need for Zambia to initiate means of re-opening the various industries that were closed as a result of the privatization programme so as to increase revenue generation for government through tax.
Speaking in an interview in Ndola over the weekend, Charles Ngesa said it has now become clear that the privatization process did not help the Zambian economy, hence the need for government to institute measures of re-opening these industries to enhance job-creation and strengthening the nation’s economy.[quote]
Mr Ngesa said the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund misled the Zambian government when the two institutions propagated the privatization process until government implemented it.
He observed that the closure of industries, especially in Ndola, reduced the income generation avenues for government, leaving it to depend mainly on the public service workers and the mining industry.
Mr Ngesa further observed that even the companies that are operating under the ownership of foreign investors are not ploughing enough profits in the local economy, especially in the mining industry, and are benefiting foreign investors and their countries more than Zambia and its people.
He also observed that the mass loss of employment in the country as a result of privatization raised the poverty levels in the country.
Mr Ngesa urged government to be bold and use necessary legal processes through the International Court of Justice to reverse the economic damage that has been brought about by the privatization process.
The privatization process has led to the closure of many companies on the Copperbelt, leaving thousands jobless, especially in Ndola, which was a major industrial town.
Some of the notable companies that were closed include Dunlope Zambia Limited, Lever Brothers, Johnson and Johnson limited, Colgate Palm Olive and Swarp Spinning Limited among several others.
And Mr Ngesa observed that the MMD is capable of beating all existing political parties in the country including the PF and the UPND alliance in the 2011 general elections.
He, however, observed that the on-going squabbles in the party over the presidential candidate may disrupt its focus if the problem is not solved wisely.
He observed that the party was still strong and formidable country wide to beat all political parties.
Mr Ngesa disclosed his intentions to challenge president Rupiah Banda at the forth coming MMD convention to be held before the 2011 general elections.
He urged the MMD National Executive Committee (NEC) to allow president Banda to be challenged at the convention to enhance prevalence of democracy, the principal on which the party was formed.
Spell and grammer check!
Thats a Zambian Ndola city Council worker. I like his brevity. Go for it my man. You may prove a point soon, but donot be like Saviour Chishimba who conot serve the pipo of Kasama
“Grammar” you should also spell check…It’s is not this grammer
miss daisy wasup baby?wasup between me and you?
Miss Daisy shani,i guess we have met before ku Luanshya.Coming to the subject at hand,i absolutely agree with Ngesa,privatisation has not helped zambia at all.Instead,privatisation has just plummeted the economy of zambia.
Privatisation in itself is not a bad idea. The problem is to do with logistics especially the cost of production. In Zambia the cost of production is so high that any investor local or foreign will think twice before venturing in any business. GRZ must first look at what is the reason behind this high cost before they talk of investment unless we want to attract investors who will bring in finished items.
Only a Bob kind of Zambian leader can be able to stand up to the imf/wold bank and tell them their futlity. Mr Ngesa, you’ll have my vote.
The way MMD talks, it shows that they really do not understand the role of a leader. Imwe ba MMD, people should have confidence in the party and the president for the them to vote for the president. It is very clear, even to 5 yr old children, that MMD has failed. One wonders why MMD has so mush confidence for nothing. They know this time will be hard. And if MMD wins, then they’ll have done what they are good at, rigging. But, Zambians, it’s high time such confident-for-nothing leaders and political parties stopped existing.
I don’t like laughing at ladies but ha ha ha #3 thats funny. Miss daisy what grammer are you referring to? English is a second language lets not act like we are Queen Elizabeth’s relatives!
Back to topic wow you mean there are people in the MMD that are not visually impaired and know the situation on the ground in Zambia. Mr. NGESA for President! ( just don’t become myopic once voted in!)
Ba grammer ,why are you not answering,chaba shani,are you still spell checking.
#3..no spell check on the comment pad..besides..its social media..mistakes are excused/allowed to a certain extent but its not right nor ethical to publish an artical with mistakes coz its affecting thier brand…..dont u agree?
Hmmm….hey Ghost dog… Miss daisy…havent been here for some time. Say hi to all my friends..nine chale, Zoe,3rqu…am out!!!!!!
