I will start with Inequality as I believe it is not only vital, but an aspect of Zambia's economy which has received a fair share of screams in the political arena. So a look at this will have a much more needed avenue to the problems of Zambia.
Economic Inequality
Defined as: Wealth and Income differences. This is differences in the distribution of economic assets or resources among the people (mainly between the rich and the poor). Street-wise definition would present a better understanding as it simply says "the gap between the rich and the poor".
Of course we can't call for an absolute equality in economic status, where all citizens are economically equal, as that is not only impossible but the mere existence of such a situation would present difficulties in running the economy itself. But a situation of a smaller gap between the rich and poor, would present a good economy as it will mean, resources are at least equitably distributed - under those cirmstances. The bigger the gap between the rich and the poor however, the more the resources are unequally distributed. As dramatically put "no citizen shall be rich enough to buy another and none so poor as to be forced to sell himself." (Rousseau?)
I have noticed (with sadness) that most Zambian politicians are always taken by ideas of Economic growth. What will this translate into? How will they define Economic growth?
This has little to do with the inequalities that face its people. It is in its crudest possible sense, mere politiking. I would appreciate a look and addressing issues of economic inequalities before we address issues of economic growth. As this will create a situation where the benefits of economic growth will be equitably distributed among the people. Under the existing structures, the more Zambia's economy grows, the wider the gap between the poor and the rich grows (unless specific measures are taken). I think it will make sense to aim at reducing inequalities in the economy also as it will translate into better living, if it's accompanied by meaningful changes in income distribution. No sense in having a growing economy with more than 70% of the people in absolute poverty. Or having a very rich elite benefiting from the economy and the majority of the people in absolute poverty. So we should aim at having a growth, with specific distributional policies aimed at making the gap between the rich and poor smaller and ensuring everyone benefits from the endorements of the country. Any other direction will result in bad and non-benefitial growth - if that is even achieved.
Ideas of empowering citizens will produce better results, if there is political will to achieve equitable distribution of resources in the country. Such sad statictics make me think we need to re-visit the planning aspects of our economy:
"80 percent of the population in terms of earnings were reported to have acquired only 31.3 percent of the total income, while the top 20 percent of the population claimed 68.67 percent of the total income" (April 2008, CSO monthly).
A good economic idea, would be to have policies which will encourage and move the poorest of the poor, to a more meaningful economic standing. This would greatly improve the living standards of the people, encourage them to aim higher, educate their children, and live a moderate life. Under the prevailing situation, the poor are seriously trapped in the poverty trap. Where movement to any meaningful economic life is not only limited, but in some cases even impossible. And so they end up taking their children out of school, abuse them through child labour, prostitution and early marriages. Their children will either go through the same path or even worse.
On the other hand, the rich keep getting richer. Corruption is the order of the day. It gets so bad that you even expect all government workers to be corrupt in one or the other. If there are policies which would get some of this money enjoyed by the rich and ploughed into education and health, we will have a better people living a better life.
Where Do We Start From?
This is easy. Leave it to the economist to design, you will produce a good product. Add politicians to the equation, eveything is a mess! And yet, its the politicians who ultimately decide what to do. I believe having a very honest political team, could even do better than the economist. Unfortunately, politics in Zambia is all about getting rich and not providing a service! Every project has to be looked at with 'benefits for me' or 'blocking X's party or X himself from enjoying this'. The politics of the belly as one once coined the phrase!
The African Problem
Africa would move fast than most places on this planet. It has the resources to do it. From oil to Uranium. It can ultimately live with no worries about tomorrow as its endorements have whatever the African people need. However, Africa is always hurt and destroyed by it people. The selfish politician running the country, and the people close to him. Sometimes you wonder if we got our independence to early before people could understand the true meaning of a 'States Man' or maybe the colonial masters trained the wrong people to start with. Our freedom fighters had a vision of the continent. They sacrificed alot to achieve what we have achieved now.
But the worse group came after these left. In some cases, the ideas they had before independence died with the new found power of being a President of such a country! Corruption, brutality, rigging, self-enriching method of governance has spread in all corners of Africa. Inequality came like wild fires.
So maybe to rid this continet of inequality is to start with leadership. We need to put in motion a system that will favour systems and governements that strive to address inequalities of the people. Then we can set in motion, economics which addresses these problems. Its not a one country problem, its an African problem.
Solutions!
Besides the mere fact of changing the politics of any one country, the solution of inequality is to put in place 'Pro-Poor' Economic pathways. An economy must recognise the problems of the poor, find simplest possible ways of addressing these problems, setup mechanisms which will address these and any problems which will result from the elimination efforts.
Over the next blogs, I will look at the remaining problems and address possible 'Pro-Poor' solutions.
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