Africa-Press – Zambia. The problem of politicising everything is what leads to grave policy decisions. We have been following the fuel price comparisons and consoling ourselves that fuel is less expensive in Zambia than in other countries, and so we are better off. This is what I may term as casual analytics. Has anyone bothered to perform an “affordability analysis”?
What is the average wage in the countries we are comparing ourselves to? In the UK, fuel prices are much higher than in Zambia, but if their average wage is £3,000, then it’s more affordable to the citizens compared to Zambians.
If on a generous side we assume an average wage of K10,000 per month in Zambia which translates to $357 assuming a rate of K28 and the price of petrol is K34 which translates to $1.21, can we surely say we are better than the UK where it’s say $2 per liter?
A better comparison to take account of the affordability factor is fuel price as a percentage of average wage. Then, you will clearly see that we are worse off.
Just in our neighbourhood, Botswana and South Africa have far better average wages than Zambia. No wonder Zambians troop to these countries to seek jobs and consequently a better standard of living. Let’s face reality our fuel price in comparison to our wages is unaffordable to our citizens. Period.
Let’s not hoodwink ourselves and end up celebrating torture. In any event, who says if my neighbour’s children have 1 meal in 2 days, then I am better off because my children have 1 meal a day. Both scenarios are a disaster. Children should have at least 3 meals a day.
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