Africa-Press – Zambia. It is wrong to view the current extremely shocking goings on in the government supply of farm support inputs under the Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP) as merely “mistakes” and “corruption” enabling shenanigans of the UPND government in general and agriculture minister Reuben Mtolo Phiri in particular.
Taken together, everything the UPND government has done on the FISP since coming into government is conscious and calculated warfare against poor rural Zambian farmers by the UPND capitalist government aiming to wean rural agriculture off essential and necessary government support. The UPND government is determined to drastically reduce, and eventually remove the automatic expectation by our impoverished rural farmers of government rural agriculture subsidies. The UPND government, through President Hakainde Hichilema, finance minister Situmbeko Musokotwane and agriculture minister Reuben Mtolo Phiri, are determined to destroy rural agriculture, our backbone for food security, and change Zambian rural life forever. In their discussions and agreement with the IMF, the UPND government has undertaken to transform the Farmer Input Support Programme to make it more “efficient” and less “corrupt” to enable government make savings, for expanding government debt repayment space, and pleasing the IMF.
Besides fuels and electricity, the UPND government has agreed with the IMF that it would make government support to rural agriculture more “efficient” (another capitalist way of saying if it is not profitable, cut it off, even if it is lifesaving) and weed out “corruption”. Government fuel, electricity and agricultural subsidies are all on their way out. Do read the UPND government agreement with the IMF and you will confirm this. All the tinkering and name changing, including the dangerously messed up delivery of FISP both last year and this year must also be understood in the context of a UPND government eager to meet IMF conditions for the balance of payment support of US $1.3 million for three years, get IMF help with debt repayments, and the dreams of foreign “investment flows” into Zambia.
Of course a side war going on in agriculture, just as in health, is the UPND resolve to remove from government business real and perceived PF aligned government suppliers, contractors and service providers of all kinds, in order to starve the PF of money, and thereby defang it politically. Those government suppliers, contractors and service providers known and assumed to be PF aligned who cannot change their loyalty to the UPND face destruction by being paralysed with criminal litigation and cash starvation by being cut off from government business. As all capitalist governments in the world go, there is nothing fundamentally new or strange about this war for government business: politics is economic warfare by other means, and the UPND are simply playing by all expected capitalist standards, and actually innovating these standards.
Political parties are established to win political power – control of the state and government – for their leaders and political constituents so that they can then direct the economy in their favour, and cripple their enemies and political opponents. This is true politics, the real driving force behind all political activities. The only honest and genuinely principled political formations and political parties are scientific revolutionary socialist formations and political parties who openly declare that their intention is to wrestle control of the state, government and economy and installing by all means necessary, the power of the working class in, and over society. These openly declare that their intentions are to establish the dictatorship of the working class in, and over society, as the fullest and deepest possible democratic order, because the working class and poor rural peasants are the immense majority especially of a country like Zambia, and their interests therefore must dominate, if society is to be democratic.
Through this “dictatorship of the working class”, the working class then genuinely proceed “scientifically and methodically” to dismantle all class structures, systems and relationships in society, abolish private property, and thus establish a truly free, just and equal society – a Communist society.
All capitalist political formations on the other hand, hide their “dictatorship of the capitalist class” by claiming to represent the entire society regardless of class and political affiliation. The UPND is such a classic extreme right-wing capitalist political party and liar – it claims to represent all Zambians and yet only a Zambian with a mental tool kit of a special type can fail to see how those Zambians who are working class (employed or unemployed), rural poor farmers and PF are being attacked and destroyed, as the UPND line their pockets with fabulous vast amounts of money from government business, favourable tax conditions, foreign investments and many preferential economic policies!
The war being waged against our poor rural farmers by the UPND government by reducing and inevitably doing away with FISP, this war led by agriculture minister “General” Mtolo Phiri must be seen in this light: UPND capitalists must free up more money for government to pay its debt, meet IMF conditions thereby making the IMF continue to release its tranches of the US$1.3 million debt to the Zambian government, thereby enabling other foreign debt to flow into Zambia from which HH, Situmbeko, Mtolo Phiri and their foreign and local capitalists must accumulate more profits and wealth.
Capitalism is warfare by capitalists against the working class, rural poor farmers and all poor people, whatever lies its practitioners and advocates may preach to secure political power. Capitalist democracy is the dictatorship of the capitalists, the moneyed class, over the rest of society. To ignore and neglect this obvious fact is to fail to understand and appreciate the shenanigans going on in especially the agriculture and public health sectors in Zambia today: the UPND government is waging a capitalist war against their PF opponents and the Zambian urban and rural working class and poor peasants, they must control and profit from the agriculture and health supplies value chains themselves in order to firmly establish both their economic and political dominance in Zambia, their dictatorship of Zambia.
Unfortunately, it just so happens that the majority of Zambians, more than 50 per cent, live and survive on the land in our rural areas, in so many different ways, including by becoming peasant slaves of “out growers” and all sorts of urban conmen and con-women who pay them very little to make them work their small pieces of land, later they grab their produce and pay them even smaller money again, to continue this enslaving practice, year in, year out! The majority of Zambians therefore, still largely depend on these poor, over worked rural small farmers for their food and all other needs. Messing with the government support for farm inputs to our poor rural farmers is directly putting at life threatening risks the lives of the majority of Zambians.
The picture is further complicated by the fact that more than 75 per cent or more of our rural population is desperately poor. Messing with rural agriculture as the UPND are doing is directly plunging into deeper poverty the majority of Zambians. The UPND and Mtolo Phiri, by deliberately sabotaging the Farmer Input Support Programme are condemning millions of Zambians to hunger, deepening malnutrition and increasing possible deaths, as they wage their economic war on poor rural farmers in order to satisfy IMF conditions, free up government money to pay government debt and increase their opportunities to become richer! Objectively, by consistently messing up the supply of farm inputs for two consecutive farming seasons, cutting off abruptly some recipients, changing who and how to collect these inputs, changing the FISP name and other similar obstacles, the UPND government is sending a clear message, directly or indirectly, to our rural farmers: that the UPND government cannot be relied upon to secure their rural food security and therefore their rural lives: they are on their own! This is an indirect and evil way of forcing poor rural farmers off FISP.
HH, Situmbeko, Mtolo Phiri and the UPND government are able to wage and win their economic war against our poor rural farmers because these farmers are desperately poor, scattered throughout the country, many live in very remote isolated parts of Zambia, are poorly or completely unorganised to constitute a formidable fighting force capable of taking on government, and therefore still badly need government help to secure essential seeds and fertilisers, to grow food and survive, in our impoverished rural areas.
One day, and perhaps soon too, our poor rural farmers will discover the power of revolutionary self-awareness of their true class condition, and the power of unity and organisation of the majority of poor rural farmers. Then, and only then, can no Zambian government treat them with the contempt and disdain the UPND government has shown them, thus far!
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