"Total Debt Cancellation for Poverty Reduction"

Thursday, June 9, 2005

JUBILEE-ZAMBIA NATIONAL CONFERENCE
“BEYOND THE HIPC COMPLETION POINT – WHICH WAY FORWARD FOR JUBILEE – ZAMBIA”
MULUNGUSHI INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE CENTRE

VOTE OF THANKS

ENTRY POINT – THANKS!

Jubilee-Zambia appreciates the opportunities of engagement that the Government of Zambia, through the Ministry of Finance – Departments of Debt and Investment, Technical Cooperation, Budget and Planning have given to us since we started campaigning for debt cancellation in Zambia.  It is for this reason that we are always confident to call upon the Ministry to share and exchange views on issues of debt and development.  For this important conference, we have:

  • Teams present in Western, Southern, Northern and Copperbelt provinces
  • Teams mobilise local communities in the campaign
  • Efforts by the teams to engage national leaders
  • Will be grateful if Monze can make a concrete arrangement with the Minister before he leaves

CONCERNS – ACT TO CHANGE!

1.  Government and CSO Relations – Need Strengthening

Government and donor relations are better than government-CSO relations.  Therefore, there is an urgent need to strengthen government and CSO relation on issues of debt, poverty and policy in the following ways:

·         Timely provision and accessibility to information on these issues.  Local communities and civil society must be provided with adequate information on these issues in order for them to effectively monitor and evaluate the externally financed programmes, poverty reduction programmes and development efforts of the country.  This is key for true partnership and good Government and CSO engagements.  It also promotes ownership of national development processes

·         Institutionalisation of CSO participation in national development processes such as monitoring and evaluation systems on the utilisation of borrowed resources and poverty reduction programmes.   We must seriously look at the benefits of re-instituting the disbanded independent HIPC Expenditure Monitoring Team be re-instituted and enhancing the work of budget tracking and poverty monitoring groups.  This is cardinal in building democracy and promoting good governance.

2.     Government Position on Poverty – Implement concrete and Long-term Strategy

Need for a clear and concrete national position on poverty in Zambia and strategies of overcoming this problem.  We must commit ourselves to fight this problem by courageously confronting the following issues:

  • Zambia is a rich country – well endowed with abundant natural and human resources but the Zambian people are poor – There is no need for “conflicting” or “relative” descriptions of this problem.  Much more time must be spent in implementing a good deal of already identified good strategies of poverty reduction – Let us take the first few correct steps and let the future generations build on them
  • Though fatigued with various acronyms, we are aware of the “new” 5th NDP process going on – However, as CSO, we are concerned with the style of how this NDP is being formulated, linked to the PRSP and still dazed as to how as civil society we can effectively participate – we do not want to rubber stump the document but willing to work with Government in a meaningful and systematic manner – aimed at dealing with the real issues at hand in terms of development
  • Our main fear is that Zambia is slowly but surely falling into the trap of overlooking the poverty crisis by hiding behind “economic growth” is the answer.  Therefore, we need good, clear and concrete policies on how we can appropriately marry economic growth desires, poverty reduction ambitions and good governance goals to develop Zambia – none of these is the only solution!

3. Good Governance – The current pace is slow and non-committal

We must work hard and ensure that Zambia’s governance standards improve in all aspects – economic, financial, political, social and culture

  • Good governance promotes people’s access to quality information on national matters such as access to quality education, health care and other basic necessities of life.
  • We therefore support a genuine fight against all forms of corruption, misuse of public and debt relief resources

In conclusion, we are concerned about the sustainability of Zambia’s debt situation and its impact on the country’s sustainable development!

Thank you

Presented by Saul Banda, Jr
Coordinator for Provincial Outreach Programme on behalf of the Provincial teams
National Conference