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Report Back From the National Indaba on The GlobalEconomic 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 “GlobalEconomic Crisis, a wake up call for Zambia’s Economic Transformation”. Therewere 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 fromAustralia, Canada, Japan, Namibia and the UK. First and foremost, I would like tostart by thanking the President of the Republic of Zambia, Mr Rupiah BwezaniBanda and the Zambian government for giving Zambians abroad the opportunityto participate in discussions aimed at aimed at finding immediate solutions tothe impact of the global crisis on Zambia’s economic growth. It was a privilegeand honour for us to be given the opportunity to make a presentation on how theZambian Diaspora could participate in Zambia’s economic development.As I sat in the plane heading home, I deliberated over the key sectors outlined asthe focus of discussions in the Indaba: Agriculture, Tourism, Mining, Energy,Financial, Infrastructure development and Manufacturing, and sketched thefollowing diagram to reflect to my thinking on how these sectors are linked.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 thoughtabout, taken to different stages has ended up entangled with problems, mostlylinked to the poor infrastructure in the areas listed in my diagram . Infrastructuresits 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 giveplenty of ground for Zambia to indeed make that economic transformation. The©Ing’utu Palmer13/04/2009
INFRASTRUCTURE
 Telecommunication, ICT, Transport(roads, rail, air
Agricultu TourismMiningFinancialManufacturi
 
Report Back From the National Indaba on The GlobalEconomic Crisis held on 4-5th April 2009
challenge now is now for government and all Zambians, to quote Ms MizingaMelu, Standard Chartered MD in her closing remarks at the Indaba, are for us to“implement, implement, implement”. The first day saw key note speeches fromthe World Bank Vice President (Africa), Zambian Minister of Finance and NationalPlanning, Principal Advisor to the UNIDO Director-General, Minister of FinanceEconomic Affairs from Tanzania, Director Policy and Planning from the Board of Investment Mauritius, a senior economic advisor from Malaysia and ChasayaSichilima representing the Zambian Diaspora.A notable absentee was Dambisa Moyo, author of the book “Dead Aid” whosepresence I felt ought to have there given that the propositions made in her bookchallenge current methods of sourcing funds to finance Zambia’s development,and present alternative methods of sourcing funds for economic growth anddevelopment. Her book however, was mentioned though by the UNIDO principaladvisor, in the context of how Zambia had a multitude of highly educated andintelligent individuals spread across the globe with experience and skills whichcould be tapped into for benefit of Zambia. The Mauritian representativeexpressed similar viewpoints about how Mauritius regarded her Diaspora ashuman capital and looked at the benefits made from the diaspora from differentlevels 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 remittancesmade to the home country and skills gained by the individuals were benefit tothe home country – whether or not individuals choose to return home or not. Hewent as far as suggesting that Mauritius actually encouraged their nationals togo abroad seeking jobs and skills! The points raised by the Mauritian representative and also by the World Bank VPprepared a perfect spring board for Chasaya to make his presentation on the roleof the Zambian Diaspora. The presentation made was a summary of recommendations made following the Zambia Diaspora e-conference held inOctober 2008 based on the thematic deliberations – human capital, commercialinvestment, land and housing, culture and identity. The presentation was wellreceived I felt although the main area of interest from delegates seemed to bethe issue of dual nationality which were presented under the culture and identitytheme. Again the overall impression I got about support for dual nationality waspositive with several individuals coming up to us to voice their support. Thebattle for dual nationality is not over yet, and will be decided in May when MP’svote whether or not to adopt the proposal made by the NCC to adopt the dualnationality clause. It is imperative for us to press on with the lobbying andcampaigning between now and May to ensure that the submission is accepted byparliament. The opportunity we have been presented with has never been sogood and it is now up to us to deliver and continue supporting and participatingin Zambia’s growth and development.Day two was organised in such a way which allowed delegates to select one onthe seven key sectors, to participate in group discussions aimed at coming up©Ing’utu Palmer13/04/2009
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