By Hlatswayo Cele

The leader of the opposition Party PF whose appeal is among the urban class poor: the jobless, the illiterate, the Kaponyas – a class comprising the call boys, small item traders, short term hired hands and essentially all the desperate in and around the urban city centres scrounging for basic food, shelter and livelihood.

Sata presents to this group, in a convincing language, their very hopes and expectations, promising uplifted lives and a better living standard now, not tomorrow, if given a chance to rule. His coined campaign statement in the last elections was ‘more money in the pocket’. It is hardly surprising the kind of frenzy and euphoria such a phrase brought about amongst them.

Among the many outrageous statements he made, the one he promised the development of Power Stations in every Province within 90 days into office, was one of the funniest and cynical. But as you would expect from the desperation of his group, they swallowed the tosh with elated approval.

By the kind of open lies and cheap rhetoric, one is shocked to see how many actually fall under his spell to vote for him. But the numbers do not in any way mean that the policies presented are economically viable. Rather the numbers are telling on the growing effects of poverty in the country. The number of people voting for him is simply an indication of the growing number of the poor and not the feasibility of his policies.

The worst scenario for Zambia economic direction is to have such a one as Sata rise to leadership. His populist ideas have not a vestige of proof of implementation anywhere in the world least in Zambia but are simply hullabaloos to hoodwink the desperate poor, the very kind of politics found in some West African countries, to enable him fulfil his objective – power.

Sata’s populist idea condemning Chinese investment and promising to chase them away is enough to spell doom for the country once he is given chance to leadership.

Currently all signs are that Zambia is heading in the right direction economically and given just enough time of this direction, tangible benefit will be evident for all to see. Therefore, Sata’s political machine is a dark cloud promising to erase all gains achieved thus far. And what a drawback it would be.

To dress Sata’s ideas in ideological sense, they represent a kind of Socialist/Communist model of economy where state ownership is the chief cornerstone of development. One cannot miss the persistent reference to the ‘old good days’ of ZCCM from his philosophy. It is therefore not difficult to tell that he would not hesitate to re-nationalize private enterprise in Zambia. The writing on the wall is clear to read. Anyone who has correctly read PF’s statements will not fail to see this.

At a time when the major world economies have/are moving away from socialism, one wonders why Zambia alone should drift back into the bygones – that is what she will be doing if Sata was ever voted into power.

Clearly among PF, Democracy has a variant meaning suiting specific agendas and this was always the case in communist nations. Dissenting views are crushed with impudence in socialist/communist establishment and by practice clearly Sata does/will not allow criticism or any opposition by his very nature.

That is why it is most difficult to understand how a private media known for its critical role on government would yet abrogate its principles of free speech by openly backing a Party that is well known for its socialist/communist tendencies.

Such is the paradox that we have, democracy at the crossroads threatened by those that have an avowed determination to extinguish all and any resemblance of it, along with private enterprise using cheap propaganda aimed at the desperate poor.

Will Zambia again elude the fetters that Sata promises? Come elections in 2011 this question will be answered and hopefully by God’s grace yet again Zambia will hold true to its freedom charter.

Sir, My contribution was not meant to demean you in any way at all and it is not based on political affiliations either-rather; I am merely trying to understand where you are coming from so I can, may be, someday change my perception of what I have always thought was DEVELOPMENT. Mind you, you are not alone who think like wise in Zambia-many I have interacted with; do share the same views as yours. And I am sure you agree this has nothing to do with whether one has travelled to South Africa, America or even Heaven. So, since you seem to have travelled worldwide, next time you are in the USA please visit the American Oil Chemists Society Library or even the National Library in DC. Check for “Thin film dialysis for Aerospace use” and see who worked on that now PATENTED industrial use innovative project. You will be amazed at what some Zambian Kaponyas have achieved.

That said, lets come back to our work in progress: For example you can’t compare Johannesburg to Cairo or call it ‘mini’ New York as some have tried to do, I have always held the view that different countries have different priorities in their development policies. But to compare their development levels, you would first have to make up your mind about what development really means to you, what it is supposed to achieve. Indicators measuring this achievement could then be used to judge the countries’ relative progress in development. Is the goal merely to increase national wealth, or is it something more subtle? Improving the well-being of the majority of the population? As in Ghettos Vs Soweto? Ensuring people’s freedom? As in Sweden Vs Sudan? Increasing their economic security? As in Switzerland Vs America? In a broader sense the notion of human development incorporates all aspects of individuals’ well-being, from their health status to their economic well being. And-

If Sir, you still think that the “simple” answer to this question is something like “maximizing people’s happiness,” think of the different factors that usually make people feel happy or unhappy. Note that a number of special surveys in different countries appear to show that the average level of happiness in a country does not grow along with the Increase in average income, at least after a certain rather modest income level is achieved. At the same time, in each Country richer people usually reported slightly higher levels of happiness than poorer people, and people in countries with more equal distribution of wealth appeared to be generally happier.

It is true that economic growth, by increasing a nation’s total wealth, also enhances its potential for reducing poverty and solving other social problems. But history offers a number of examples where economic growth was not followed by similar progress inhuman development. Instead growth was achieved at the cost of greater inequality, higher unemployment, weakened democracy, loss of cultural identity, or overconsumption of natural resources needed by future generations. As the links between economic growth and social and environmental issues are better understood, experts including economists tend to agree that this kind of growth is inevitably unsustainable-that is, it cannot continue along the same lines for long. First, if environmental and social/human losses resulting from economic growth turn out to be higher than economic benefits -additional incomes earned by the majority of the population-, the overall result for people’s wellbeing becomes negative. Thus such economic growth becomes difficult to sustain politically. Second, economic growth itself inevitably depends on its natural and social/human conditions. To be sustainable, it must rely on a certain amount of natural resources and services provided by nature, such as pollution absorption and resource regeneration. Moreover, economic growth must be constantly nourished by the fruits of Human development, such as higher qualified workers capable of technological and managerial innovations along with opportunities for their efficient use: more and better jobs, better conditions for new businesses to grow, and greater democracy at all levels of decision-making Conversely, I agree with you when you refer to the likes of Professor Chirwa and so on. We need 1,000 Chirwa for every Kaponya as indeed slow human development has slowed our fast economic growth.