Former Finance Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane says lack of decent employment opportunities is one of the serious socio-economic problems facing Zambia today.
Dr. Musokotwane believes that is it possible to return to the glorious days on the labor market as it was early after independence.
Dr. Musokotwane notes that with all natural resources and a low population, it should not be an impossible feat for Zambia to create jobs for the five million or so people who are seeking for jobs.
He says achieving full employment does not come about on its own or by accident but that it must be planned for and the plans competently executed.
“As an illustration to this point, let’s take a look at tourism and its role in employment creation. About three weeks ago I visited the small border town of Kasane in Botswana. Although it is a small town it is full of tourist activity. It has several large, medium and small tourist hotels which, as I was informed, get very busy each year from April until early into the following year,” he said.
“It is not enough to possess natural resources and expect a country to be wealthy. Mere presence of natural resources is like having all the ingredients required to make a meal such as meat, vegetables, rice, etc. But the separate ingredients on their own do not deliver a meal on the table. They require to be prepared before they can be turned into food for eating. Similarly, natural together with human resources must be prepared before they can produce wealth together with the positive things that go with it such as jobs. Our inability to create full decent employment since independence reflects our failure as a country to prepare and blend together the natural and human resources to create wealth and jobs.”
He says Botswana has done a better job in planning for the utilization of her natural and human resources to establish a thriving tourist industry that has created employment opportunities for the people.
Dr. Musokotwane states that Zambia, with the same natural resource endowment like Botswana in the same region, has failed to take advantage of the resource base that is similar to that found in Botswana.
“The government is pro-active and encouraging investors to come to Kasane to invest in hotels and lodges and other commercial activities. In our systems, it can take more than five years before a tourist operating license is issued. This of course results in delays in lodges being opened which also delays the creation of jobs,” he said.
“The end results are so evident. Kasane is thriving economically with tourism as the anchor industry and this has created employment opportunities. Kazungula has not achieved the same.”
The former Finance Minister says with so many tourist raw products found all over Zambia, there is no reason why hundreds of tourist towns cannot emerge in the country.