By Fr. Lawrence Mondoka, OFMConv
The causes of poverty in the continent of Africa and in particular in Zambia are many and complex. They are so inter-linked that it is often hard to tell what the cause is and what the effect is.[1] Zambia is not different from other African countries; poverty is part of human existence. Poverty is visible among the poor families especially in rural areas and some parts of urban cities. They lack access to education, good health services, job opportunities, social services, basic needs and so forth.
The causes of poverty are too numerous to be identified, but they can be categorised into two groups (a) internal factors and (b) external factors. With the political will and the ability to plan well, the country is able to control internal factors. Instead, external factors are shocks or surprises; there are the natural disasters such as droughts, earthquakes, and decline in trade. In fact, internal factors include cultural factors, the failure of structural adjustment programmes to generate the desired economic growth, high inequality among the citizens, over dependence of the economy on copper and the pandemic diseases such as HIV/AIDS.
We have identified the following as the major causes of poverty in the country: poor governance, corruption and poor management, droughts and poor policies in agriculture, privatization and unemployment, diseases, debt burden. There are other minor causes of poverty in Zambia. Our focus is to present the major causes of poverty, and recommend some measures that can help to reduce it. However, the Government and other stakeholders must work together in order to fight it efficiently.
The poor system of governance, corruption and poor management contribute immensely to poverty levels. Good governance is a key to the economic development of any country. It is impossible to manage the country’s resources amicably without good planning and political will. The policies of the first Government under United Nation Independent Party were centred on empowering the people, but were over-dependent on the copper industry. The collapse of the copper industry translated into lack of sustainability. The first Government in Zambia under the leadership of the first Republican President Dr Kenneth Kaunda rule the country for 27 years, from 1964 to 1991.[2] It was one party system of participatory Government. Therefore, it was a diplomatic dictatorship type of Government.
In the last years of UNIP’S rule, Zambia experienced a lot of scarcely in basic and essentials needs. The prices of the commodities such as food, health services, fuel, and education were expensive. In fact, life became costly for the common citizens countrywide. Hence, people were eager to change the Government. This facilitated the popular wind of change due to the poor governance. The majority of people wanted new ideas and new leadership.
The Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) was born under the leadership of Fredrick Titus Jacob Chiluba. The Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) ruled Zambia from 1991 to 2011 under the leadership of three different Presidents: Fredrick Titus Jacob Chiluba 1991-2001, Levy Patrick Mwanawasa 2001-2008 and Rupiah Banda 2008-2011. The Movement for Multiparty Democracy Government (MMD) focused on reviving the economy, and empowering public and private sectors. The primary aim of this Government was to restore macro-economic stability and growth. During this period, a favourable economic environment had been achieved. However, the economic growth did not trickle down to the citizens. Poverty levels is still high especially in rural areas and in urban compounds.
The Patriotic Front (PF) Government took over the leadership of running the affairs of the country in 2011 until now (2021). The country has seen massive infrastructure developments in the areas of road network, health, education, tourism and skills trainings. It is during the PF Government that poverty levels have reduced from 60.5 percent to 54.4 percent. This reduction has not trickled down to the majority of the Zambians particularly in rural areas and urban poor families in the compounds.[3] The poor are still leaving in abject poverty with no hopes for the bright future.
Good governance is a key factor to manage well the resources of the country, and to recognize human rights. Poverty is not only lack of access to income generating factors like employment, entitlement or other means that determine consumption. It is also exclusion from participation in institutions and processes that govern one’s life, leading to voiceless and powerless in these processes of institutions[4] When there is poor governance, people are deprived of their active participation in decision-making.
Poverty manifests itself in low educational opportunities, inadequate access to social services and resources, and lack of freedom to exercise choice and participation in national development. Governance, on the other hand, refers to the processes by which society manages its economic, social, political resources and institutions, not only for the country’s development but also for cohesion, integration, and well-being of its people. Zambia needs good leaders with the heart for the people and altruism.
Corruption in government and lack of proper measures to monitor public resources are also major causes of poverty. The fact is that some Zambian politicians were and are still selfish. They were motivated by their self-interests and enriching themselves at the expense of serving the people. These selfish politicians mismanaged public resources through corruption and other dubious means.[5] Even within the limited resources, poverty reduction may not get its due share with wrong prioritization, misdirection of resources, and lack of transparency in the distributions and utilizations.
