President Hakainde Hichelema (or "HH" as he is called) has allowed the Zambian economy, such as it is, to collapse. If Zambia exports anything, it is probably copper and manganese (and gems). Tariffs are unlikely to hinder that market. The rest of Zambia is not producing much for export because it is primarily not even producing much for domestic consumption. These are sad times for Zambia: poverty, corruption, drought, lack of electric power, widescale alcohol consumption, huge upsurge in pedophile and sexual abuse crimes, low age of mortality. Very elegant tourist venues, puffed-up bureaucrats in crisp suits and expensive automobiles, new airport. (I remember departing from my first visit there. Ticket in hand, I ask "Can you direct me to my gate?" "Oh, the concourse is that way." "But which gate is it?" "You will see. There is only the one gate..." And I'll be damned if they had only ONE gate, for departures and arrivals. I hadn't noticed that when I had arrived. I was flabbergasted. And you had to walk across the tarmac to the plane.)
Thank you for sharing your fascinating experience, fren. Like many African sad stories - over a century of colonialism, exploitation, infightings and corruption. Wealth of minerals and land mass but they cannot get it together.
Zambia was much better off several years ago, when HH took power, but it was not because his predecessor was any good. What seems to be missing are the "Muzungu" traits of discipline and persistence. It is not that there are no Africans with that trait, or that it is hard to inculcate. But the nation, being so poor, is also poorly-educated, and even though English is mandated for all to learn and know, it is also at the level of a second language for those who prefer to speak their tribal "vernacular" to one another. The poor education leads to poor political decision making at the ballot-box, and at the party formation level. The growing discontent with the dilapidation of what was once an admirable level of civilization may make the public more interested in policies over personalities. There is also the structural problem that the government is entirely centralized: Lusaka determines everything that happens, down to the smallest village. With the result that somewhere in that spetrum, the attention span and budget gives out. Zambia may be ripe for a constitutional reform that would give them a republican federal structure, with significant administrative and legal responsibilities remanded to the provinces. It may be possible to get the tribal chieftains behind this. They actually hold final authority over the land and its uses. They have a house in the Parliament...but they are conspicuously ignored, even diminished. I suspect this does NOT sit well with the Lozi, who were promised their region (by tradition, "Barotseland") would be autonomous at the country's independence. The British left Zambia with a very good legacy in civic infrastructure, schools, hospitals, railroads, etc. But the successive governments were more interested in self-enrichment and personal power than with attentive and careful stewardship. This is the grand problem of the third world: the childish magical belief that things will not run down, or when they do, it will not happen on their watch---so they omit maintenance from their daily habits. Not everyone. Those who have automobiles are forced to deal with regular service, or their vehicles will not move. However, those who are in charge of the roads tolerate pot-holes that are the size of craters (I've seen the photos; they would swallow a Smart Car).
I have come to the conclusion that this focus among the European peoples resulted from the necessities of coping with harsh winters. "Winter" in Africa is largely a joke, and they flinch over a change of 5 degrees. Nothing like the bitter winters in Europe where the Thames and the Rhine had frozen over, and ice skates were invented. That and the need for permanence in the structures built all militated toward blacksmithing and stonecutting, and intensive farming with crop rotation. (There is a further argument to be made about long-distance sailing being another contributor to habits. Central Africa has no such tradition.) I would say the farmers of Zambia are the closest in habits to the muzungu colonists, in that they understand the need for long-range planning and the necessity of continuous attention.
The people of Zambia are not bad. They are poorly taught and badly led. It is such an example of the Biblical truism: Where there is no vision, the people perish.
President Hakainde Hichelema (or "HH" as he is called) has allowed the Zambian economy, such as it is, to collapse. If Zambia exports anything, it is probably copper and manganese (and gems). Tariffs are unlikely to hinder that market. The rest of Zambia is not producing much for export because it is primarily not even producing much for domestic consumption. These are sad times for Zambia: poverty, corruption, drought, lack of electric power, widescale alcohol consumption, huge upsurge in pedophile and sexual abuse crimes, low age of mortality. Very elegant tourist venues, puffed-up bureaucrats in crisp suits and expensive automobiles, new airport. (I remember departing from my first visit there. Ticket in hand, I ask "Can you direct me to my gate?" "Oh, the concourse is that way." "But which gate is it?" "You will see. There is only the one gate..." And I'll be damned if they had only ONE gate, for departures and arrivals. I hadn't noticed that when I had arrived. I was flabbergasted. And you had to walk across the tarmac to the plane.)
Thank you for sharing your fascinating experience, fren. Like many African sad stories - over a century of colonialism, exploitation, infightings and corruption. Wealth of minerals and land mass but they cannot get it together.
Thanks for the appreciation.
Zambia was much better off several years ago, when HH took power, but it was not because his predecessor was any good. What seems to be missing are the "Muzungu" traits of discipline and persistence. It is not that there are no Africans with that trait, or that it is hard to inculcate. But the nation, being so poor, is also poorly-educated, and even though English is mandated for all to learn and know, it is also at the level of a second language for those who prefer to speak their tribal "vernacular" to one another. The poor education leads to poor political decision making at the ballot-box, and at the party formation level. The growing discontent with the dilapidation of what was once an admirable level of civilization may make the public more interested in policies over personalities. There is also the structural problem that the government is entirely centralized: Lusaka determines everything that happens, down to the smallest village. With the result that somewhere in that spetrum, the attention span and budget gives out. Zambia may be ripe for a constitutional reform that would give them a republican federal structure, with significant administrative and legal responsibilities remanded to the provinces. It may be possible to get the tribal chieftains behind this. They actually hold final authority over the land and its uses. They have a house in the Parliament...but they are conspicuously ignored, even diminished. I suspect this does NOT sit well with the Lozi, who were promised their region (by tradition, "Barotseland") would be autonomous at the country's independence. The British left Zambia with a very good legacy in civic infrastructure, schools, hospitals, railroads, etc. But the successive governments were more interested in self-enrichment and personal power than with attentive and careful stewardship. This is the grand problem of the third world: the childish magical belief that things will not run down, or when they do, it will not happen on their watch---so they omit maintenance from their daily habits. Not everyone. Those who have automobiles are forced to deal with regular service, or their vehicles will not move. However, those who are in charge of the roads tolerate pot-holes that are the size of craters (I've seen the photos; they would swallow a Smart Car).
I have come to the conclusion that this focus among the European peoples resulted from the necessities of coping with harsh winters. "Winter" in Africa is largely a joke, and they flinch over a change of 5 degrees. Nothing like the bitter winters in Europe where the Thames and the Rhine had frozen over, and ice skates were invented. That and the need for permanence in the structures built all militated toward blacksmithing and stonecutting, and intensive farming with crop rotation. (There is a further argument to be made about long-distance sailing being another contributor to habits. Central Africa has no such tradition.) I would say the farmers of Zambia are the closest in habits to the muzungu colonists, in that they understand the need for long-range planning and the necessity of continuous attention.
The people of Zambia are not bad. They are poorly taught and badly led. It is such an example of the Biblical truism: Where there is no vision, the people perish.