Fight Inequality Alliance (FIA) Zambia National Coordinator Lutangu Daisy Mwilima has demanded the full disclosure of the IMF programme to give citizens an opportunity to scrutinise it.
“The details of this deal have been kept under wraps and away from the public eye. If it’s good for us as a country, as the government and the IMF claim, I don’t see why it should be such a big secret.”
Ms Mwilima cautioned that the country could not tolerate a situation where anti-poor austerity measures were being imposed, with harsh and damaging impacts on people’s lives and livelihoods. The country remains scarred by the IMF’s structural adjustment programmes of the 1990s which massively contributed to the high levels of poverty and inequality that we see in Zambia today.
Ms Mwilima revealed that FIA has expressed concern about how the government has negotiated the IMF programme. FIA demanded the government to conduct an in-depth assessment of other options beyond the IMF programme, but so far this demand has been ignored.
The FIA National Coordinator said since the IMF programme was nearly concluded and the 2022 National Budget almost depended on it, the alliance is alarmed by the lack of transparency with regards to the IMF loan.
“Our government says we are pursuing an IMF programme, and economic reforms will have to be taken. But we need to know as citizens what exactly these economic reforms are because we are the ones that will be paying back the loan financially and it is us who will feel the pain of austerity” she stated.
“We need a reversal of the current priorities – so that multinational corporations are no longer given tax breaks and citizens are pushed beyond breaking point with the rising cost of living. The poor cannot afford the austerity the IMF and the government are agreeing to on their behalf,” she said.
“So we are getting on an IMF programme and we want to revive the economy. But what are the details of what will be undertaken? What austerity measures are we taking up as a country? Even when the government says the IMF programme is homegrown, what exactly is this economic recovery plan for the UPND government because we do not know what it is as citizens?” she questioned.
The FIA National Coordinator was of the view that in the interest of transparency and accountability to the people of Zambia, there was the need for the details of this loan to be scrutinised by the National Assembly which was the house of representatives.
“The MPs need to know what is in the loan, they need to go back and get feedback from the people that voted for them to go into Parliament in terms with regards to whether this is really what we want or not as Zambians, are these the sacrifices that we want to take? Are there any other alternatives? What sacrifices exactly are we making? How long are we expected to sacrifice for, in short at what cost?” she asked.
Ms Mwilima is concerned that IMF has not been opening up when asked about the deal.
“How can the people of this country be expected to ‘own’ something that is not transparent and has not been subject to public debate and scrutiny?” she questioned.
Ms Mwilima emphasised that her organisation demands that Government discloses in full the details of this IMF programme, allow parliamentary oversight and scrutiny and guarantee that there will be no austerity measures.
“Moves such as the removal of subsidies that have already contributed to rising prices must be reversed,” she said.
At the end of the day no one will say there was no advice that’s why I made this mistake.
It takes brave honest people to speak out the truth. We are all in this situation and we need to know.
When comrade lusambo raised this he was insulted. It is too late. Hh has already sold this country to his gay funders. Hh gets very excited around whlte people
Mbuzi
To hell with all of you cadres above,first and foremost , you are the same culprits that acquired this debt, did you disclose to Zambians how much was owed? No! you didnt – you lied! Alexander Chikwanda (he must not rest in peace) always lied that we ll put in economic shock absorbers-and until today there was nothing of such. So why must the negotiations be disclosed to you cadres? Even to the zambians themselves-they never demanded for PF to disclose how much was honestly owed untill UPND did it, so everyone must just for now, shut up! and let the new dawn work on its terms.
@Kaizer Sulu: Untill now, even today , whenever you are taken to court you refuse to disclose how many people(women) you smacked and shot at, how much money you stole, properties from proceeds of crime, now who do you want to disclose their plans or negotiations? If you yourselves demanding for disclosure untill today you cant disclose a single thing on your previous thieving?
Which court have I been taken to on allegations of theft? See how you make up things like a demented cow from monze. To you only your hh can be successful. You cannot fathom how anyone but your demigod can make it in life. You will die of blood pressure soon.
@4 & 5, you are right that the debt was acquired by the previous regimes and many of us Zambians never demanded that they disclose how much was owed. This was one of the mistakes we as a people made. So doesn’t it make sense even to you that we learn from this mistake and do better now and in the future by being vigilant as Ms Wilima is demanding?
Thats being F.O.O.L.I.S.H to say the least.
When the PF borrowed $17 billion (which includes Eurobonds and $6 billion from China) you were very quiet . You did not even question the terms of the high interest loans. IMF are only extending a $1.4 billion low interest credit facility to Zambia to assist the country get out of an economic mess. You start making noise and talking rubbish.
$17.0 billion Kaloba (very silent)………..$1.4 billion from IMF(now making noise)
Zambians lets be serious.
And some boofons like @Kaizar Zulu have the balls to even open their dirty mouths..!
SHAME..!
People don’t want to make the same mistake again. They have learned a lesson.
Reagan say that to me to my face and watch how I will scatter your face with some very dirty slaps.
Jonathan Mutaware – Please do not feed the UK based troll…its hardwired to trade insults and populate the thread.
PF was borrowing and borrowing and eventually leading us into a deep debt ditch, you were not scrutinizing, just the toll shelter between Kitwe and Ndola cost us about 80 million kwacha as Zambians through PF and you were not scrutinizing, only to wake up now
Kaizar is the ediotest , why do you respond to the chap.
Iwe ka Kaizar, just behave, though behaving is not in your DNA, but just pretend you are well behaved
Ka Kaizar trying to intimidate people, not sure what is wrong with this ka he goat, he rarely discusses the issues in the articles
UPND would have supported this call 11 months ago. Not today
………wha……Wha…..wha……what I say I would do is what I should do.It was said when given the chance to run the government, they would not allow the country to borrow,because they would solve the country’s problems using local resources.Now,why borrow…….
Any contribution from PF bloggers is redundant, Deja Vu and his cohorts want to look wise here. Shaa!!!