18th OCTOBER HOLY GHOST FIRE WONT SAVE THE KWACHA – PHIRI

By Niza Phiri

18th OCTOBER HOLY GHOST FIRE WONT SAVE THE KWACHA AND THE ECONOMY

God is not a magician, he blesses the works of our hands. The challenges we face as a nation are human , and therefore need , proper, practical, well researched human solutions. Our Kwacha is tumbling at a ridiculous rate, the worst rate since independence. Governments Explanation is simply not truthful. If the strengthening of the dollar was the main issue, why is our kwacha droping massively even against other african currencies like the pula and rand. The pound is also taking kwacha for the run of its life. So how is this a Global problem when it mainly affects Zambia? Bloomberg ranked the kwacha the worst performing currency in the world. We are getting it wrong somewhere.

A4 2.5 litre cooking oil container is K45 ,a loaf of bread is K7.5, a 10kg bag of mealie is k40. The ratio of kwacha to the dollar has been halved entailing that the value of our currency is about half of what it was. If someone is getting a k4000 kwacha , it has the same value as getting k2000 at the beginning of the year. It is unacceptable to continue down this slide. Life is becoming very expensive. A fuel hike is eminent , and with that , further hikes in commodity prices, and the only solution for our government is prayer and fasting. It raises red flags. I have no qualms about seeking devine intervention, But : Even though i am not the most religious individual, i feel the 18th October prayer and fasting is a being used as an escape, and a campaign gimmick in a highly religious country like this one. It is indeed a mockery of the christian faith. The bible has many citations of situations that entail that God has blessed us enough to grant us a brain, we must therefore use our brains to find solutions

1.Government must define the cause of the problem.

Load-shedding, over dependance on copper, speculation and rumors, poor investor climate.

2. A proper day for seasoned experts to lecture our leaders on the causes of this economic strife

3. Temporal and semi temporal fixes.

Importation of energy for domestic and industrial consumption until the situation normalises. With normalisation of power, the investor trust will be easier and build again through dialogue.

4. Long term solutions.

Diversification of the economy centred around inter Africa agriculture trad for example. A poor Man who chooses to sit at the dinner table, praying and expecting that God will drop food from the sky on his table as opposed to going out to get a job and work for the food . The man will surely die because he expects God to work like a magician. We can pray and fast all day and night from first october until we can move our lips no more ,and nothing will change. As a nation , and as the government especially, there is need for seriousness in dealing with critical issues of national importance.

We implore the PF GOVERNMENT to take heed and fix these problems. But breathing Holy Ghost fire will not scare the kwacha into single digits. We need a conference to table this issue of utmost importance, and the clergy can then bless the works of our seasoned experts, because wherever you Go in this great beloved nation. Every single individual is filing the pinch of this bitting economy.

Niza Phiri (munali aspirant)