Former Zambia Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) president Fackson Shamenda has charged that republican President Rupiah Banda’s attacks on the donor community has cost the country its traditional donor support towards the national budget.
Mr Shamenda said the over 50 percent budget support cut by the donor community in the 2011 national budget is as a result of the arrogance on the part of the currnet leadership.
Mr Shamenda also pointet out that increased corruption in the country is the other reason for the continued reduction in donor support towards the country’s budget.
And the former ZCTU president said government should have used the JCTR basic needs basket as a threshold in arriving at the tax exemption threshold.
He said the K1 million exemption threshold announced in the 2011 budget is not satisfactory and clearly falls short of what was anticipated.
Mr Shamenda saidthe cost of living in the country is way too high for the government to settle for the K1 million tax exemption threshold.
[ QFM ]
shamenda after lobbying for a job from RB you appear to be showing bitterness bcos of hunger pangs making noise in your belly. I always see you walking around from office to office asking for alms with dusty shoes. mwiponta mukabwela like kavindele who is on his knees
Yes, we are paying for the mistake and arrogancy of Zambia’s watch dog (RB). He has costed us as a Country.
BA LT basic grammar…..the past tense of cost is COST..NOT COSTED!!!!!
**CORRECTION*** present tense (or continuing)
Bwana RB is very comfortable to think about the consequences of withdrawal of donor support. He is also aware that even if he loses political office he can still sustain himself comfortably due to the income he has amassed from his frequent trips outside the country. The poor man in the streets continues to be marginalised while others are being cheated with white elephant projects. God is watching.Do not forget those who vote for you.
It is truly amazing to hear this kind of ignorance. So you Zambians who claim to be independent believe that the country cannot survive without donors???? what nonsense. Zambia has enougfh resources and do not need donor money to survive as a nation and grow the economy. get a life guys.
# 6 Just like Zimbabwe right?
Grazy characters donor reduction of Budget support for 2011 National Budget has nothing to do with RB. Time has just come for the country to stop depending on donor support. This has been declining over the past three to four years. So Fackson has no facts to table and support his assertions. Those are just sounds coming out of an empty tin. What did he do for workers when he headed ZCTU.
Him will fly to RSA for a knee surgery so its us poor zambians who will die due to lack of drugs in our hospitals. Atleast even King Cobra will be cartered for ………..
Surely in as much as we need donor support,should we take so much pride in begging? What we need is 1.reasonable and fair trade with developed countries.2.Regional integration and coorparation.People we have more than enough resources to develop our continent.Don’t be so naive, these Bazungus and Chinese haven’t travelled thousands of miles from their homes just because they care about you and me.
Shamenda give us a break, do you know anything, nothing, sheer ignorance and wanting to be seen to be around.. By the way which seat on UPND are you eyeing? And you will be whacked clean so don’t even attempt.
It is time to depend less on donor support for the budget. Let GRZ use its resources wisely.
Only a “full” would pull down a house before finding another shelter. Similarly, only “fulls” support fellow “fulls” to plug a well before they have another source for their water.
I hope Zambia has a wide enough tax base supported by reliable and efficient revenue collection mechanisms to finance RB’s travels, Health care, Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Education, Policing and other basic human needs
Zambia is so poor that it cant stand on its own feet, the very reason why we had to plead for debt cancellation and why our budget is always co-financed by the donors. The earlier we all understood and accepted this sad fact, the better. Only then can we see the need and indeed develop the drive to correct this pathetic situation. But it seems the government and its critics are all agreed to accept that donor support is a permanent feature and have elevated the donors to the status of Father Christmas! How sad!
Zambia is not poor per see its the way our resources are used which is worrysome or cause of all the problems we are facing. The problem starts with the pipo who have been charged with the reposibility of running public affairs.We have a civil service that is now full MMD cadres and even if the PF-UPND Pact made the next Govt they will also come and give jobs to their cadres.Its the bad culture of running public affairs which has entrenched itself in all sectors of Zambian life. Syrely is there need for country like zambia to have 4×4 Porsh vehicles for Top Civil Servants in Lusaka? we are just reckless with our spending. Travels all over from Lundazi to Zambezi as if there are civil servants outisde Lusaka. Top civil sevants and politicians are to blame for tyhe mess in Zed.
Ba shamenda your thinking is now questioanble! Honestly which donor has indicated that, they have reduced committment becoz of your reasons?
