By Kalata News Media.
LUSAKA – An economist and former member of parliament, Highvie Hamududu, has said one of the reasons why Zambia has lagged behind in development is because the country’s National Development Plans have continued to be ignored each time there is a change of government.
Hamududu has since called for the enactment of a law that would make these national plans and visions, such as the Zambia 2030, compulsory to any political party that wins an election and takes over government. Speaking during a public forum on Debt Restructuring organised by CSO Debt Alliance and Economic Association of Zambia in Lusaka, Thursday, Hamududu said Zambians needed to ask why despite existence of parliament and oversight bodies in Zambia, the country has once again become heavily indebted.
“Every Government that has come into power has rubbished the work of the previous government from MMD with UNIP, PF with MMD and now UPND with PF. No Government has continued with the economic works of the previous government. This is because the country’s plan and national vision, the vision 2030 is not part of the law. It is just a document that everyone refers to by name but no one knows its content.”
“This has meant that the country has been doing something economically but in terms of growth and progress, the country has been moving but going nowhere.”
Hamududu identified what he termed as three elephants in the room, namely the continued appointments of ministers from within parliament which limited the quality of Ministers available to the president and which effectively makes parliament a rubber stamp of the executive. The others are the existence of national plans which are not part of the law and the effects of democracy on economic development.
Hamududu says without addressing these three elephants in the room, Zambia will never attain any of the mentions goals in the country’s national development plans.
Highvie Hamududu once served as Member of the National Assembly for Bweengwa between 2006 and 2016 on the UPND Party ticket. In May 2017 he launched his own party, the Party of National Unity and Progress (PNUP) as its president. In August 2021 during Zambia’s presidential and parliamentary elections won by President Hakainde Hichilema, Hamududu contested for presidency under PNUP.
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