IMF good for Zambia, insists Pamela Nakamba-Kabaso

By Derrick Sinjela
FAILURE to implement an economic recovery plan supported by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will see ordinary Zambian citizens and households suffering the most,” says Zambia Institute for Policy Analysis and Research (ZIPAR) Executive Director Pamela Nakamba-Kabaso.
“Zambia would be eligible for up to US$1.3bn interest free loan,” Ms. Nakamba-Kaso told an Editors Meeting at Lusaka’s Raddison Blu Hotel.
And ZIPAR Senior Research Fellow Caesar Cheelo is worried over low rate at which the Zambian economy is growing.
“An IMF supported economic recovery programme is essential for Zambia to increase the late at which we are growing. I compare Zambia’s slow pace to a race or competition between a speed boat and a ship. For us to compete favourably, we need to increase our fuel capacity and pace,” advised Cheelo.
But Patriots for Economic Progress (PEP) president Sean Enoch Tembo says the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will not improve Zambia’s economy.
“The IMF policies are made by a group of people who do not have accurate information on Zambia’s economy and will only worsen misery,” worries Mr. Tembo.

On his part, Developmental Activist Richard Kakuwa advised political parties to appreciate the frantic developmental efforts by the Patriotic Front (PF) Government since 2011.
Dr.Kakuwa, who is Dialogue International Country Representative, told Pan African Radio that no political party that can be given a chance to form government will repair the country’s ailing economy overnight.
“Infrastructure development under late Michael Chilufya Sata and Edgar Chagwa Lungu, must be applauded by strengthening the local manufacturing industry,”
By Jessie Zimba and Hermit Hachilonde
RAINBOW Party (RP) leader Winter Kabimba has laughed off projections by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that the estimated three percent (3%) Zambian economic growth rate this year will benefit the poor people.
State Counsel (SC) Kabimba wondered how the projected three percent economic growth rate in 2017 will benefit vulnerable people when they did not reap any positive results when it was growing at six-point percent (five 6.5) in the 2016 financial year.
Formerly a Patriotic Front (PF) Secretary General, Kabimba said Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is not a guaranteed wealth that the economy can ameliorate poverty, arguing that investment by local people and industries is the most effective means of sustained poverty reduction and empowerment.
“This in our view is not a most effective means of empowerment. The Rainbow Party differs with the United Party for National Development (UPND) who like the Patriotic Front (PF) prefer Foreign Direct Investment,” explained Kabimba, formerly Justice Minister, during former 5th Republican President, the late Michael Chilufya Sata (2011-2014).
Kabimba holds a view that if the Zambians invest in the country’s economy, sustained positive change is surefire, certain or at the expense of sounding stereotype-guaranteed.
Kabimba insists that Foreign Direct investment (FDI) is not a yardstick economic recovery beyond Zambia.
Kabimba contended that the Zambian economy will only be revamped by citizens, as FDI and international capital is interested in expatriating profits.
Formerly, a Patriotic Front (PF) Secretary General, Kabimba believes in socialism as a human faced political ideology better than imperialist interventions marketed by western governments.
State Counsel Kabimba advised Zambian Government led by President Edgar Chagwa Lungu to emulate the 45th US President Donald J. Trump’s American First agenda, which United National Independence Party (UNIP) leader Tilyenji Chanda Kaunda and Vice President Njekwa Anamela brand as a Zambia First agenda.

Kabimba questioned validity of courting the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as an economic advisor, maintaining that Zambia only grow by three percent, a sharp decline from 6.5 percent per annum.
And Kabimba said the status quo is that Zambia is now controlled by foreign hands.