When privitisation is done properly and benefits all indigenous stakeholders it is good and healthy for a country. What chiluba and friends did was to think privitisation was to transfer the nations wealth into the hands of foreigners with deep pckets.
Overall, Zambia’s privatisation programme has failed to achieve its stated objectives like generating income for the state, safeguarding jobs and improving efficiency. In some sectors, privatisation has resulted in the shift of a public monopoly to a private monopoly.The programme has drastically reduced the government’s role in the economy and SOEs no longer have any monopolies.
Its a shame that all these companies are no longer in zambia (Dunlope Zambia Limited, Lever Brothers, Johnson and Johnson limited, Colgate Palm Olive and Swarp Spinning Limited) Did privatisation lead to thier closure though?
Baby C,….. How you sister girl? missed you.. i dont blog often aswell ..so hope they see it..
Ka #12, Mufana ulipo?
Hi Miss Daisy. Welcome back,you look cute!.
Privatisation is good for zambia. But the way it was handled was bad I Still cannot figure ourt what was the hurry,
Shani bane. Privatisation? Efinshi? What we know about it is this: More money for the selflsh few and less for the majority! Thats Zed for you. Fitwaleni uko.
20-20 Hindsight is always the best and easy way to analyse things. Unfortunately this hindsight is never available when you are in a real situation and you have to make a decision and leave with the consequences. As our first president once said Zambians forget easily. Before 1991, Zambia was a failed state and could have gone Zimbabwe style without the MMD coming in. The Policy of MMD govt was to put running of enterprises into private hands and that we did speedily and successfully. Was it perfect? No there are failure cases as well. Lets looks at success: Zambia Sugar, Chilanga Cement, Zambeef, CopperNet, The Transport Industry, ZAMEFA, Copperbelt Energy, The Airline Industry-yes with boom & bust. These industries have created more jobs than previously and also think of new …TBC
Baby C!! Hi mama. Where have you been? …And who is this Ngesa?
this guy is saying the MMD where misled by IMF and world bank! ..ha,even him accepts that MMD has had no crediable,educated people to understand the process of privatisation!!!!,shame en he still wants to stand!
Privatisation was a good prescription for Zambia. The problem is that MMD didn’t take time to understand how to implement it well enough to safeguard our interests in the long run. I don’t believe MMD has ever had the interest of the country as priority #1.
Cont’d from #22 think of other new industries created because of the free market economy like Cell phone companies. You would all be stuck with ZAMTEL with all those old brick cellphones if the market was not free. The truth is we have a better system than we had in the past, we just need to make it work and we shall be there. True it is not perfect but is the best we have and stop singing ZAMCAB and UBZ songs please ..time to move on with the changing times. Zambians have a better quality life to aspire to now than they had before 1991. There are more business owners now in Zambia than before 1991, land and house ownership is at an all time high and continues to grow. Zambian Lodges now are some of the best in Africa. That is what the MMD privatization has done.
The PF on the copperbelt must tell us how they intend to attract foreign investement to improve the living standards of the people because all the MPs on the belt apart from mpombo are PF we dont even know the economical policies of the the alliance let alone a PF’s health policy education policy apart from their effort s to impeach a president who has failed to deliver on both good governance and the economy.Banda’s presidence must come to unabrupt end even if it will require to create flimsy grounds on which to impeach the president the MPs must impeach him the man has failed the people he can not hide behind the law, laws where made for men by men, men were not created by laws
For MMD Chief Bootlicker, if you can count industries doing relatively well on one hand for a country like Zambia (assumming you know what level it was at its peak time), then it is a confirmation of the failure. Compare other countries (even within the region) and tell me which ones we out-performed.
All those talking about spelling and grammar, just want to advice that mistakes are african jokes. LOL
hhmmmmmmmmmmnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn
#27 Well list failed companies in the US and Zambia and llets see how far you would go. I think it cuts both ways and you have to be realistic. Bottom line is Zambia has always been a commodity drive economy and it still is today..infact most of Africa, including Botswana. SA is the only economy with a serious manufacturing base in Africa. So don’t cheat us like Zambia had a huge manufacturing base that used to export things all over the world and MMD made those industries fail. Most industries existed because of protectionism,monopoly and subsidy at the expense of real growth-UBZ and Zambia Airways case in point.
