• The beneficiaries were not properly identified.
• Only those who had political connections are the only ones that benefited.
• Beneficiaries should be properly targeted and ensure that the programs are void of political manipulation.

Youth Development Organization (YDO) has called on government to ensure that the law takes its course on those who have failed to pay back the youth empowerment loans given out in 2016.
Speaking in an interview with Money FM News, Organization Executive Director Partner Siabutuba noted that the low recovery rate of the loans is a testimony that the funds were not anchored on a very clear economic empowerment program.
Mr. Siabutuba said this entails that the beneficiaries were not properly identified as only those who had political connections are the only ones that benefited, hence making it challenging for government to recover those loans.
“The poor recovery of the loans in the past youth empowerment programs, is a very clear testimony of the fact that all the empowerment programs were not anchored on a very clear economic empowerment program. The beneficiaries were not properly identified, only those who had political connections are the only ones that benefited. So the reason why government fails to recover those loans was because the beneficiaries were not identified as genuine entrepreneurs.”
“In 2017, then Minister of Youth Vincent Mwale, on the floor of Parliament said the government was going to take measures including reporting those defaulters to the Credit Bureau to punish those who have failed to repay the loans. But then because they were PF cadres, there was nothing that government could do, unfortunately public resources went to worst,” Mr. Siabutuba noted.
He added that this must serve as a lesson for subsequent youth empowerment programs that every-time government introduces such a program, beneficiaries should be properly targeted and ensure that the programs are void of political manipulation to avoid losing public resources.
“Otherwise, we can continue losing public resources like that. Unfortunately, there are very few beneficiaries if any that could have benefited from those funds so it is a sheer waste of public resources. But I think it is important that the law must take its course and ensure that those that benefited and have not pay back, can pay back,” he added.
Recently, Youth, Sports and Arts Minister Elvis Nkandu revealed that the government has only managed to recover about 3% to 4% of the K270 million that was given out as youth empowerment by the Patriotic Front (PF) administration, highlighting the government’s struggles to recover funds that were meant to support Zambia’s youth.