of  sections of society have engaged in a range of debate in support of it and others completely against it to an extent of taking their displeasure to the streets in protest. Despite, the situation as it stands, the Government has made a decision in the interest of the nation. It should be first acknowledged that the Zambian industry in post independence era saw a preponderance of financial support or a subvention of many industries and products, from petrol to food.

 The Zambian government being the main player in the assisted many parastatals which by and large made losses year in year out were constantly assisted by the government. The financial support cut across agriculture, mining, transportation, oil and lubricants just to mention but a few. Despite all the support the Government made available to the different strata of industry, the resources appeared to be going into a bottomless pit with no tangible returns to show for it. On top of the subsidies, the government had to also converge its efforts to grow the education, health, or infrastructure sectors.  The continued financial support to sectors that appeared to be a resource drain led to the extent that the Government was forced to be borrowing to subsidize at a range of supply of inputs, manufacturing, distribution, and consumption. At the dawn of the 1991 wind of change and the eventual shift in economic policies of the Movement Multiparty Democracy (MMD) to a free market economy, subsidies were generally shelved but of course not completely. The agriculture, education and oil sector to date have been major beneficiaries of subsidies.  

The Government’s continued support to then oil and agriculture sector seems to have driven us back to the old days when resources would be poured in and at the end of the day losses are still incurred. This eventually means that the cost of fuel has been adjusted upwards and so will be the case for mealie meal. The question would be at whose expense should the continued support be? At the end of the day, the Government had to make a hard decision to either carry on with subsiding loss making ventures or abandon it.  Well, the subsidies were abandoned! This surely means that the savings from the huge subsidies have to be directed to other productive areas of the human endeavour. But again, could this perhaps be the Governments desire to minimize its extensive participation in a variety of economic activities? Indeed, there are many subsidies that are a sanctuary for inefficiencies. 

It is acknowledged that the upward adjustment in the cost of mealie meal and fuel has effects right from the lower strata to the most affluent our population. In reflecting on this very emotive topic, perhaps the Government should have implementation of the removal of the subsidies gradually at a minimal scale to avoid abrupt impact? Other schools of thought have suggested that perhaps the announcement of the discontinuation to agriculture subsidies should have waited until the consumers get over the shock of the removal of the fuel subsidy? 

It can be concluded that the two decisions the Government has made are in the best interest of the nation and as such may have positive benefits in the future. There is no Government that would deliberately want to hurt its people with harsh economic policies. The general populace should therefore be patient enough and allow for their upshots. 

Transforming The Economy Through Job Creation, Labour Law Reform, Better Conditions Of Service And Improved Work Culture

It is that time of the year again when workers across the globe commemorate this very important day. Year in year out, the commemorations have been premised on various themes to help the nations critically focus and reflect on the special day. With the many themes that have been churned out over the years, key thoughts arise on the influence they have on policy makers, employers, workers and the general masses. Are they just themes in name or they are there to help identify pointers to specific challenges that need attention? This year’s theme is dubbed ‘Transforming the economy through job creation, labour law reform, better conditions of service and improved work culture’. The theme appears loaded but it is probably one of the most practical and comprehensive themes coined in a very long time. The theme challenges the Government, Employers, Unions and the Zambian work force on which economic transformation is anchored on. It clearly reminds these keys stakeholder on the important roles they play to achieve economic transformation.

In understanding the specific challenges this theme brings to the stakeholders, it is obviously imperative to underscore the fact that the Zambian economy has undergone massive restructuring and growth over a long period of time in a bid to stabilize it for the benefit of the general population. The growth and stabilization has lead improvements in the quality of life. However, more work still remains to be done if the economy has to grow further to have a positive trickle down effect to the rest of the Zambian population. It has been widely acknowledged that today, Zambia’s biggest challenge is unemployment. Without delving much into the other social and economic offshoots of the challenges of unemployment, it is understood and appreciated that various measures to mitigate the shocks of unemployment have been undertaken by the Government. Though unemployment continues to be a burdensome and time consuming process, the drive to ensure that quality employment is created in order to generate wealth is equally gaining momentum through economic restructuring and implementation of projects such as the Link 8000 and 2000 road projects, the revitalization of Zambian Railways, Nitrogen Chemicals and indeed the impending reopening of Mulungushi Textiles among others. 

