ZAMBIA: Zambia’s Political Aspirants Ought to Address Debt Crisis as Campaign Agenda, JCTR Urges
Sr. Jecinter Antoinette Okoth, FSSA
The Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection (JCTR) has asked political aspirants to consider debt crisis as an imperative and a pertinent issue that needs to be addressed during campaigns that have just commenced as the country anticipates the 12th August General Elections.
“All candidates presenting themselves for election on 12th August must clearly demonstrate how they are going to address debt crisis to ensure improved social service provision throughout the country,” JCTR leadership said in statement dated May, Monday 17.
They noted that with the onset of campaigns, citizens are going to be subjected to numerous promises by various aspiring political candidates, but “it has to be acknowledged that the 2021 elections will be held against a backdrop of a huge public debt, which the country is currently owing.”
According to members of civil society organization that conduct evidence-based advocacy on political, social, and economic issues, “Zambia’s debt was estimated at US$20.46 billion as at December 2020.”
The JCTR Executive Director, Fr. Alex Muyebe has therefore made a clarion call to aspiring political leaders that during campaigns, they “must articulate economic growth programs that respond to the needs of the poor and the vulnerable and how as leaders they are going to contribute to the common good and the preservation of human dignity of every Zambian.”
The JCTR says the aspiring candidates need to “seize the opportunity offered by the campaign period to address the Zambian voters on how each political party is going to address the debt crisis and the resultant challenges the country is facing.”
They added in their Monday statement that it is not enough for the candidates to end at promising paradise to the electorates, which is “impossible in the face of the huge debt” the country owes.” Instead, the candidates must provide a convincing road map on the way forward regarding the current debt and explain how they are going to manage future debt contractions to ensure that the nation will never be caught up again in another debt crisis in the future.
The JCTR which has four programs – economic equity and development, social conditions, faith and justice, and outreach – have implored the electorate “not to be hoodwinked, but to analyse and interrogate the campaign messages to determine their practicability and viability.”
“JCTR urges the Zambian voters to critically analyse if what aspiring candidates are promising in terms of development, economic growth and job creation is realistic given the country’s current fiscal and debt challenges,” the organization’s leadership added.
They also appeal to the media “to play a vital role of informing and educating the public on various key issues including Zambia’s public debt to enhance the electorate’s capacity to challenge aspiring presidential candidates to explain how they will manage the country’s debt crisis if elected, or if re-elected on 12th August.”
“The media is very critical in building the electorate’s capacity to cast their vote based on issues and from an informed perspective,” the JCTR leadership said and added, “This is key to allowing democracy in our country come of age.”
