Lessons from Mauritius

Mary-Jan Dabot (right) talking to a Zambian entrepreneur

In Zambian politics, the old generation are the ones fighting for a future. What future when they have had their time in government and have had a fair share of what life has on offer?

When you see them supporting a particular candidate, just know they are not doing it out of principal or for a favour. They want to be paid in return. This could be in the form of an appointment in government or in foreign mission. Have you forgotten so soon that a  certain Mr Solomon Mbuzi, a man who could hardly walk or speak was appointed to be ambassador in a certain mission abroad when the country has a number of energetic and qualified young people to do that. All that Mr Mbuzi did was to shout the loudest that PF was the right part to form government. 

While there is nothing wrong in the above actions, there is everything wrong if all these old men and women are just interested in the benefits that come with holding these offices. They must work and ensure that they bring innovation on board. The country is in dire need of selfless leaders who would make very difficult decisions to break the ring of poverty strapped around the necks of more than 60% of our people. This country requires a leader who will improve the lives of the majority and not just a few relatives and party sympathissers. We need a leader who would be able to make a policy shift that ensures that the private sector becomes key to job creation. Why should we all clamour for a few jobs in government just because they offer force security where you lazy around but continue getting your salary. This is not health for a country that is serious with development. 

Countries that have made progress have long realised that it is not the duty of government to create jobs but to develop good policies for social and economic development. The recent conversation I had with a Mauritian government official was revealing and encouraging. He put it succinctly: “Obviously, government does not create jobs, it is private business that creates jobs, so we tell people, either you train yourself to become employed by some enterprise or you create your own enterprise and employ others and this vast campaign on entrepreneurship is supported by a number of measures.”        

The measures which the government of Mauritius has put in place for its business people include providing start-up capital and technical support to budding entrepreneurs. Starters are coached to become efficient entrepreneurs and given access to finances for their business. Banks ask you for collateral and emerging entrepreneurs don’t have collateral. So, leasing companies have been established that do not require collateral. Secondly, the government also supports access to finance through negotiations with banks, bringing them to support the working capital requirements of enterprises through concessional loans. Through these kinds of loans the interest rates are lower.

The business people produce and search for markets. They also ensure that their products are competitive on the world market. Mr Amedee Darga, the chairman of Enterprise Mauritius, says his government’s role is to support the private sector to find new markets for exporting the products and services.

Thus it is not by accident that Mauritius currently exports manufacturing goods of over 3,000 products to over 150 countries. The country engaged in an aggressive economic diversification, first using the proceeds of its once dominant sugar industry to build a strong manufacturing base, and then broaden into service sectors such as tourism. Mauritius now has an average annual growth rate of around 4% and manufacturing remains the spine of its economy. Manufacturing has contributed over 122,000 jobs for a country with a population of slightly over a million. 

With correct people in government and right policies, we can do the same by using proceeds from copper to grow other sectors of the economy!  

The desire to lead

The list of those who have expressed their interest to succeed late president Michael Sata has grown rather long. It stands at 10 as of November 19^th 2014. By the way, this number does not include those in the opposition political parties who will battle it out with the ruling party in next year’s presidential elections. 

When you ask many of these candidates what their biggest worries are, you will be astonished to find that it is rather things like how to deal with having a big car, which relative to employ, which country to visit and so on and so forth. These are rather little things that should not drive people's desire for the high office. The country's problems  are rather too numerous to mention and they require selfless leaders if we are to overcome them. 

Yes, we need a leader as soon as possible. But that leader should be someone who will help reduce the high poverty levels, put more children in school, improve our healthcare system and create opportunities for all Zambians and not just members of his party and relatives. 

I don't have the answers to the current leadership conundrum but it lies each and everyone of us. Let us choose wisely and save the future of our children.      

No one should die in search of a better life.

The death of 19-year-old, first year UNZA student, Munsanka Makwambwa, who allegedly committed suicide by drinking doom – an insecticide, makes sad reading. Why on earth should someone be driven to death because of failure by those in authority to make right decisions. Bursaries are for poor people like her and not sons and daughters of politicians and top civil servants. I ask the leaders one question: where is your conscious on matters such as this one?