You don’t create industries to create jobs. You create industries to satisfy the need in the market. Jobs are a by product of that process and that is MMD’s…
Who is this Missy Daisy??? An imposter!!!!
The man should tell us first why those companies failed. If they were not privatised, they would still not behere. Privatisation is not perfect but the cost of not privatisation was too much to tax payers.
Besides politicians always have fingers all over parastatals. Just look at ZNBC, TIMES, Zesco etc. Why does he think Zamtel needs private investments.
Privatisation was the lesser evil.
#30 My point is still that we didn’t do our best under MMD on the privatisation process front. There was a lot of careless haste that caused unnecessary suffering for the people. Compare case of Zambia Airways and Kenya Airways, for e.g. Change management was missing in MMD’s process.
God 4give us…we have failed to look after our wealth…
The major problem with privatisation in Zambia is that the revenue generated internally has not been protected from being repatriated fully abroad. No where in the world does this happen, as it negates the benefits you are striving for. The only way foreign investors can willingly re-invest in Zambia is if they feel a level of political or economic stability, and if they feel their business will thrive. Therefore, our legal and regulatory frameworks should have been strengthened to levels which allow them effective oversight. A common sense approach of tailoring economic prescriptions to our Zambian environment should also have been adopted, as oppossed to doing something because it worked elsewhere. I suppose one must crawl before walking so lets hope we learn from our mistakes.
34 Continued.Overall, privatisation is a lesser evil than controlled economy, the devil is in the detail a they say.
shimu chita panono, how are you today?
Dont talk crap about Zambia being at the the brink of collapsing before the MMD came.. In hind sight thats a nonsense argument.. Dont even dare compare the economic fundermentals then the current Zimbabwe crises.. Zambia was producing… period.. GDP is production.. In most industrial sectors… Discounted to 1990. in real terms… The exchange rate KK handed over to your crimminals was K40/ $1.. Chiluba manged to get get it to K5,500/$1 .. massive devaluation.. devaluation is caused by capital Flight , withdrawn investments or reduced FX earnings or both… KK kept things in Bala.. leave him alone.. The was need for political change and selective , paced liberalisation.. The proof of the pudding is in the eating.. KK had meals on the table and built sh$%t…… even the Mukuba Pension
Yaba this dude whats up?i do not think the RB style will allow this boy get into the convention hall in one piece, those thugs will rap him up into pieces.Better keep quiet and support RB or join the opposition to enjoy the freedom of speech, period
What about fiat assemblies in Livingstone, was it privatisation under MMD Chiluba or UNIP KK foundation principles?
Time for every thing maybe timming was not good for our leaders plus focus was lacking
your twenty years of MMD had failed to finish.. KK left the structure the way it is right now in LSK.. ask your selves how did KK manage to do big things.. in 1988 despite being suspended by IMF, pending econimic + political reforms, for 3 years.. KK is the man .. dont talk about ZAMBEEF… all the’ve been doing is buying out businesses that existed many years ago and consolidate… Amanita .. I be annoyed if you make me talk about ROP and what was the one in LSK.. and Zambezi Ranching and Cropping which ZAMBEEF took over in 2004 using European Investment Bank/ BBZ ternm loan financing… KK pulled together, expanded or built a lot the largele operations we see today.. MMD just destroyed our companies and PRIDE.. FYI ZCCM only had one loss making year which was 1993.. even 1997 the year…
There is nothing wrong with privitisation.But the way it was prescribed to us by the Bretton Woods institutions leaves much to be desired.Worse still we had kafupi as President who couldnt account for what we had realised during the the process.
Digga 37, i beg to differ with your analysis, if i may call it that.
