I can finally say Zambian president Michael Chilufya Sata is not going to improve the Zambian economy unless he drastically changes course. As noted on today’s “Let The People Talk” program on Radio Phoenix, most of his actions are imposing more costs which is suicide in a year when the World Bank has already announced it shall be reducing financial support.

The Zamtel debacle, whereby soldiers were sent to hound out the CEO at gunpoint and surround the premises leaves much to be desired, not to mention freezing company accounts leading to late salaries and suppliers withdrawing their services. The deal was corrupt but the government could have handled things better.

They could have privately asked LAPGreen to pay more money rather than nationalizing it under the pretext of getting Zambians to be the shareholders. Zamtel is worth hundreds of millions of Dollars after new investments. Are there enough Zambians that can buy off the 75% shares that have been grabbed from LAPGreen? The people I see buying these shares are the same people in the PF government that have greater income than the average Zambian.

Then there is the withdrawal of the tax holiday for the Pepsi factory. All these actions will have terrible unintended consequences, no matter how well intentioned they are. I predict that Zambia shall begin a decline on the Economic Freedom Index which investors consult when deciding where to put their money.

NOTE: Article originally published on Facebook here:

https://web.facebook.com/MichaelChishala/posts/347661928586047