Why Zambia’s Money sitting in Banks outside Zambia Doesn’t Help Us Here- KATELE KALUMBA’S WIFE
KATELE KALUMBA’S WIFE WRITES👇
Why Zambia’s Money sitting in Banks outside Zambia Doesn’t Help Us Here
A story your grandma in the village can follow
Imagine your grandma keeps K500 under her mattress. She saved it carefully. You are proud of her.
But here is what you don’t know. She borrowed K200 from Mama Chanda next door. She owes K150 to the teacher for school fees. The clinic is waiting for K100 she promised last month. And she hasn’t paid the man who fixed her roof — K80 still outstanding.
Her K500 exists. But she owes more than she has.
Is she doing well? No. She is in trouble.
That is exactly what is happening with Zambia’s money.
The government says: “We have $6.5 billion saved in banks in Switzerland. We are doing well.”
But let us count what we owe.
The government has not paid the people who supplied it with goods and services — building materials, medicines, food, equipment. That unpaid bill grew from K18 billion in 2021 to K96 billion today. K78 billion that ordinary Zambian business people are still waiting to be paid.
On top of that, government borrowed more through bonds and Treasury Bills. Another K181 billion. Foreign debt went up by $4.5 billion.
Total new borrowing in five years: roughly $18 billion.
Total new savings in five years: $3.5 billion.
You borrowed K18 to save K3.50. That is not saving. That is digging a deeper hole and painting the top green.
And here is the part that stings.
That $6.5 billion sits in banks in foreign countries. The foreign investors borrow that money cheaply and build factories, create jobs, grow businesses.
Meanwhile, a young man in Kafue with a good idea cannot get a loan. A woman in Choma with a small farm cannot afford the interest rate. A contractor in Kitwe who built a government school three years ago is still waiting to be paid.
Our money is working. Just not for us.
What should happen instead?
Take a portion of those reserves – say $3 billion – and put it into a local bank that lends cheaply to Zambian farmers, traders, and builders. Let Zambian people borrow it. Let Zambian businesses grow with it. Let the jobs it creates be Zambian jobs.
The short version for you to explain to your grandma:
Kuku, the government is showing us money in their left hand. But look at what the right hand owes — it is far more. And the money in the left hand? It is working for Foreigners, not for us.
That is the truth of Zambia’s $6.
What rubbish analogy. Even us laymen know that even rich countries like USA owe trillions and are in deficit but still keep reserves. Anyway, our learned colleagues who understand finance and economics have already eloquently explained, so we are not bothered. This is how exactly the PF got the country into debt and defaulted. The Katele Kalumba’s wife mentality.
@Chindabelka you are 100% RIGHT.
Everyone on EARTH OWES someone something BUT THERE’S NO WAY where someone fail to reserve something for EMERGENCIES.
HH is on the RIGHT TRACK.
You would be in bigger problems without reserves. Come in eat $3bn of reserves and see how pangas will be currency.
This type of reasoning is difficult to understand. The loans have maturity dates some of them as long as 15 years. They are not due for payment at once. Reserves are for short term emergencies. That is why they are counted in terms of months of import cover. The kwacha is appreciating because of the reserves, partly as a result of positive perception and the availability of dollars when they are needed. That translates into lower inflation. Inflation is a cost on consumers.
Some of the reserves are in IMF special drawing rights. The analogy on loans falls flat.
Even with the billions of dollars we owe, it makes a lot of sense to have reserves.
There is alot of uncertainty regarding the 2026/27 rain season because of the anticipated il Nino. So next planting season might be tricky and we might end up requiring relief aid. Those reserves will come in handy as it will be a matter of life and death. Now imagine we had no reserves and we are hit by an extreme hunger situation.
Yes the cost of living a challenge but it does not justify feasting on our reserves.
It makes Mr. Mundubile a dangerous man to lead our country. In the event of a disaster, we would have to depend on the mercies of the international community with Mr. Mundubile desperately going around with a begging bowl. And the international community is not obliged to help us.
I shudder to think of what would have happened during the devastating drought we had in 2022/23 if PF had been in charge.
Your husband is a thief.
She thinks like this because thats how the husband used to steal from the reserves.
Think of it this way, I will be brief hoping you have a head.
Borrow K1,000,000 from established low rate interest institution, build 3flats at yr plot in Ibex at K900,000. Keep K100,000 for emergency(reserve). Start collecting K7,000 per month from each flat. You would have collected K3,780,000 in 15yrs. The agreement where you borrowed K1m was that interest will be K500,000 as long as you start repayments in the next 2yrs. Make your calculations.
The problem with you PF fools is that you borrowed but invested half, and that half that you invested was on stupid things, then you borrowed from shailocks who charge stupid interest with stupid repayment plan. So your thinking is wrong madam, try to understand what this government has done and understand why it took 3 years to negotiate restructuring debt.
By the way, K1,000,000 plus K500,000 interest is to be paid in 15yrs
Rest assured, Madam, that with Bally, there is no need for those fairy tales. You are in good hands. The days when your husband led a luxurious life, with a limousine and a yacht funded by stolen money, are over. We haven’t forgotten how he began fleeing from the police after the change in government. Those officers may look useless when you have no case against them. Your dishonest husband spent considerable time hiding in the dense thickets of Luapula Province, moving from place to place to avoid capture. You know this better than I do; you might have thought that people had forgotten. One villager, possibly from the DRC, took advantage of the fleeing former minister by claiming he could turn his laptop into a spying gadget, allowing him to monitor activities at police headquarters and plan his movements accordingly. He paid him handsomely for this service, but it didn’t work, as he was hiding in a burrow when the police eventually tracked him down and smoked him out. Fred Mmembe’s Post Newpaper was very dependable at the time, reporting on these stories.