GDP is not production, it is simply a macro economic measure of output – it does not mean that if GDp increases 100 fold, then the lives of our people increase correspondingly. Devaluation is not always due to capital flight either. The basic premise of your arguement is unfortunately ill informed and i would urge further research. How has Mukuba pension house helped the price of bread?? A pension investment should ideally grow beyond inflation levels and be sufficiently liquid enough to pay on demand. But thats a topic for another day. Our economy was on its knees at the point of 1991. Before 1973, i will agree with you, but even that was not due to Kaunda but high copper prices on world market.
of unbundling we still came in with some cash.. i saw the last annual report.. The late Luke Mananshiku was Chairman during this phase… Dont get me annoyed.. Over ambia I get annoyed.. Ndola was the most and largest industrial zone in Zambia ahead of Lusaka.. We manufactured almost everything taht went into our mouths… and maybe bult our home.. Philips Electircal etc…. Chiluba moved our factories to ZIM.. instead is IMPOSING MASSIVE EXPORT DUTIES on any attempt rape our country of Technology which is a key resourse even more than Cash.. in ANGOLA EXPORT OF OIL TOOLS Carry 100% export duties..
A number of companies that Digga mentions where not profitable, even though they could have been. They were kept afloat by ZCCM for social purposes (Which is understandable since Kaunda had a different idealogical belief – Socialism/humanism). This in turn led to lack of capital investment in ZCCM and other key industries which meant come the late 1980’s, we had no competitive advantage as an economy. We had no iron and steel industry, our economy was 98% dependent on mining, with no backward or forward linkages. This then meant we depended hugely in imports, thereby draining our little forex. The list is endless.
They used call it Treason, now it is called Privatization.
MMD Chief Bootlicker
Mudala siya boza.Which failed state are you talking about? In 1990 Zambia just needed a smooth transition from a social-based economy into a Mixed free market system. But chiluba betrayed Zambia.Under chiluba MMD was bad,LPM revitalised it and brought hope in it.
The problem was not Chiluba or Privatization. The problem was cleaning up KK’s mess.
Sorry Mwe bantu naliboila fye.. Me Im Zima Kitwe.. Pa Ndola, Pa LY, Pa Chingola konse niku bond.. I drove through empty factory warehouse in Ndola a few months back .. Mufulira was the most disheartening.. even the road to Ronald Ross ya li likwa.. If there is and investor I hate, its MOPANI.. ba shit bali panga ndalama for 10 straight years now.. but all towns they operate in are a distaster.. I felt like closing the gate to MUF and beating every resident for accepting the rubbish .. I have no liking what so ever for our current govt who just dont care.
Charles Ngesa you are a brave man.IMF/World bank have duped us(Zambia) and many nations.Their deception lies in policy conditionalities.Prepare for hard times ahead.
Goodevening bloggers.
The man Ngesa is definately right. Privatisation has done more harm than good to the Zambian economy.
The blame on IMF/World Bank is highly exagerated. The biggest problem was ineptitude of the MMD govt of the day. These institutions simply recommend. It is up to each country to react – either tactifully or carelessly.
The choices that I.M.F. offer are very simple:
Work with the I.M.F. and get wiped out!
Don’t work with the I.M.F. and be destroyed!
Therefore,the choice is- be wiped out or destroyed
..can’t he be innovative, tell us something we don’t know..isn’t there any proper news these days??.
Colgate Palmolive, Reckitt and coleman, Dunlop, Swarp Spinning mills, Cadbury Schweppes, Lyons Brooke Bond, Johson and Johson were not privatised. They were already private companies. They closed down because Chiluba’s MMD did not get taxes right. The MMD allowed importers of finished goods to bring in stuff duty free (like Shoprite). This disavantaged the local manufacturing sector since they were charged 30% duty on their raw materials. The effect of this was to make locally produced goods very uncompetitive vis a vis the imported stuff. Recently around 2006 Central Cigarrete Manufacturere aka Rothmans suffered the same fate. They now make the Cigarettes in Kenya for export to Zambia. Just like Swaziland cans Mosi for export to Zambia.
Mr Ngesa it has but only that very few have benefited. Those involved in the sell of the mines are happy and smiling. Fat accounts and yet they are still on the scene. Good luck Zambia.
#53 (Mbulawa)
You have just summed up the whole argument.I like it.
Duh! Maybe Muswati can ‘hook us up’ with some “investors”
I think that if Zambia had maintained some of the UNIP ideas, Zambia would be better off right now than what the current situation is. KK’s ideas worked but didn’t work as much because of low copper prices but now with the current demand for copper on the international market especially in China, if ZCCM was still intact under government hands Zambia would have benefited a lot. I didn’t like some of KK’s politics but on the economic front, the UNIPists had a grand plan for Zambia. MMD betrayed Zambia big time because anything to do with IMF/ WB has never benefited any country and will never do. Capitalism only benefits the rich and wealthy that is what socialism was trying to protect us against.
