By MILDRED KATONGO –
SPECIAL Assistant to the President for project implementation and monitoring Lucky Mulusa has attributed the poor performance of the Kwacha to lack of proper coordination among Government departments.
Mr Mulusa said some departments are sourcing foreign exchange from the open market instead of the central bank.
“This tends to cause shocks to the economy because usually the amounts siphoned out of the economy for the procurement of, for instance, fuel is huge,” he said.
Mr Mulusa was speaking when he addressed diplomatic staff at the Zambian High Commission in Pretoria, South Africa.
He noted that road contracts which were in the hands of Chinese companies had also contributed to the shortage of foreign exchange in the country as most of the money paid to them was taken out of the country.
Mr Mulusa is in South Africa to learn how Johannesburg has modeled some of its ministries pertaining to national planning and evaluation.
This is riding on President Edgar Lungu’s proposal to create and split some ministries.
Mr Mulusa noted that President Lungu had tackled the issue of the poor performance of the local currency by announcing measures that would broaden sources of foreign exchange.
One of the ways in which this was being addressed was by implementing road projects in a sequence that would allow focus on those that would economically contribute to the country.
“When the President says we need to think smart, he means we need to start choosing projects that have economic benefit above those with a social contribution to the nation. It is those with economic contribution that will eventually enable us meet social needs,” he said.
Mr Mulusa said he was happy that the mission in Pretoria was focusing more on economic diplomacy which he noted was critical to the country in order to spur development.
Zambia’s High Commissioner to South Africa, Emmanuel Mwamba said the Mission was focused on forging closer links with South African businesses as the bulk of investment in Zambia was from Africa’s economic power house.
