I would like to wish a happy new year to all those that followed my blog last year. A year new always inspires us to reach new heights in our personal lives as well as in our careers. New year resolutions range from losing weight, getting a promotion at work or getting a higher profit for those who run businesses. The national resolutions are mainly expressed in form of the national budgets. The national budget outlines the main development benchmarks and priorities that a sitting government have planned for their citizenery. In Zambia the national budget was presented in the last quarter of 2011 following the formation of a new government that ushered in the Patriotic Front (PF) for the first time as a ruling party.
The national budget presented to parliament by the Ministry of Finance and National Planning has been lauded by various quarters in Zambia as pro-poor. The outcome of the 20th September, 2011 General elections in Zambia clearly indicated that voters were keen to put into power a government that would better their lot. Zambia, classed as a middle income country by the World Bank in 2011, has some of the poorest people in the world especially in rural areas where poverty levels are above 65%. Urban poverty is also extremely high especially in high density areas. Youth unemployment is a huge problem with many young people that have finished college and Universtity education finding it impossible to get formal employment. There are also high levels of casualisation with many people earning very low incomes and working under poor conditions of service. These problems were top of the campaign agenda of the PF who campaigned on the slogan of 'More Money in your Pocket'. Many Zambians were therefore very keen to see how the PF campaign slogan has been translated into fiscal policy through the national budget.
The 2012 budget execution started on January 1, 2012. Some tax measures such as income tax which are expected to bring relief to workers in the lower income brackets are however not expected to come into force until 1st April. In this year's budget the income tax threshhold has been adjusted upwards from one million Zambian Kwacha to two Million Kwacha. This will definitely provide some tax relief especially to some civil servants in the teaching and health professions who are lowly paid. However, more is required in terms of improving incomes for some workers in the private sector working for foreign firms most of whom are not unionised and are poorly paid. In the wake of the PF taking over government there have been many work stoppages related to poor conditions of services in many private firms. This is an indication that more needs to be done in terms of labour laws to protect the rights of Zambian workers.
This new year therefore holds a lot of promise for many Zambians as they look forward to efficient execution of the 2012 budget by the PF government. This government has a lot of responsibility to see that the hope that they raised during the 2011 campaign is not quenched. There is need to put in place policies that promote employment creation especially for young people. The pronouncements by the PF government to increase the retirement age from 55 years to 65 years dampened the hopes of many young people. The government argues that increasing the retirement age will enable some public office workers that still have energy to serve to stay in office without being employed on contract basis. This is good in the short term. However, in the long term it will prevent civil servants to leave employment at an 'energetic age' when they still have the ability to set up private entreprises that can create employment. Retiring at 65 means that most people will not be able to invest their employment benefits in ventures that are productive. It will also mean that there will be limited vacancies in the civil service at any given time to allow new office bearers to be employed. The upward adjustment of the retiring age has not yet been passed into law and has received a lot of negative criticism from young people and some civil servants.
The new year holds a lot of hope for Zambia. Most people are looking forward to a different way of governance especially with regard to the fight against corruption. In the recent past previous governments have paid lip service to the fight. It is hope that the new government will stamp out corruption especially in the areas of public procurements and awarding of public tenders. There is also hope that institutional barriers to creation of wealth will be addressed.