Privatisation is not that bad for Zambia for it has opened our eyes. The only problem is that the current MMD is led by people who do not understand leadership and are just masquerading as our leaders. Once they are kicked out of office, Zambia can appreciate Nationalisng and Privatising some entities nicely.
On “Mr Ngesa disclosed his intentions to challenge president Rupiah Banda at the forth coming MMD convention to be held before the 2011 general elections“, all the very best sir for being bold enough to tell the nation what you aspire for. May you succeed.
Be blest all.
_
Psalm 16:
8 I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
9Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope.
#37 Tonga Steel,I’m fine thanks.How are you?No grudge,no hard feelings! Cheers mate!
Witness your points are valid. What our country lacks is continuity. Each leader wants to do away with what the past leader did, most of it out of personal reasons but Zambia should be bigger than any leader. What each Govt should focus on is continuity of programs that have succeeded and improvement of programs that have failed. Zambia is not a laborotary where each leader is interested in experimenting on everything even on some programs that need just a bit of improvement. For programs that have failed there should be a pilot project on what the elected leader would want to experiment and if the pilot project succeds then the project should be implemented on a large scale. Not what we are seeing even when privatisation has failed they still want to continue. Zambia is not Salaula.
In capitalism if you think the govt of the people is working for you think again. The scenario is we all want to be than the person next to us whether Zambian or not, if it means me being corrupt so let it be. And necessity is the mother of all inventions, we all have devised ways to better than each other. The sense of togetherness is lost. So what makes think any leader in govt will have the people at heart, well he might think about it but ultimately (it all about me, myself and I)
Privatization, will not help anyone – Management systems need to be set in these companies and accountability. Government should set up contracts with mining companies, not sale them think of all the school that were run under the mines and the hospitals and the houses, the companies would just terminate these things to cut costs.
MMD Chief Bootlicker,
” 20-20 Hindsight is always the best and easy way to analyse things. Unfortunately this hindsight is never available when you are in a real situation and you have to make a decision and leave with the consequences. ”
Everyone could have seen that handing over the national resources to foreign corporations would not ‘somehow’ benefit Zambia. Who cares of foreign owned corporations are more efficient, or in the words of Levy Mwanawasa, ‘they’ll bring jobs’ (the standard belief in how benefiting the wealthy would ‘trickle down’ to the rest of society – creating unregulated, non-minimum wage, non-unionised jobs).
That was clear from the start, which is why the IMF and World Bank needed to lie and arm twist the finance minister Edith Nawakwi, back in…
kelvin, ” Privatization, will not help anyone – Management systems need to be set in these companies and accountability. ”
We need an overhaul of how parastatals and the civil service are run.
When the state owned companies are run in a professional way, with promotions based on merit, and with protections against abuse by the state, they are at least as efficient as any other company.
The great lie told is that ‘the government can’t run businesses’, when in truth there is a lot of corruption and inefficiency in the private sector too – the common thread is rules and regulations. Take away rules from the private sector, and they are more corrupt than any government department could ever be – ENRON, TYCO, Worldcom, Madoff, etc.
MMD Chief Bootlicker,
” 20-20 Hindsight is always the best and easy way to analyse things. Unfortunately this hindsight is never available when you are in a real situation and you have to make a decision and leave with the consequences. ”
‘Globalization appears to increase poverty and inequality… The costs of adjusting to greater openness are borne exclusively by the poor, regardless of how long the adjustment takes. — The World Bank, 1999 (from The Bush Agenda, by Antonia Juhasz, chapter ‘A Model For Failure’, ‘Zambia Forced Backward’).
Mr. Ngesa is good. He explains well. Fit to our next president. He gave Rupiah Banda a chance & this time around it is his turn. Go on dont be intimidated.
Mr. Ngesa you are a man. Since you have started go for it my man. I promise you a vote. Dont like you did the other time. Zambia needs men like you who are couragious enough
Privatization is real killer