Dr. Canisius BANDA on ‘THE NATIONAL BUDGET’ [The Required Case of its Character and Emphases]

Public Health Specialist Dr. Canisius Banda

THE NATIONAL BUDGET
[The Required Case of its Character and Emphases]
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It is called the national budget for a reason. It is OUR budget. We are Zambia’s nationals.
Our voices, irregardless of how acerbic and unpleasant they might be, are required and should be heard
Collectively, we are the employers of Hakainde HICHILEMA and his government. We remain the masters.

President Hakainde Hichilema swears Dr. Situmbeko Musokotwane as Finance Minister at State House in Lusaka

They serve us
Situmbeko MUSOKOTWANE, Zambia’s finance minister, will on Friday, 30th September, 2022, present to the nation our 2023 budget through parliament.
The performance of his last United Party for National Development (UPND) budget puts egg on his face as it was below par at less than fifty percent.
Using one line as a mere illustration, the Constituency Development Fund (CDF), in many instances, performance was south of thirty percent.
What is contained in this write-up is the spirit which should anchor this budget.
Devoid of this required spirit, this budget will achieve nothing, it will again fail.
Financing independence
Siitumbeko MUSOKOTWANE should take Zambia towards eventual budget financing sovereignty.
When, year in and year out, a country has foreign direct support as its reliable source of income for budget execution, then you know that you have institutional thought-block and a beggar State.
Beggar States lack decisional freedom.
Their behaviour is significantly influenced by those who fund them. They are puppet States.
Such nations are independent or sovereign in name only. They remain economic colonies of their foreign sources of budgetary support.
Such States are easy to culturally colonise as the case of present day Zambia clearly shows.
For example, Zambia should move away from being a recipient of aid-for-consumption to one of aid-for-investment.
Debt will always remain a better way of financing our budget because it does not erode our dignity and sovereignty.
This budget therefore must seek budget financing independence coupled with growing our national capacity for debt repayment.
Production
In this budget, Situmbeko MUSOKOTWANE must focus on increasing production of Zambia’s own goods and services.
His policy pronouncements should be of the kind that lower the cost of production.

Local Government and Rural Development Minister Gary Chilala Nkombo (Left), Local Government and Rural Development Ministry (LGRDM) Permanent Secretary (PS) for Administration Maambo Haamaundu (Second Left), Lusaka Mayor Chilando Chitangala (Second Right) and former 6th Republican President Dr. Edgar Chagwa Lungu at the Anglican Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Lusaka September 2022

ECL turned Zambia into not only an electricity-secure country but also a net exporter of this commodity, a key input in production.
Profits from Zambia’s electricity exports, properly managed, can explain low electricity tariffs in-country as a required subsidy/cushion for the citizens.
His government’s turning Indeni Refinery, a national security installation into an OMC [Oil marketing company], is a reflection of cognitive limitations within his ranks.
An upgrade requiring only USD 500 million would see Indeni Refinery modernised, doing 21st Century fractionations, and with strategic purchases of inexpensive crude oil from Russia [BRICS plus], would move Zambia towards becoming a regional net exporter of petroleum products and it would also be a firm base for the creation of a National Energy Reserve Agency [NERA] for Zambia’s own energy security.
Economic ownership
As it was before 1991, Zambians must again own the economy through owning various means of production.
Though pre-1991, this ownership was a strictly State one, this time it should be in the private hands of Zambians coupled with selected SOEs [State-owned enterprises] of a national security nature.
This will happen either through increased shareholding in existing foreign-owned companies or by supporting citizens to totally own their own companies.
KCM [Konkola Copper Mines] and MCM [Mopani Copper Mines] must remain SOEs or in the private hands of Zambians with foreigners participating only as equity partners
For example, we need Zambians by themselves to own gold, nickel, cobalt , emerald or manganese mines.
Situmbeko MUSOKOTWANE should target at creating at least 100 Zambian US Dollar millionaires in the next financial year.
Forex inflows
Situmbeko MUSOKOTWANE’s policy announcements in his budget speech should aim at making Zambia’s goods and services internationally competitive so that Zambia gradually but firmly shifts from an imports-dependent country to one whose exports shore up its forex inflows to support the strength of the Kwacha in real terms.
Such a development would improve Zambia’s per capita income, which development, in turn, would reduce or end poverty in the long run.
Capital flight
Through restructuring of the economy and well-informed monetary policies, Situmbeko MUSOKOTWANE should stem the current bleeding of forex that Zambia presently suffers from, which explains Zambia’s fiscal anaemia, a condition that places undue pressure on the Bank of Zambia [BOZ] as it struggles to keep the Kwacha worthy with no tangible economic performance to support or show for it.
Social spending
It was an act of folly to completely forbid parents from making a monetary contribution towards the education of their children.
This political decision has created unsustainable fiscal pressure on the national treasury and it has also terribly corrupted our educational system by precipitously plummeting quality.
Without fearing any political fallout, Parents Teachers Associations [PTAs] should be allowed the freedom and space to debate and agree what monetary contributions, their own capacities permitting, towards the education of their children.
A blanket ban of the cost-sharing principle is fiscally idiotic
Appropriate taxation of the mines and such corporate entities is the only immediate and reliable way of Zambia’s raising helpful income for education and health expenditure.
Situmbeko MUSOKOTWANE’s expected further reduction in corporate taxes as insisted upon by the International Monetary Fund [IMF] will further cripple these sectors, a development which might begin to solidly pave the way for the departure of the UPND government in 2026 or before.
In conclusion, if this budget does not aim at empowering citizens to produce various goods and services, and to own the means by which this production occurs, if it does not reduce Zambia’s imports pressure on our reserves, if it does not encourage the export of locally produced goods and services, if it does not stem capital flight and create capacity for Zambia to finance its own budgets going forward, and if it does not generate capacity for Zambia to proudly borrow and pay back, then it will be like pissing in the wind, a most ineffectual and foolish activity, akin to chasing after the wind, an occupation of idiots and madmen.
Dr. Canisius BANDA
Development Activist
28 September 2022
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Dr Canisius BANDA as a Zambian Deelopment Activist