This clearly shows that the Zambian Government lacks prioritization towards poverty reduction. For instance, while agriculture is believed to have high potential for poverty reduction, it does not get adequate resources or attention. Farmers in most cases do not receive agricultural in-puts on time, and the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) does not pay them on time. Good governance is one of the most important keys in poverty eradication. There is transparency and accountability from the leaders. There is political will and positive strategies that aim at reducing poverty countrywide.
Poverty situation in the country is aggravated by the huge external debt that the country has to pay. Zambia is a prime example of an African State that ran a huge debt. Over the years, debt sector service has on average, accounted for 10 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) that is primarily used to gauge the health of a country’s economy. The social sectors together have accounted for only 5 percent. The external debt services has become a great challenge for the Zambian Government.
The recent data indicate that, in 2010, the external debt was at US $6.3 billion. In the past five years, the Zambian Government has been paying at least US $150 million per year. Massive external debt deprives the citizens to benefit from the country’s natural resources. It deprives the citizens to receive acceptable essential social services from the Government. The payment of the huge external debt prevented Government from providing social services to its citizens. The payment of the external debt has become a barrier to the provision of educational facilities and good health care services, as well as to poverty eradication.[6] The Government should formulate good borrowing policies that aim at injecting money to the projects that benefit the majority of the citizens especially the youths and the women.
External debt in Zambia is high at US $11.2 billion in 2020. This has put pressure on the PF Government to come up with some austerity measures to mitigate the situation. This means that the debt service seems to be given priority over social sector payments. It implies that with such huge debt servicing has meant draining away the much-needed resources for social services and general development.
The outbreak of diseases contribute to poverty levels in the country. It is difficult to combat some of the pandemic diseases especially in rural areas due to non-adequate quality health facilities. The common diseases include malaria, cholera, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and Covid-19. In fact, for a long time malaria has been the top killer disease accounting for over 16 percent of deaths, especially in rural areas and the children. There are advanced medicines that cure malaria within few days. What is needed is to avail those medicines to the patients at the quickest possible way.
The nation faces a big challenge of HIV/AIDS. Zambia is one of those countries in Sub-Sahara Africa affected with the disease. It is estimated that 12 percent of the population is believed to be infected and a good proportion of the population has been affected. HIV/AIDS has caused a lot of burden because of high medical expenses. In some situations, a surviving widow or even children may be forced into doing illegal activities such as prostitution, drug trafficking in order to support their families.[7]
This pandemic is undercutting every development initiative in the country and reversing years of hard-won gains. HIV/AIDS often times kills the breadwinners in the families, which worsen the levels of poverty. It has contributed to the increase number of dependants such as widows, orphans and the street kids. Henriot affirms:
The social and economic consequences of the spreading pandemic have been well documented and are experienced every day in families, schools, churches, businesses, industries, agriculture etc. Every family has been deeply touched by the many premature deaths; every social activity has been profoundly shaken by the numerous occurrences of funerals, which in Zambia have major social demands and economic consequences. It has been estimated that 12 percent of the Zambian population is affected with HIV/AIDS.[8]
Other factors responsible for the declining conditions for the majority of the citizens include declining in terms of trade and drought. These two factors are externally determined, making it difficult to control. The prices are not stable and rainfall patterns are unpredictable each rainfall season.
The country has been experiencing drought year in and year out. It becomes difficult to have bumper harvest especially maize the stable food. The country has witnessed major droughts in the recent seasons 2012/13 and 2013/14. The seasons of 2014/15 and 2015/16 were also beset with poor rainfall patterns of alternating dry spells and flooding. The season of 2017/18 and 2018/19 has also experienced drought spells.[9] Floods and droughts largely affect the economic development and the growth of the country in different sectors, and in various ways.
Drought spells and floods have impact upon water resources, natural vegetation, fisheries, wildlife, and soil erosion. The power utility, Zambia Electricity Supply Corporation (ZESCO) has implemented countrywide load-shedding programme for 4 hours per day. This is because of low water levels at Kafue Hydro-Power Station, the major source of electricity. The power cut has negatively affected businesses and economic development. The poor in rural areas and in some urban cities have no food; are surviving on the relief food from the Government, Churches and NGOS.