Nelson Mandela showed us the better side of political leadership and humanity which should continue to inspire us. He once said, education is the great engine of personal development. “It is through education that the daughter of a peasant can become a doctor, that a son of a mineworker can become the head of the mine, that a child of farm workers can become the president of a great nation. It is what we make out of what we have, not what we are given, that separates one person from another."

What has led to the death of this young life is down to corruption and misplaced priorities. You have continued to induce bye elections and fund them but fail to fund education, health and other such sectors. 

Corruption is the silent killer which seems here to stay. In June this year at morning Masses in the Vatican, Pope Francis spoke against corruption, reiterating his message against corrupt people in power which he first gave at a morning Mass last March attended by 500 government officials and incumbent and former lawmakers. As if he were addressing Zambian officials and members of ruling class, Pope Francis warned the government officials against abandoning the path of God’s love and liberating salvation for the dead-end road of self-righteous corruption.

Pope Francis made his March 27 remarks at an early morning Mass at the Altar of the Chair in St. Peter’s Basilica, some hours before US President Barack Obama paid him a courtesy call at the Vatican.

The Pope used the readings to point to “The ruling class—the doctors of the law, the Sadducees, the Pharisees”—who “were closed up in their ideas, in their ministry, in their ideology.” These leaders refused to heed the Word of God, he said, and even justified their rejection of Jesus by claiming that he was “a prince of demons.”

The Pope said corruption in politics, in business and even in the Church “hurts the poor who always pay the price for the gain of the corrupt others.” Pope Francis noted that to the corrupt, God has clearly said that He will bring disaster on them and their families.

He said, corruption vexes God and scandalises people because it exploits, enslaves, even kills the vulnerable while those who commit this crime are focused solely on money and power.

The Pope said “The corrupt are traitors who steal and kill, who exploit the innocent, but they do it at a distance with gloves on so that they do not have to get their hands dirty.”

God curses these people, but he said they can, just as Ahab did, repent. Ahab tore his garments and fasted and humbled himself before the Lord.  The corrupt must repent and make amends for what they have done.

The Pope concluded by reminding the faithful that our duty as Christians is to ask forgiveness from God for those “people we read about in the papers” and “pray for their conversion of heart and for the grace that we may never become corrupt ourselves.”

If you’re one of those corrupt officials in the bursary committee, the Pope’s message speaks to your conscious. You must feel guilty that you have contributed to the death of this young lady we read about. 

What we read in today’s Post Newspaper about Finance Minister, Hon. Alexander Chikwanda concerning Chinese nationals and their “love for corruption” should not be taken lightly. It is a reflection of what goes on in many government institutions where rigid systems have been put in place to perpetuate corruption. It is everywhere, in education, at the pension fund, passport office, RTSA, police, in the judiciary – to mention a few. What we need is serious action from those who govern us to get rid of corruption and serve the lives of the majority poor.

Why we need the Freedom of Information Act

Being a “good” journalist is hard. I must confess that I nearly quit journalism every year while in my early career. My poor family have been up and down with some of the decisions I have made or threatened to make (such as pursuing certain stories). 

The job demands you to disregard self and other aspects of your life. Despite the glory and drama shown on televisions, the reality is very different. The pressure can be immense, the work load punishing, and the thanks for the sacrifice, well, obsolete. I hate the attitude of ‘well it is going to be well with you because this piece of legislation or that will make your job easier'. We should always be striving to make the system better, more efficient and smarter.

I therefore, totally agree with information minister, Dr. Joseph Katema when he says “real democracy and development can be elusive without access to information”. However, what the journalistic experience has taught me is that, it is easier said than done.

The PF had promised to run an open government that would be subject to scrutiny by the media and the Zambian people. They went further to say they were going to allow media freedom by granting nationwide coverage to some of the private radio stations that had been in the business for a long time. Failure to implement these promises has led to a feeling of nostalgia, anger and sometimes regret. 

