Zambia Could Miss Out On Foreign Aid Because Of Prime TV Restrictions, Says Academic

An economic consultant and former director of the Institute of Economic and Social Research at the University of Zambia, Prof Oliver Saasa, says Zambia could lose out on international aid as a result of government restrictions on press freedom, including the recent sanctions against Prime TV.

Speaking in an interview, Prof Saasa said that although financial assistance to help fight Covid-19 was not necessarily dependent on good governance, international lenders would look disapprovingly at the closure of Prime TV.

“Legitimate questions might be raised when you meet these multilateral partners regarding how we have performed not only on the macro-economic front but also on the governance front. So for me, like what has just happened to Prime TV, because this is an institution of governance and freedom of speech and I know the World Bank in particular, perhaps even the IMF, the African Development Bank, they are actually looking at tenets of good governance”, he said.

Earlier this week the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved debt relief measures for 25 countries to help combat the coronavirus, including the DRC, Malawi and Mozambique. Zambia was not included as a recipient for the financial aid.

Prof Saasa said that in order to appease the IMF, Zambia would need better debt sustainability strategies and more support for the private sector. Again in this regard, the treatment of Prime TV reflects poorly on the Zambian government.

“We are talking about business and Prime is also business”, said Prof Saasa.

Zambia has been negotiating with the IMF for debt relief since 2015. The Fund says it has been forced to ignore the country’s requests as nothing has been done to remove corrupt ministers from President Lungu’s government.

One such corrupt politician is Health Minister Chitalu Chilufya, who, according to a 2018 report by the Financial Intelligence Centre, has been bribed with 49 residential houses. Other ministers mentioned in the report included Labour Permanent Secretary Chanda Banabi, Transport and Communications Permanent Secretary Misheck Lungu, and Communications Minister Dora Siliya.