090520 Diaspora Experiences Of Indaba - I Palmer Report

Report Back From the National Indaba on The Global Economic Crisis held on 4-5th April 2009 By Ing’utu Palmer, Leicestershire, UK The theme for the two day National Indaba held at Mulungushi Hall was “Global Economic Crisis, a wake up call for Zambia’s Economic Transformation”. There were about 500 delegates to the conference drawn from various policy makers, development agencies, public and private sector organisations, academia, Zambian Diaspora and other relevant stakeholders. I was one of five Zambian diaspora representatives making up a team from Australia, Canada, Japan, Namibia and the UK. First and foremost, I would like to start by thanking the President of the Republic of Zambia, Mr Rupiah Bwezani Banda and the Zambian government for giving Zambians abroad the opportunity to participate in discussions aimed at aimed at finding immediate solutions to the impact of the global crisis on Zambia’s economic growth. It was a privilege and honour for us to be given the opportunity to make a presentation on how the Zambian Diaspora could participate in Zambia’s economic development. As I sat in the plane heading home, I deliberated over the key sectors outlined as the focus of discussions in the Indaba: Agriculture, Tourism, Mining, Energy, Financial, Infrastructure development and Manufacturing, and sketched the following diagram to reflect to my thinking on how these sectors are linked. Tourism

Agricultu re

INFRASTRUC TURE

Mining

Telecommunicati on, ICT, Transport (roads, rail, air travel), Energy

Financial Manufacturi ng Over the years on several occasions I have, as I am sure many others have too, come up with ideas on different business ventures in Zambia. Each idea thought about, taken to different stages has ended up entangled with problems, mostly linked to the poor infrastructure in the areas listed in my diagram . Infrastructure sits at the heart of Zambia’s economic development and until that is sorted out, the problems faced now by the other sectors and consequent effects on GDP, unemployment levels, cost of living etc will carry on. In my opinion, the discussions and resolutions made during the conference give plenty of ground for Zambia to indeed make that economic transformation. The ©Ing’utu Palmer

13/04/2009

Report Back From the National Indaba on The Global Economic Crisis held on 4-5th April 2009 challenge now is now for government and all Zambians, to quote Ms Mizinga Melu, Standard Chartered MD in her closing remarks at the Indaba, are for us to “implement, implement, implement”. The first day saw key note speeches from the World Bank Vice President (Africa), Zambian Minister of Finance and National Planning, Principal Advisor to the UNIDO Director-General, Minister of Finance Economic Affairs from Tanzania, Director Policy and Planning from the Board of Investment Mauritius, a senior economic advisor from Malaysia and Chasaya Sichilima representing the Zambian Diaspora. A notable absentee was Dambisa Moyo, author of the book “Dead Aid” whose presence I felt ought to have there given that the propositions made in her book challenge current methods of sourcing funds to finance Zambia’s development, and present alternative methods of sourcing funds for economic growth and development. Her book however, was mentioned though by the UNIDO principal advisor, in the context of how Zambia had a multitude of highly educated and intelligent individuals spread across the globe with experience and skills which could be tapped into for benefit of Zambia. The Mauritian representative expressed similar viewpoints about how Mauritius regarded her Diaspora as human capital and looked at the benefits made from the diaspora from different levels regardless of educational qualifications and types of jobs acquired abroad. From those involved in manual jobs to those in medium or even high powered jobs, it was acknowledged that benefits in the form of collective remittances made to the home country and skills gained by the individuals were benefit to the home country – whether or not individuals choose to return home or not. He went as far as suggesting that Mauritius actually encouraged their nationals to go abroad seeking jobs and skills! The points raised by the Mauritian representative and also by the World Bank VP prepared a perfect spring board for Chasaya to make his presentation on the role of the Zambian Diaspora. The presentation made was a summary of recommendations made following the Zambia Diaspora e-conference held in October 2008 based on the thematic deliberations – human capital, commercial investment, land and housing, culture and identity. The presentation was well received I felt although the main area of interest from delegates seemed to be the issue of dual nationality which were presented under the culture and identity theme. Again the overall impression I got about support for dual nationality was positive with several individuals coming up to us to voice their support. The battle for dual nationality is not over yet, and will be decided in May when MP’s vote whether or not to adopt the proposal made by the NCC to adopt the dual nationality clause. It is imperative for us to press on with the lobbying and campaigning between now and May to ensure that the submission is accepted by parliament. The opportunity we have been presented with has never been so good and it is now up to us to deliver and continue supporting and participating in Zambia’s growth and development. Day two was organised in such a way which allowed delegates to select one on the seven key sectors, to participate in group discussions aimed at coming up

©Ing’utu Palmer

13/04/2009

Report Back From the National Indaba on The Global Economic Crisis held on 4-5th April 2009 with proposed solutions for reformation in that sector. The afternoon saw each thematic group presenting proposals for economic reformation in that particular sector. Each presentation was followed by open floor discussions from delegates before the sector proposals were agreed for adoption. It was interesting to hear calls made in my thematic group (infrastructure development) for the starting point in discussions to be made by revisiting resolutions made in the previous Indaba of 2003. The rationale behind these suggestions was that we needed to see what progress had been made and also avoid discussing things which had already been discussed particularly if no progress had been made on the last resolutions! It seemed like a reasonable suggestion to me, but unfortunately was rejected to avoid disrupting the set agenda which was constricted by time. At the end of the conference, I was left thinking how useful it would have been for the conference organisers to have given out feedback forms to all delegates with the view to improving the organisation of any future Indaba’s. Alas – no feedback forms were to be seen. To end on a positive note, I felt the Indaba discussions and proposals for economic reforms were impressive and now require the implementation factor to make the whole event a resounding success. Memorable quotes I was inspired by during the conference: “To kick start the economic reformation process, Zambia needs to imagine a Zambia without copper” – World Bank Vice President (Africa), Mrs Obaiageli Kathryn Ezekweili “I want us to end this conference thinking of three words – implementation, implementation, implementation” – Standard Chartered Bank, MD, Ms Mizinga Melu “ Zambia needs to avoid being a member of NATO (No Action Talk Only)” - Mr Jegathesan Jegasothydato aka J.J , Experience from Malaysia representative

©Ing’utu Palmer

13/04/2009