Finance and National Planning Minister Alexander Chikwanda says Zambia has received massive economic support from the international community since the ascendance to power of the Patriotic Front Government.
Mr Chikwanda said contrary to arguments by opponents of the PF government, a lot of countries such as Britain, Germany and Japan among others, have increased their economic support to Zambia.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with ZANIS in London yesterday, Mr Chikwanda attributed the increasing international support to the emphasis that President Michael Sata and his government have placed on issues of good governance such as the fight against corruption.
He said President Sata has made it clear that his government will have no room for corruption adding that he has also been practical on the issue by ensuring that any suspicious activities of corruption are swiftly dealt with.
“President Sata has been clear-cut on the issue of zero tolerance to corruption and this has actually won the hearts of the international community who have supported us regardless of the many challenges their countries were going through,” he said.
He said Zambia is part of the global village and that the country has a duty to improve the livelihoods of the people by talking to other countries and explaining its challenges.
Mr Chikwanda said this is one way issues of poverty could be tackled and some of the needs of the people met.
He, however, said this situation gives the country a challenge of ensuring that all the resources it receives from the international community were diligently and prudently utilised.
Mr Chikwanda said, the PF government, in its scheming of things will endeavour to ensure that finances and whatever resources the country had were properly used.
“All countries in the world were having numerous economic challenges but were working hard to convince their tax payers to have some of their resources diverted to helping countries like ours at great expense so we cannot afford to be careless,” he emphasised.
Meanwhile, Mr Chikwanda has said Zambia should seriously work towards reducing dependence on other countries.
He said it is the responsibility of all Zambians to help develop the country saying it is logical that once donor countries experience perpetual economic challenges their support will also dwindle.
The Finance Minister stated that government was doing its part by heavily investing in sectors such as education to increase the productive capacity of the people.
He said this was important because the people are the most important resource any country can have in their development process.
Mr Chikwanda urged all Zambians to be active players in the development process of the country because no one would do it for them.
ZANIS
Four legs good, two legs better
the develop the country!!
Chikwanda why should other tribes work hard and pay tax only to employ Bembas in GRZ jobs and embassies .?Massive development going to Muchinga ,NP and LP ?Build two universities in Chinsali at the expense of other provinces like NWP .Contracts are been given to your companies to renovate state house without following tender procedures.Do not tell lies which countries are supportive of ?We shall lobby against you soon .We are going to expose you and your Ukwa and your family tree.You have gone too far.
this is poor reasoning for real ba Smoking Gun… am from NWP but I can’t agree this poor logic here.
Mr Chikwanda, i think there is a lot of non value adding talking in this country. Kindly give us plan B policy. The debt crisis will not be kind to anyone and the support you are talking about is not certain.
PF is likely to loose the international community support giving the style there are doing things.
mwila komenta ifyabufi muleyikalafye ngatamukwete fyakulanda
I vividly recall even when HE the late LPM Sc (MHSRIEP) became president the issue of family tree was raised they mentioned Hon. Muteteka, late Hon. Maposhi (MHSRIEP), etc as part of family tree. You guys should be honest it is not tribalistic or neoptism but after election priority will go to people who worked hard for the party and people who can be loyal, which is the practice the world over, having said that it does not mean others cannot be appointed, and the current government has done its best to appoint people from all regions and parties but of course not to your satisfaction, because leadership is not about pleasing 100% but striving to, so for now criticise but your chance may come God willing and we shall see how you shall do your appointments. GOD BLESS ZAMBIA.
And you are not ashamed to admit that you are tribalist. We don’t want tribalism in Zambia. Levy’s tribalism is no justification for Sata’s tribalism. Let’s get rid of the vice. It is not only bembas who voted for Sata.
If Sata denied Given Lubinda a job regardless of his work in the PF on the basis of tribe,maybe you might have justified your tribalism tag on him.as has been said you give jobs to people you know will not stab you in the back and who share the same voice with you thats politics! do you sure expect HH to come and give jobs to ‘Bembas’ as opposed to the people who are with him in the party?he may do it but the majority will certainly be his followers who are from his tribe.So please dont make noise about tribalism base your judgement on their performances. your late HE Mwanawasa performed quiet well with his so called ‘family tree’.
Poor reasoning for real ba #Smoking Gun… am from NWP but I can’t agree this poor logic here. Learn to change for better
Mwanawasa’s government had Muteteka, Mapushi, Shikapwasha, Chituwo, Machila, Magande and VJ. These are all Tongas (or Bantu Botatwe). And we all know how many “Mwana Wakwituz” were in the RB regime.So this nepotistic trend of governance is not new in Zambian Politics at all. In my own opinion, what Zambia needs is a complete overhaul of all the current Political parties. New Political parties should be formed by completely new people, particularly youths, who have never associated themselves with the current and recent past Zambian Politics, be it in the opposition or ruling parties.
Alexander, single sourcing Apollo construction to renovate state house is corruption. As finance minister under whose portfolio dbz falls, can you tell us as to who forgave Fred the post and nchito the debt they owe to dbz? Where did you get the 11 million dollars you relative allegedly donated to his Malawian friends? Which budget line was sacrificed? As chiluba’s former chief of staff one hoped you had learnt that expenditure done outside the budget is what led to his future problems.
A lot of you bloggers will agree with me that when most of us were growing up, we looked at each other as Zambians. The issue of identifying oneself by tribe was something that was never part of our childhood. Today, we are being divided by Politicians, both from the opposition and ruling parties. This is a fact!!! The President of Zambia should always strive to speak on behalf of all Zambians. He should be a Unifying figure, one that embraces Zambians from all corners of the country. Every time he speaks, his words and voice should give hope and inspiration to the Zambian people and not only to certain groups of our society. The way he appoints people to key public positions, should always try to represent the diversity that we are so lucky to have in this country.