After winning the ideological war and subsequent elections in 2011, all that remained was to watch the orderly transition from the 'perceived' corrupt MMD to an 'open' PF government. Problems that have emerged in the constitution-making process, scraping of radio licences for nationwide coverage and a standoff with civil society over the NGO Act, have changed the initial sense of euphoria to guarded optimism. The transition experience has taught us that, while the commitment to change may be professed quickly, change itself comes slowly.

 

There is no doubt that the free-flow of information is an added incentive to a free and democratic society. People need to know what is going on in government in the same way that government ought to know what goes on in society. That way government would be in a position to come up with effective policies that would bring about positive change. 

I hope what the minister said is what he and his government genuinely believes in. Yes, you do give statements from time to time, but what we need is more and better engagement with you so that people can know what you're doing. I think that is what every journalist and the people of this nation want too. 

As you rightly said “real democracy and development can be elusive without access to information”. And this is what is happening right now. By enacting the Freedom of Information Act, you will make our job easier.

Why are we "Spectators of our own development"

Are we just a bunch of ‘useful idiots’ or ‘cry babies’ who mourn about anything except our own attitudes or our cries are genuine? To whom do we direct our complaints? Is it the Breton Woods Institutions or our own leaders? The later question is definitely out because even our leaders are also crying. The problem then is so complex but simple than one would think.

Over the past few weeks, there have been cries about Zambians’ lack of participation in their economic development. Some are saying we have turned ourselves into “spectators of development in their own land” and others have said we have lost control of our economy. In fact, it is the minister in charge of business (commerce) or "amakwebo" if you like, Hon. Bob Sichinga who said “the truth of the matter is that we think somebody else should come from a different location and continent to come and invest for us”.

There is nothing new in these cries, except perhaps that the minister has also joined the cry wagon, somebody we employed to find us solutions to all these challenges we are facing. Ministers have a responsibility among other things of putting in place policies that should direct the way business is done and how its citizens should participate and benefit from that. It seems our leaders’ focus and appetite is more on what is in it for them and not for their citizens. We have allowed investors to come and invest without really paying particular attention to what the citizens’ benefit from these investments. Mind you these are not our brothers and sisters; they’re business people who are out to make profit.

If our leaders had helped us by putting in place policies which ensure that there is local participation in any investment or business, we would not be crying today. Let us take the example of MMD when they were in government, they were cutting deals with some investors to benefit their party and a few individuals at the expense of ordinary people. The deals I am talking about here are those to do with donations from certain nations for use during campaigns. Some of these cases are in our courts today and I hope the PF are not doing the same. The Chinese and all these other investors have a tendency to donate items to political parties in power in order to gain favours. This was happening during the MMD and is still happening now.

Zambia is a country that has all the attributes of a country that can rise above where we are. The business environment is conducive, the weather is excellent, the people are peaceful and friendly but of course the economic policies are misplaced. How, for example can you allow a country to give you a loan to build a stadium and then from that loan they buy all the equipment, provide the labour and acquire all the material for that project from their country? Under such deals, what is in it for the nation? Yes, you will have a stadium but you will have lost out on employment for your people and on empowering local businesses and skills transfer. In the end, that country that has assisted you will get back the 80% of that project money leaving you with 20% for casual workers and a few local experts.

Perhaps, it is the way we have always viewed economics as the dark mysterious figure walking along highways and wants to be alone. But put simply economics is the way we use our scarce resources which have other alternative uses. What sort of choices do we make when we for example apply for a loan or receive a grant? It starts from the household level going all the way to the top – at Government level. This is where we perhaps miss it. The choices that we have made in deciding what to do and what not to do requires us to read the simple economics book by Robert Sanyikosa entitled, Getting the Economics Right. Economist Sanyikosa offers simple solutions to questions that might seem difficult. 

What we need is a complete shift from the way we have been making our economic decisions then we will stop being spectators of our own economic development.