The crisis in agriculture is another contributing factor to high poverty levels. Agriculture is believed to be the second economic dependency by the Zambians after the copper industry especially in rural areas. The agricultural sector in the country has greatly suffered with minimal funds. The Zambian Government has not prioritized agriculture in the national budget.[10] The sector does not receive enough funds to empower and motivate the farmers. Agriculture sector has potential to contribute to the economic growth and to alleviate poverty.
The Food Reserve Agency, which is one of the Government agencies, does not pay the farmers on time. This agency is responsible for buying the maize and other crops from the farmers. There is too much dependence on the copper industry than on agriculture. Most of the farmers are retired people with no strength to manage their farms. This causes low level of food production, crops and this increases food insecurity in the various communities and the country at large.
The effects of climate change on agricultural production has been cumulatively. The fact is that external shocks like droughts and floods lead to the collapse of livelihood systems that are already weak because of greedy, poor management and implementations. Good management, monitoring and the implementation of the policies will improve agriculture sector that would increase food production and poverty reduction.
The policy of privatization has also worsened poverty levels. Some parastatal companies and the mines had been sold to the foreign investors. These investors are only interested in making profit. While other mines are not in operational or have been shut down. However, due to privatization, Zambian’s economy has grown, mainly in urban cities, and particularly in the constructions of roads and infrastructure, tourism, trade and market, transport, mining industry.[11] However, this growth has not happened in agriculture sector.
The economic growth experienced in the last decade has not translated into significant reductions of poverty and improved living standard of some citizens. The rate of unemployment is still high, especially among the youths. It is estimated that unemployment rate is still at 7.8 percent since 2010. It has created more insecurity and anxiety on the parents and the guardians.
Parents find it difficult to provide and meet the daily essential and basic needs of their children. The burden is minimal because the Government has reduced school fees for public secondary schools and colleges. All day-scholars are paying K200.00 equivalent to €20.00 per term in secondary schools while boarders are paying K1, 200.00 equivalent to €120.00 per term. In colleges, day-scholars are paying K500.00 equivalent to €50.00 per term while boarders are paying K1, 500.00 equivalent to €150.00 per term.
This Government’s initiative will assist many children to have access to quality education. The children will have equal opportunities to acquire knowledge even those from the poorest families. It will enable the children to obtain economic prowess and be prepared for their future endeavours. The Zambian Government should ensure that poverty is alleviated so that people would have a dignified life. Poverty is always bad because it violates the dignity of human beings. In the Bible, God favours the poor, the widows, orphans, women and children.[12] Poverty is not merely a social issue, but rather a fundamental human issue, which affects the human person in totality. It must be eradicated to improve the living standard of the people.
[1] g. kinoki, Vision for a Bright Africa: Facing Challenges for Development, P. Kimuyu (ed.), Kampala, IFES 1997, 41.
[2] r. nawila, Gender, Sexuality and Power: Poverty Reduction in Zambia, Kitwe, Copper-belt Univeristy Press 2013, 90.
[3] mukosa, Factors Hindering Retention, 20.
[4] ministry of finance and national planning, Zambia Poverty Reduction Strategic Paper 2002-2004, Lusaka, Government Printers 2004, 34.
[5] t. chilekwa, Training for Transformation: A Handbook for Pastoral Workers, Ndola, Mission Press 2017, 95.
[6] zulu, The Challenges and Misfortunes, 101.
[7] s. pitamber, Republic of Zambia: Multi-Sector Country Gender Profile, African Development Bank, Lusaka 2006, 22.
[8]P. J. henriot, The Challenge of Poverty Eradication in Africa and It’s Relationship to Population and Development: The Zambian Case Study, Ndola, Mission Press 2003, 16.
[9] the editor, The Zambian Eye Newspaper, 18 May, Lusaka 2019.
[10] G. mwakikagile, Zambia: Life in an African Country, Dar-es-Salam, New Africa Press 2010, 194.
[11] k. nyimbili, State of the Nation Report on Young People in Zambia, Ndola, Mission Press 2012, 19.
[12] c. mwanza, Reading the New Testament. Methods of Interpretation, Ndola, Mission Press 2013, 174.