Ba shamenda, the Govt has been reducing donar dependency for the past years and i consider it progressive and come 2012, windfall tax will be introduced when mines are deeply rooted in the country with a lot of investment, and we will only need a small percentage of donor funds.
Bashamenda and other who are bitter about this reduced donar funds is becoz they will not have any weapon to blackmail government becoz all disgruntled persons have been rushing to donars to lobby withdrawal support.
For once Zambian let us analyse issues with sober minds. Its a pitty the oposition is not pointing out real contents of the budget or give alternative.
#16, between you and Shimenda-definately Shimenda has a sobber mind. He dosent talk the crap you are talking.
Shamende is very correct. Yes ofcourse we dont need donor money but the reality on the ground tells us that we need that money. Minister of health is reported to have been begging the donors to resume funding health programes..why if indeed Zambia is such strong to stand on its own? All road programmes are funded by the donors and Mulongoti was crying that the withrawal of donor fund has rendered the road-programmes ineffective.
These are signs that Zambia cant do without the donor money at this time.
At #2. the word cost cannot be transformed into past tense as in ‘costed’. The past tense of cost is simpy cost.
Shamenda, is just dead brock trying to vunvuzela for sympathy, atase! What dd you contribute in zambia? Get a life
SHAMEEEENDA……………..WAITAYA BOI
Only people who are ignorant of statecraft can draw such conclusions. If Zimbabwe which is on sanctions and still gets aid how can a few remarks from the President and long after the budget process has been set going cause donors to reduce support? But this ignorance is painful if it is not just a way of gaining political mileage. Shamenda has ambitions.
You’re supporting RB’s fo.olishness now but when your relatives start to die like flies of common ailments due to lack of drugs and shortage of manpower then you’ll realise we are not upto it yet. None of these d.o.gs will die because air ambulances are on standby to evacuate them to S.A and have no respect for human life especially that of commoners like your relatives. Its better to beg for now as we put our house in order than to start losing our dear ones because of RB’s love for Kafupi. In any case its not RB’s responsibilty to decide whether or not we still need donor aid, thats a responsibility of representatives we send to parliament. This man needs to grow up and start behaving like an old man.
# 23 spot on, however I doubt these sychophants even care about their own relatives as long as they themselves are well fed.
Sata will scare away investors and we will even be more dependent on the so called donors from the West who currently dont have any money at the moment. Would rather stick with RB. #23 Has Sata paid back the money that was spent on him when he was evacuated to SA by LPM as a political gimmick?
Shamenda seems to be truly looking for something to do from the RB administration. At the time when things drastically went wrong he was mute.
Reduction in donor support is something that is inevitable. The donor countries are making cuts everywhere to finance their budget deficits. Even Harvard and Oxford educated economist Dr. Dambisa Moyo warned that Donor support would eventually be unsustainable due to the budget deficits that are being incurred in the donor nations.
The US govt will soon be making huge tax cuts if the proposed tax cuts pass, this will mean they will have to make cuts somewhere. The opposition should stop misleading the masses.
Mr Shamenda – you and the donors must be encouraging developing countries to run budgets from their own resources – not from handouts that have a lot of strings attached. What thinking is this? All of us must be putting pressure on Govt to reduce on borrowing and maximize revenue from our own resources not to encourage each other to borrow more. Is this the type of advice that you are giving UPND/PF? To take us back to the $7 Billion debt? By the way, they will not get close to plot One next year – it will not happen.
This what happens to addicts. withdraw their substance of addiction and they immediately start panicking, wondering how they can ever live without it. Then comes the withdrawal symptoms. The drug supplier on the other hand foresees himself running out of business also becomes uneasy and he starts working on the “former’ addict convincing him on how he will not be able to survive without his merchandise
This donor addiction is deep seated in our people, so prepare for more
i agree with #6 y cant we do it on our own this is y we have been on the same level for years, we have resources and not just minerals we have tourism, agriculture and all these taxes where does the money go?in a country where we say we are educated y do we let these things happen and u uneducated illitrate people always thinking about donors open your eyes we can be more than what we are we can be the ZAMBIA GOD INTENTED IS TO BE.
i agree with #6 y cant we do it on our own this is y we have been on the same level for years, we have resources and not just minerals we have tourism, agriculture and all these taxes where does the money go?in a country where we say we are educated y do we let these things happen and u uneducated illitrate people always thinking about donors open your eyes we can be more than what we are we can be the ZAMBIA GOD INTENTED US TO BE.
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