The same applies to the opposition Political parties. A person, who wants to be President of Zambia, should show beforehand that he is going to be a Unifying figure even before he ascends to that high office in the Land. Today, we have opposition political leaders who have always shown their hatred towards people from other parts of the country, calling them all thoughts of demeaning terms even before they ascend to power. Such leaders seem to speak on behalf of only 1 or 2 provinces of Zambia, rather than the whole country. Besides, they also think they are the most educated and seem to speak for the so called “educated” only. Everyone who does not belong to their Political parties is uneducated and they call them with all sorts of demeaning names (e.g. Kaponyaz).
Continuation from #11 above
Yet, the majority of Zambians are not really educated, are they? And such are the political leaders who would like to be President for all Zambians, including the uneducated and indeed those they are denouncing today??? How will such opposition leaders unit the country if they are already segregative or divisive before they are even given the mandate to rule the country?
So Chikwanda you have no excuse for your failures then. You have squandered all that support so far, please start working.
Brazil maybe you (like myself) grew up on the Copperbelt where tribe was not a big issue but some people like Rod may have only moved out of their village to go for higher education.And having lived abroad for these many years even makes the mention of a tribe an insult.Tribe is a swear word to people like me.Imagine going into a board meeting on a Monday morning and introducing myself as coming from a particular tribe!
Shut up! Asking Chikwanda about the single sourced 4 million dollar renovation of state house is not tribalism you fool! @9 does not contain an iota of tribalism but questions about corruption. You are not going to protect this cheating govt of yours from criticism by your cheap tribalist accusations. You’ve lived by accusing others of being tribalists until hero Michael formed the most tribal gov’t in the history of Zambia. I am afraid you are not going to run away from this label. It is real unlike the poor Zambians who formed parties and you labelled them tribalists like you do to Hakainde!
@pipa and brazil, I totally agree with both of u.comments frm Rod,chitapi meno and others show dat these bastards may hav been brot up in de vilage and its nt helpin matters for hh to owez bring in de issue of region. Wen u don’t agree wit them they will call u names like “kaponyaz, uneducated, very dull etc” den u ask but these same guys want hh to one day rule dis country but wit their insanity I doubt.den agen wen dey say they r educated wich period r they referin to? Is it in de 60s or wat coz hav been wit dem up to post graduate level and I know their calibre,they owez been average students
You fool just address yourself to the corruption charges I have raised @9. Don’t divert to tribalism accusations. Chikwanda is talking about fighting corruption. What corruption is he fighting when he is clearly deep in it?
You’re never born a tribalist, neither do you have a choice of which tribe to belong. It’s not part of your genetic makeup. You’re taught to be a tribalist, and depending on how good and passionate your teacher is, you become excellent at it. But like the saying goes, that which divides us is NEVER greater than that which separates us.
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Pippa, tribe is a word in use my friend in Africa. May be where you live it is not used? Use of “tribe” does not make one tribal at all. People like Miles Sampa are the ones who make a big deal about tribe. I have never heard Sata speak evil about other tribes, but tolerating people like Sampa is just as bad.
Talk, talk, Talk. That is all Mr Chikwanda has been doing in 47 years of independence or dependence depending upon how you look at our economy. Begging and receiving aid is all we know best. We shall never grow inspite of all the natural resources the good Lord has bestowed on our land. Too much centralisation of power and greed inherent in our politicians.
Politicians, you are a letdown. Nepotism and bukabolala fyachilamo ba Chikwanda.
why always depending on donors? bushit!
Where has the support gone then? We can’t see any on the ground. Maybe it has gone in PF pockets.
So ‘the copperbelt’……is not some kind of a big village as i thought.
So, are we now to believe that since Zambia’s dependency syndrome on international economic support is now growing overwhelmingly, that’s a good sign? What is this, ba Chikwanda?
You Tongas do not be in the forefront of sowing evil schemes some of you never voted for PF and yet you want to be appointed mwailasha you are reaping what you had sown.You had chance now it’s out time period
Which law prohibits single sourcing If there is any acts of corruption deal with it.I know our President is not as corrupt compared to those who ransacked RAMCOZ mines in Luanshys
MMD is gone there is time and chance no matter what you say PF is in Govt.You had called ba Sata names but the Lord does not look at that shame on you repent especially some of you Tongas There is no substitute for hard work Sata had been in opposition for more than 10 years let us give him support no room for tribalism
If Sata denied Given Lubinda a job regardless of his work in the PF on the basis of tribe,maybe you might have justified your tribalism tag on him.as has been said you give jobs to people you know will not stab you in the back and who share the same voice with you thats politics! do you sure expect HH to come and give jobs to ‘Bembas’ as opposed to the people who are with him in the party?he may do it but the majority will certainly be his followers who are from his tribe.So please dont make noise about tribalism base your judgement on their performances. your late HE Mwanawasa performed quiet well with his so called ‘family tree’.
What support. Give us details NOT just empty talk! Provide real tangible data of the support you have been given sir… Where is it?
What support??? Give us details NOT just empty talk! Provide real tangible data of the support you have been given sir… Where is it?
It is legit to question the inherent corruption of Bemba hegemony that Sata and PF are practising. We all pay taxes and are Zambians who deserve equal treatment. Why should Bemba speakers take all govt jobs and contracts? This double-speak doesn’t fool all Zambians. No single tribe has all the brains and ability to develop Zambia alone. PF are practising Kaunda’s allegory of Bembas being riders while non-Bembas are the horses. That is not a safe and sustainable relationship.