Africa-Press – Zambia. So the President has proudly announced that Zambia a country swimming in copper, cobalt, emeralds, fertile land, water, sunshine, and abundant human capital… is now excited….excited! To receive a USD 2 billion grant. We now find ourselves in a national conundrum.
A grant.
Not revenue generated from our mines. Not value addition from our farms. Not industrial growth driven by sound, people-centred policy. A grant.
And this announcement comes from a man who proudly calls himself an economist.
Bob Marley once sang, “In the abundance of water, the fool is thirsty.” Today, Zambia fits that lyric perfectly. We are rich, yet governed like a pauper. Blessed, yet administered like a charity case, standing comfortably on untapped wealth while confidently holding out a begging bowl.
While Zambians wait for jobs, affordable mealie meal, better roads, and serious economic reforms, Community House is busy polishing constitutional amendments that nobody asked for, nobody needs, and nobody trusts. Instead of fixing policies that would make Zambia productive and self-sustaining, the President would rather remodel the Constitution as though it were a personal renovation project.
We are now expected to celebrate foreign assistance as a major achievement, five years into power. Is this the same leadership that promised light weekends, economic miracles, and investor confidence anchored in competence? Or did “light weekends” simply mean light ideas and lightweight priorities?
There is nothing wrong with international cooperation. But there is everything wrong when a resource-rich country starts clapping for grants while ignoring its own goldmine. A serious government would speak about how Zambia is earning, producing, exporting, and adding value not how it is being helped to merely survive.
Is it not ironic that we voted for leadership, vision, and sound economic sense, only to be presented with a professional grant announcer? On principle, there is no such thing as a free cup of coffee someone, somewhere, always pays the price.
Yet even as we borrow and depend on grants, the same leadership is aggressively pushing Bill No. 7 to expand constituencies, increase public expenditure, and deepen the burden on a country already struggling to stand on its own. Zambia, twasebana.
So yes, clap if you must but clap carefully. Because if this is what economic genius looks like, then the joke is no longer funny. The joke is on us.
Simpamba Abraham
Together We Can
Ichalo Bantu!
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