Recently I was walking on Cairo Road, collecting signatures on the petition for the cancelling of Zambia’s external debt. This "Jubilee 2000" petition is part of an international debt campaign and its message is fairly straight-forward. Because of the tremendous suffering caused by the diversion of our scarce resources into debt servicing, and because the lenders have been as responsible (if not more so!) for our Zambian debt of almost US$ 7 billion, we demand that this debt be cancelled as we enter the year 2000. Give Zambia a fresh start!

Most people, hearing about the campaign and knowing of the terrible effects of debt on social services like education and health care and on productive efforts like agriculture and infrastructure, are more than eager to sign the petition. They feel happy to join in a campaign for getting effective and equitable debt relief for Zambia right now.

But some people that I approached, with my pen and petition in hand, backed off and said to me: "No way, I can’t sign that petition! I won’t sign it!" Why not? Why this aversion to doing something so small that might bring results so great?

Here are some of the challenges I received, and some of the response that I think the Jubilee 2000-Zambia campaign must be making as we aim to gather more signatures in our campaign.

1. "I won’t sign the petition because the Government is stealing money!" Well, it is clear that corruption is indeed a big issue in Zambia today. Unless our government is more transparent on things like the Presidential Discretionary Fund, nobody is going to believe all those big figures about how much we owe and how much we actually are paying back each year. Why is government so reluctant to tell the citizens more openly how it gets money and how it spends it?

2. "I won't sign the petition because I don’t trust the government anymore!" This is very much like the first objection, but it brings in more things than corruption. Trust is built up over the years by a good record of honesty and fulfilling one’s word. But so many citizens have heard again and again: "The full and detailed report (e.g., of Gabon, fires, shootings, bombings, etc., etc.) will certainly be released as soon as possible." But we never hear anything more about it! So how can we trust people who don’t keep their solemn word about such major issues? Will they really handle the debt cancellation in a trustworthy manner?

3. "I won't sign because I believe that those who stole the money should pay it back!" Well, that might be right, but as of now those who are paying it back are me and you, ordinary Zambian citizens who didn't steal anything like US$ 7 billion from the donors! We are the ones who are going without drugs in the hospitals or books in the schools or decent roads because our kwacha are going out in debt servicing. And in fact most of the money that was lent didn't get stolen but got put into roads, railroads, hospitals, schools, and new industries.

4. "I won’t sign the petition because if the debt is cancelled it will just bring laziness to the government and to the Zambian people.´ That might be a danger – we’re always tempted to slack off on the job if there isn’t strong pressure put on us. But on the other hand, if we can see that cancellation will give us a fresh start, a new chance, it could really energise us to get on with the important work that we need to do to get this country moving again. Many of us are not so much lazy as discouraged. Give us some fresh hope, and we’ll get going!

5. "I won’t sign the petition until I can see how the money that is freed up will be spent to really help the poor!" This is a very common question raised – will debt relief go toward buying more Mercedes for the ministers or more books for the school children? That’s why the Jubilee 2000-Zambia campaign is arguing for a "debt mechanism" that oversees debt negotiations and poverty reduction in a fair and transparent fashion. Such a "debt mechanism" – already in place in Uganda – would include representatives from civil society, Parliament, and the various Ministries of government. Give us that approach in Zambia and debt relief can really be effective!

6. "I won't sign the petition because if our debts are cancelled then we’ll never get another loan!" A truly good fear is the cause of this complaint. Who will give new loans to people who don’t pay back old loans? Again, we must realise that debt cancellation, if managed in an open and effective way, will lead to making Zambia more trustworthy, more credible, more capable to use new funds in a proper way to develop the country. Then we will be in a much better position to get new loans.

7. "I won’t sign the petition because there is a hidden motive behind it – devil worship, 666, end-of-the-world, etc., etc.!" Now this objection is amazing and really hard to understand! Some people of some religious groups feel that because the big churches are endorsing Jubilee 2000, then it is a massive plot to kill off all those who don’t belong to these big churches. But Jubilee 2000 is not only a church movement, it is a much wider movement involving trade unions, student groups, women’s groups, NGOs and professional organisations, etc., etc. To link up the Jubilee petition to worries about 666 and other ideas is like linking BP adverts on television to cholera or linking eating nsima to the genocide in Rwanda! What? That’s right, there is absolutely no link whatsoever!

So the next time I’m on Cairo Road asking you to sign up on the Jubilee petition for cancellation of Zambia's debt, if you have one of these many objections, then here are the answers. Now, you surely can't say to me: "I won't sign!" Please do sign! Free Zambia from debt as we move into the next millennium!

March 1999
George Show Makaha is an assistant with the CCJP/JCTR Debt Project.