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The Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection (JCTR) says the concern raised by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) over Zambia’s increasing unsustainable levels of spending is timely.
JCTR Director Leonard Chiti has told Qfm in an interview that the concern the IMF has raised is a confirmation of what his organization has been suspecting.
Fr Chiti says the message from IMF is timely and sends a strong message to government to check its expenditure levels or be ready to face the consequences of its growing expenditure.
He adds that it is hoped that the message from IMF will be taken seriously by the government by changing its spending habits.
He notes that government should learn to listen to its people, and should not take international organizations to render advice for the government to listen.
He says government should begin to exercise discipline in its spending and borrowing by spending within its means.
Fr Chiti says it is pointless for government to keep spending when people cannot see the results of such expenditure.
About Leonard Chiti
Fr. Leonard Chiti is the director of the Jesuit Center for Theological Reflection and the Coordinator of the Global Ignatian Advocacy Network. He is also the Coordinator of Civil Society Constitution Coalition, Lusaka, Zambia, a member of the Board of Directors of two poverty alleviation civil society groups in Lusaka and a member of the Jesuit African Social Centers Network. He holds a master’s degree in development studies from the University of London (SOAS) and a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and theology from the Arrupe College, Harare, Zimbabwe.
Fr. Leonard’s research interests include issues in ecology, global socio-economic and political projects and formation programs for the Society of Jesus. He is a contributing columnist of the Post Newspaper, a prominent daily newspaper in Lusaka, Zambia and has presented papers on Neoliberal Economic Policies, Catholic Social Teaching and Poverty in Zambia, and The Church in Africa, 50 Years of Independence in Southern Africa.
He adds that it would make sense if government was spending towards the reduction of the high cost of living which is not the case.
The International Monetary Fund has cited Zambia and Ghana as countries whose spending has been growing at unsustainable levels.
