President Hakainde Hichilema delivered his 4th and final press briefing for the year 2022 with great confidence of his administration’s ability to deliver on many of his party’s campaign promises. While in less than two weeks the UPND administration will begin implementing it’s second national budget, the administration has only been in charge of Zambia’s social economic affairs for about 16 months.
The UPND administration made several mistakes in it’s first national budget and policy implementation for the year 2022 as expected teething challenges.
Among the most prominent teething challenges are the management of CDF and agricultural input distributions. If the UPND administration has learned lessons it most likely that in it’s 2023 budget and policy implementation the inefficiencies experienced will be streamlined.
FUNDAMENTALS THAT MIGHT AID THE UPND ADMINISTRATION
- Financial resources prudence – timely budget finance releases.
The UPND administration has been very discplined in adhering to the budget by ensuring government ministries and departments are financed. As a matter of fact the UPND administration has performed better than both the MMD administrations of Presidents Frederick Chiluba and Rupiah Banda and PF administrations of Michael Chilufya Sata and Edgar Lungu, on budget resources management. So far the UPND administration is trailing the Mwanawasa administration on national budget utilization integrity. - Energy sector
The UPND administration will ride on the Patriotic Front investment works in the energy sector and as the rules of politics the incumbent takes the credit on the emerging results of previously sown policies by past administrations. - Should the UPND administration streamline it’s agricultural policy direction during the 2023 crop marketing and the 2023- 2024 planting seasons, many economic subsectors that rely on agricultural inputs will be boosted. This will lead to increased employment opportunities for the people.
A caution to President Hakainde Hichilema
- President Hakainde Hichilema must reduce on self praise but focus on promise delivery. The people will surely praise him once his administration’s policies begin to bear fruit and trickle down.
- Politically HH has made blunders by publicly talking unnecessarily , too many policy pronouncements which are not respected or followed and or adhered to by implementing officers, including his cabinet Ministers.
- President Hakainde Hichilema should stop all negative talks on the Patriotic Front. He is now fully in charge of Zambia’s social economic affairs, the blame game should have been done by the end of his administration’s first year in office.
Francis Chipili
Business and Political Analyst
