ZUFIAW advises against unilateral removal of subsidies

The Zambia Union of Financial Institutions and Allied Workers (ZUFIAW) has advised against the unilateral removal of subsidies on maize, fertilizer, fuel and electricity without putting safety nets for the vulnerable as government seeks the International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout facility.

ZUFIAW President Ackim Mweemba recalls that since the 1970s when government has been engaging the IMF to ameliorate Zambia’s economic problems, the effects have been very disastrous.

Mr. Mweemba says President Edgar Lungu’s administration is destined for worse economic times, stating that the IMF through its deception and manipulation, has never stood for the development of Africa.

He says looking back to President Fredrick Chiluba’s regime in the early 90s, it was an open secret that Zambia had a maize deficit translating largely into food insecurity which was preceded by a decline in the human development index from 0.423 value position in 1985 to 0.345 in 2000 as a result of the effected widespread economic policies including the removal of subsidies.

Mr Mweemba states that as a labour movement, they demand that the PF government make sound judgment on this whole issue of IMF bailout than giving false hope to the masses on a failed project.

Mr Mweemba says the IMF is just interested in pushing poor countries like Zambia into deeper debt and poverty through its conditions.