When Kalabo Central UPND MP Chinga Miyutu cried in parliament, many focused on the passion with which he spoke. Surprised by the Energy Minister Peter Kapala’s response, who described Kalabo as a rural constituency, MP Miyutu asked the Minister to withdraw the word “rural” from his statement. It is reported that the government had no plans to construct a filling station in Miyutu’s constituency due to policy changes. Specifically, the government withdrew from financing, procuring, and constructing rural filling stations and other petroleum infrastructure. In his words, “when the word rural is used, it hurts me a bit. Because it shows disregard, the negative discrimination. Why is it that the government centers on urban areas? The urban areas have economic power; they are able to construct filling stations using the private sector. Governments are made to serve those without. We are human beings,” he said. He insisted that there was a need to treat Kalabo as a district – like any other – not as a rural area. He opined that if rural areas do not have the economic power to drive private sector investments, then it makes sense for the government to focus on those areas without economic muscle.
What Honourable Chinga brings to the fore are the ethics of development and politics that have shifted over the past two decades. It highlights long-standing issues in the country. There are reasons why many senior citizens in Zambia remember Kenneth Kaunda and UNIP. The reason is that KK and UNIP took development into their hands as a government responsibility. They believed that not everything has to fit into a cost-benefit analysis and that not everything must be driven by profitability potential. This thinking meant that regional development was balanced, if not less political. Indeed, industrial expansion and ventures were somewhat balanced, from the Bicycle plant in Chipata, car assembly in the south, battery production in the north, pineapple ventures in the northwest to textiles and glass ventures in central Zambia. Many other ventures followed this kind of logic.
However, the IMF/World Bank-sponsored neoliberal logics of the 1990s changed the culture and mentality of national states. From taking responsibilities, successive governments in Zambia have now masked their responsibilities with markets and private sector actors. The argument is that the government is never better placed to do business, and even if it were, it risked crowding out the private sector – the latter being a central feature for driving development even in the countryside. This effectively shifted key responsibilities from government institutions to private actors – but also made governments very lazy. Inability to take responsibility means that governments in Zambia have almost always justified development decisions through a market and private sector lens – which, to Honourable Miyutu, should not be the case. This logic exonerates the government for its failures – failure to drive development in areas where it is needed the most. There are many examples we could possibly give here. While roads have been upgraded in Lusaka, the Chadiza-Chipata road remains impassable for most parts of the year. The only bank in the district – ZANACO, which is partly government-owned – closed. The old filling station has no fuel most of the time, which hampers not only transportation but also prospects for agricultural mechanization. The so-called rural areas have long been galvanized to produce and feed urban areas, ensuring food security. Research reveals how rural and peri-urban areas sustained urbanites during the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, infrastructure development such as schools, including teachers’ accommodation in many parts of Zambia, are in a sorry state, but Zambians are told to understand because the markets have not responded.
The irony, however, is that in all elections, rural areas are mobilized for political support and votes – and become central in shifting power at the national level. The UPND government under Hichilema made inroads in the Eastern Province, specifically Chadiza, Chipata, and Lundazi, but the infrastructure demands in these areas are probably just as significant as those in Kalabo. This political manipulation must be questioned. Honourable Chinga Miyutu raises questions at the heart of this political manipulation and calls the government to live up to its promises and expectations in rural areas. There are human beings living in Kalabo, Vubwi, Mkushi, Serenje, Siachitema, Mansa, etc. They should enjoy rights like any other and deserve so given their various contributions to the country as citizens, workers, and holders of families. Governments worldwide run social welfare programs. We can think about the benefits system in the UK and Obamacare in the USA. Responses such as those coming from the Energy Minister might make sense in some circles, but not always. There is a moral and ethical responsibility the state must assume here. The Minister must explain – if he thinks his response justifies his actions – the social contract binding the UPND government with the people of Kalabo and many others, and where his responsibilities start and end.
