Zambians lackadaisical???

I have always been a person advocating for serious approach to work and all associated with it. I think a lot more can be done when we take it with hard work and the seriousness it deserves.

I proudly say, the lazy people are always willing to let things be the way they are and are not keen on seeing change or fighting for it. Partly I assumed was the casual approach that most of us Zambians have to certain things. However, in all the countries that Zambians have gone to or emigrated to, the situation is different. They work harder, are united like a serious community, are found in all high earning positions etc. So the coming of the Chinese seem to show us as being lazy?? Well, I think the cultural differences may show up in areas of serious concern.

The China-Zambia relation has been one of mistrust and serious concern economically. They are known to pay less to Zambian workers, have little or no respect for the country's laws and feel like the bosses of this small population. Chinese goods are considered fake and weak or unreliable. Words like "gonga" are always associated with Chinese goods. In particular the Chinese dual-sim phones with TV! And they come in many shapes some claiming to be Iphone, others Nokia and those that have no name to steal, are simply called MP4 phones. Now whoever got a chance to buy one, will confess of the ills of these phones.

Now I wondered why we always say we have a lot of Chinese people among us and yet, we never see them in night clubs, malls, or mingling among us. So to read on The Economist that these people consider us lazy ... or by the exact terminology lackadaisical made me wonder. So my first action was to coin the exact meaning of this word. To understand the perspective as I saw it, I will quote the meaning I came across it.

lack·a·dai·si·cal

adjective /ˌlakəˈdāzikəl/  Lacking enthusiasm and determination; carelessly lazy - a lackadaisical defense left the Spurs adrift in the second half

So is it "carelessly lazy" or "lacking enthusiasm and determination" that Zambians have? Seriously I think we need a serious check with such words being labelled on us.

On one hand, these are the companies that give slave wages and expect people to work and be productive? I have heard of people say 'work as you are paid' and 'you are valued as a worker, as much as you are paid'. Lackadaisical!? Maybe our change in country management, especially that people say the new leader has no room for laziness will make us move from being considered lackadaisical! Hard work is what I feel has been a problem in many aspects of the Zambian life but I don't think we ever reached a level of carelessly lazy! We have done a lot more with the little that we are given. I know corruption is a big issue in the country. And a serious approach to that will make things a lot better.

Lackadaisical is a word that we Zambians should not be placed next to. We have to do our ultimate best in all that we have. We can start by cleaning out the mess that corruption has brought, make every single investor abide by the laws of the land and bring value to their investment and not seem to be begging for investment. I firmly believe anyone coming to invest will have looked at the business gain before they get on the plane to Lusaka! So why should they come and ask for incentives? Or make requests which have no business logic! This is the disaster we have to work on!!

We need to start from scratch and make an investment worth while. No need to have investors for the sake of being investors when the overall value addition is zero!

Translating PF Manifesto into Economic Policy

I took my time to read the PF Manifesto and see how it can be translated into Economic policy.

One think is for sure, it has good things embedded in it, but the whole 'workability' of it, needs understanding the variables concerned. A simple example: There is increased Government expenditure accompanying a reduction in taxation. To all of us, this may look an impossibility and totally not possible. You can not increase your spending while keeping your revenues constant or even reducing revenue. Impossible? Well, not when you read through and realize the logic behind the increase compared to the current levels.

Tax compliance has been Government's worst enemy. How many of us have been offered a deal in the shops in town "Do you want a receipt? or no receipt for this purchase?". You say no receipt and you pay less the tax! But that's like shooting yourself in the foot. The less you pay tax, the less money government will have and the less services and structures you will see around town. We as Zambians need to develop a culture of saying no receipt and walk out of the shop and call ZRA to come and arrest that shop owner. You will pay less yes, but you might just be paying with your life as the same tax would have been used to buy medicines and repair hospitals you will need. How can we expect government to finance its operations when we spend all our time dodging paying taxes?

So if compliance levels in tax payments are increased, more revenues will reach the treasury and more can be done. With the levels of compliance right now, we need to find ways that people will start paying taxes and receive more. But I should mention that, past trends of paying taxes and government officials wasting tax payer's money has led to this behavior. We need to find ways that we can make people understand that taxes are what makes the economy and government move.

We can only expect a reduction in Pay As You Earn (PAYE), if Value Added Tax (VAT) performs well and government can finance its operations. The failure of the other taxes, the more you pay through PAYE. So imagine you getting your "no receipt" deal in Kamwala shopping area, but having to pay more in PAYE. Who has been fooled? The government will have to find a way to finance its operations or reduce the services it provides for you.

Simple consumption taxes like VAT seem useless to be paid, but they mean a lot in terms of your PAYE going up or down. So the less taxes you pay, will actually mean the more taxes you will pay! Funny but that's how the system will work!

So with this perspective of increasing compliance on the pay of us tax payers, and just the fact that the Manifesto has only seen a problem in terms of numbers on revenue and expenditure, can the Manifesto be translated into Economic policy and Economic vehicle for Zambia?

We also need to look at the impact of reducing cabinet as a means of reducing expenditure on the part of government. If the expenditure has been reduced through merging of Ministries, we just need the numbers to how much has been saved from such a move. For sure there is logic in merging Education with Science and Technology, but will this, apart from one or two posts of permamnent secretary and Minister and his deputy, result in major reduction in expenditure? If it will, then we have half solved the problem (bearing in mind of the numbers!). There is less expenditure which is wasted and can now be pushed into 15 bags of fertilizer and not 5! Such perspective surely will need serious compliance levels for tax payers. There has to be a way that we can make people pay what they should - the way the Chinese companies increased workers' salaries by simply following the law of the land.

Can such reaction be expected from traders? Or do we need to send ZRA the way it operated the time VAT was introduced? If so, we need to start now as mind you, 90 days have dropped to a lesser figure already!