By Dalitso Mbewe
When life throws you tomatoes, make ketchup!!!
What are the issues at hand?
1. University students and Wage Freeze
The government introduced the wage freeze only after they more than doubled salaries for all low level civil servants
and gave artisans and blue collar service providers a decent
living; only after, they introduced a tax free threshold of
initially K 2000 and progressively K 3000 to give a chance to
low income earners to earn a decent living for once.
Zambia is the only country I know, apart from the United
Arab Emirates that cares enough for their citizens to forego
tax. The wage freeze is not permanent, we as a country have
to take responsibility for all the people; not only university
graduates.
Bear in mind, the government has invested in these students
and if they do not enter the work force, it would be a wasted
investment. Where do we go from here? There is an urgent
need for a mind-set change amongst the youth of Zambia.
Germany, one of the world’s leading economies is run by
micro and small enterprises; million dollar deals? Mercedes
started as a simple workshop, Trade Kings, a local giant
started cooking soap in a bucket!
We lie to ourselves because we think we can vote today,
wake up tomorrow and there will be development and there
will be jobs galore! Alas this is not the case. A prosperous
country is a result of a hardworking people and not a
government that employs everyone. Why don’t we learn our
lessons? During the Socialist era, government broke its back
by trying to employ everyone they could and this ended up
in our countries longest and deepest recession. Why should
we go back?
I am a former student: when I left school, I was dying for a
job from the Government, I was fortunate to get one,
however, because of my dedication to my country and my
concern for people that did not have the opportunities I had.
I walked out of my decent paying job and hit the streets to
try and walk the talk, it’s been hard and hard work pays off!
My fellow young people, this is not the Government’s
country, it is ours! Let us take the opportunities we have
and turn them into the jobs we want. Zambia has abundant
land, water and other resources. Nowhere is it easy to
exploit resources, you have to have knowledge, you have to
be resilient you have to keep knocking on that door until it
breaks down. I agree that not
everyone can be an employer but the talent that exists in
this country 2 out of ten young people can create 20 jobs if
only we tried.
2. Borrowing and Investment
No country experiencing economic growth can sustain that
growth without borrowing. Sustainable Development
“Development that meets the needs of the present, without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet
those needs” (World Bank in Oxford University Press: 1987)
our problem is we want to eat today.
Khundavi Kaderisan, World Banks Director in Zambia stated
in Parliament, when government borrows money, these
funds should be used for investment and not spending. The
funds should produce returns that are proportional in
resources and term in comparison to the duration of the
loan.
We shouldn’t borrow money to put Monk na Moma on the
payroll, we should borrow money to create an Enabling
Environment, Access to Finance, Access to Markets and
Enhanced Capacity such that the private sector (Micro, Small
or Millionaire) will create jobs for Monk na Moma. The
youth development fund exists, the CEEC exists, the Gender
fund exists, we scream “corruption corruption corruption!” I
can assure you while you do that, focused young people are
benefitting from these opportunities.
The United States of America today owes China $ 4.6 Trillion
of their own U.S. dollars which we are crying about in
Zambia. China reached this level, because they realised a
long time ago that accountants, economists and lawyers will
not drive an economy. Brick layers, electricians, plumbers,
carpenters and metal fabricators do; this is why they take
our jobs. Everyone wants to be a lawyer these days?
Mind-set change; now. Please
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