The bedrock of employment creation should essentially be implementation of concrete wealth creation programmes that would grow and transform the economy for wealth to be created.  This also entails active participation in economic activities that promote self suffiency as the current labour market cannot absorb the entire population into formal employment. To this effect, there are economic questions that require answers from the leadership and the general citizenry on how with concerted efforts the economy can be reinvigorated to sustainably levels through their efforts. This is supposed to be the starting point of our reflection on this year’s labour theme.

 This theme also highlights the important aspect reforming labour laws to ensure that they are responsive to the needs and dynamics of the labour market. The Zambian labour market is constantly changing in the face of the many economic trends that are taking place.  With these key changes, it also entails that we constantly pay attention to the trends for Zambia to have labour law reforms that are relevant to the employers and employees. The key legislative pieces currently managing the Zambian labour market include the Employment Act, Cap 268, Industrial and Labour Relations Act, Cap 269, Factories Act, Cap 441, NAPSA Act, Workman’s Compensation Act, No 10 of 1999 ZIHRM Act No. 11 of 1997, Conditions of Employment and Minimum wages Act, Cap 270, Employment of Young Persons and Children Act, Cap 274 and obviously some International Labour Conventions that have been ratified and domesticated. I may not be in a position to clearly state which of these laws require reformation but in a nut shell these laws are that manage and provide direction to the labour market. It but it is important that lacunas in their administration are identified and reformed to ensure that they are become relevant and help transform the workforce and in the long run transform the Zambian economy. 

One of the fundamental pieces of legislation that has not been bundled with the other laws that the Patriotic Front Government needs to revise and reform is the Apprenticeship Act. This act should provide a national systematic involvement of the youth into entrepreneurship through apprenticeship. Once the Act is revised it should be responsive to the current needs of the youth as one on the many interventions to achieving economic transformation. In addition Internship should become a mandatory function of any organization to ensure that the Youth are availed an opportunity to gain experience in business and industry. The strengthening of this Act should further be backed by an undertaking to create a National Skills Inventory (NSI) to ensure that the country takes stock of the skills available on the Labour Market and also deliberately monitor the quality of jobs available on the market. The national skills inventory will assist Government project and predict the areas were particulars skills are required.

So far, the Government has lived up to the theme by ensuring that the Zambian worker is paid a living wage through the issuance of the statutory instruments on the minimum wages in various sectors of the labour market. Under the circumstances, this is how far the government can go and it is a very commendable move. On the other hand, workers in various cannot afford to demand for more wages without anything to show for it. The Governments token action should be repaid with a workforce that is totally committed to going an extra mile to improve productivity at work places. Zambians are generally hardworking people but in recent times, their work culture has come under the spotlight particularly the public service whose performance falls far below the people’s expectations. The perception has even gone further to suggest the public service appears to have taken the route of ‘self-service’ and not ‘public service’.  It is a well-known fact that self-service can be very distractive as the person who serve themselves become gluttonous and forget to serve others.  These perceptions are correct in certain instances where civil servants who are supposed be the engine of the economic development have been caught either reporting for work late, drunk or not even reporting at all. It is instances such as these that bring into question whether the credibility of the workers charged with the responsibility of turning government policies into tangible programmes that not only the benefit general populace but themselves are fit to hold those positions. There is need to philosophically change the mind-set of the Zambian workers so that they constantly improve sustained productivity which eventually opens doors to improved conditions of service. Which employer would not be willing to improve conditions of service for his or her employees if they are putting in their level best and delivering on their institutions mandate? There are several examples of both foreign and Zambian employers that remunerate their employees well based on performance. Employers who show traits should be recognized and used as models of best practices to the rest of the employers.  

Therefore, as the Zambian workers commemorate this very important day, they should not only be excited at wearing a new suit but they should reflect on what contribution they have made to the transformation of the Zambian economy. They should further reflect on the fact that Zambia’s economic transformation largely depends on their productivity to achieve tangible transformation. It is high time the Zambian worker both in the private and public sector put Zambia’s interests first before theirs and they should never at any point downplay the role they play in the whole process of social and economic transformation of the country.