One Year Since HH’s Inauguration, Zambian Youth Have A Lot To Celebrate

By Choolwe Chibomba

Last year’s elections in Zambia made headlines around the world for their record voter turnout, with 70% of eligible Zambians waiting in long lines at polling booths to exercise their democratic right. Among these were some 4 million young people, aged between 18 and 24, who turned out in even higher proportions than their parents and grandparents to make sure their voices were heard.

On election day, pictures on social media showed recent university graduates queueing up at polling stations wearing academic dress in protest against the lack of employment opportunities available for young people. Under the previous Patriotic Front government, youth unemployment had shot up from 19.43% in 2015 to 26.07% in 2020.

The election’s eventual winner, President Hakainde Hichilema, recognised early on the decisive role that young people would play in the campaign and made youth empowerment a cornerstone of his United Party for National Development (UPND) manifesto. One year on from Hichilema’s inauguration and the efforts of his administration are beginning to bear fruit.

EDUCATION

It is impossible to talk about the UPND government’s youth empowerment agenda without mentioning its flagship free education policy. From the start of 2022, all primary and secondary school children in Zambia have been able to attend school for free, with thousands more pupils now enrolled in full-time education than ever before.

While the increase in school attendance initially resulted in classroom overcrowding, the government has taken steps to tackle that issue as well; recruiting an additional 30,496 teachers. Many of these teachers are themselves young graduates who had struggled to find work despite the shortages.

Building on this foundation, the government has also started to offer more university bursaries, in part funded by the proceeds from anti-corruption cases. Money seized from the disgraced journalist Faith Musonda, for example, has been used to fund more than 2,000 scholarships for promising students.

JOBS

 If youth empowerment is the cornerstone of Hichilema’s policy agenda, then job creation is its foundation. Prior even to the teacher recruitment drive, the government successfully enrolled an additional 11,200 healthcare workers into the health service, including thousands of qualified junior doctors who had been left languishing by the previous administration.

However, it is in the private sector where government has focused its real efforts to boost opportunities for young people. The President likes to joke that he is the country’s chief marketing officer - bringing foreign investment and jobs to Zambia – but the results speak for themselves.

Since Hichilema took office, mining firm First Quantum Minerals (FQM) have announced two landmark investments totalling $1.35 billion. These are expected to create an additional 18,000 jobs within the mining sector, as well as generating between $380 and 775 million in additional tax revenue to be reinvested into areas such as education and infrastructure.

The President has also taken steps to engage with the private sector domestically, setting up the Public-Private Development (PPD) forum in April to engage with Zambian businesses and create a more enabling policy environment. Since then Zambia Breweries, which commended the government on the launch of its PPD, has announced a capital investment of $80 million to expand its Lusaka plant and create over 5,000 new jobs.

ECONOMIC UPLIFT

There are young people in Zambia who complain that the government is not moving fast enough; that the jobs aren’t pouring in as quickly as they would like and that the rising cost of living (exacerbated by factors such as Covid and the war in Ukraine) is making life harder rather than easier.

However, the UPND government inherited an economy which was teetering on the edge, with public debt outstripping GDP and the government defaulting on interest payments to foreign lenders.

Since then, Hichilema has managed to substantially turn things around: bringing Zambia’s largest lender China onboard to co-chair its creditor committee and securing a staff-level agreement with the IMF for a $1.4 billion extended credit facility. That agreement is now expected to be fully approved by the end of August, following steps by the government to ensure greater debt sustainability, including introducing parliamentary oversight for all debt contracting.

The effects of this financial prudence are starting to be felt, with inflation currently at a three year low of 9.7% - down from 24.4% in August 2021.  The value of the Kwacha has also increased and is now trading at roughly K16 to the dollar, meaning that the money in young Zambians’ pockets is retaining its value better.

Furthermore, the Zambia Revenue Authority recently announced that it had exceeded its tax revenue targets for the first six months of the year by approximately $130 million as a result of economic growth. President Hichilema has indicated he would like to reinvest this money in a supplementary budget, which would benefit young Zambians through greater investment in sectors like education.  

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE

After just a year in office there is inevitably much more work for the UPND government to do. For instance, despite ringfencing roughly $310,000 for youth empowerment programs under the Constituency Development Fund, the government has done relatively little to encourage uptake in the communities where it is needed.

There are also demands from youth groups and NGOs for the government to move faster on governance issues, such as reforming the colonial-era Public Order Act, which cabinet has started to review but not yet reformed in law.   

However, for the most part Zambia’s young people can all point to ways in which the government is making their lives better. Whether that’s going to school or university for free; finding a well-paying private sector job; or noticing that food prices aren’t rising as quickly as they were just twelve months ago.  Overall, young Zambians are feeling optimistic and are excited to see what can be accomplished in the next four years.