Wage Strikes in Zambia: A Story of Going Nowhere

We can not expect any change in livelihoods accruing from wage increments. The costs of social amenities in this country are dictated more by mere profiteering than "demand and supply" assumptions. These costs always change with rumours of wage increments!

Please allow me to digress.

There is always so much I want to write about in this backwater country of ours called Zambia. And mostly, it is because I long ceased to have respect for what many consider newsworth individuals or institutions. Critical and analytical thought is rather rare and may be that is why, as a country we are always arriving where we are supposed to have left.

I wrote many years ago that, if we do not change our ways, “When our children seek our footprints in the sands of history, they will arrive at only one conclusion. ‘We went nowhere'.” Frighteningly, this is becoming true. Least we forget, it is also apparent that we are the only generation that does not improve on the successes of preceeding generations.

The fact that we are not getting anywhere or that we are not improving on the circumstances of our great grand parents is chiefly because we do not want to be critical of our obtaining circumstances. It is a comfort zone, even if messy and smelly!

Sorry.

Wage strikes in Zambia always remind me of a friend that decided to rent a bar premises in Chilenje compound. The owner and landlord had enough of the competition around and the profits could not sustain his life style. Renting it out was a good option, so the story goes. I will call my friend, Mbinji and the landlord, Mufalo.

In October, Mbinji entered into a rental agreement of six months advance rent, and duly paid Mufalo the tenancy contract amount. Mbinji refurbished the place and appealed to a different patronage. In the first three months, Mbinji did not see Mufalo, and was happy that he did not have a nosey landlord. But, he heard that Mufalo had taken a new wife.

However, things took an expected turn in January. Mufalo suddenly appeared, and asked Mbinji if he could advance him some money. And I hear this is how the story went.

Mufalo: "BoMbinji, I can see you are doing very well. I hear the bar is always crowded. You see my wife wants us to move the children from Chilenje Primary to Nkwazi."

Mbinji: "That is nice. Nkwazi is very expensive, I just moved my children from there to Chilenje Primary School. I could no longer afford it."

Mufalo: "Well, I am sure you will send them back, now that you are doing fine. Actually, I came to ask for an advance payment on the rentals."

Well, I could continue with the narration, but the rest is known. Mbinji did not advance Mufalo the rentals, as he still had to recover his costs due to refurbishments. The bar closed, when the next rentals were due as Mufalo had decided to increase the rent by 50 percent. Mufalo did not get to send his children to Nkwazi. And his wife divorced him! Both Mbinji and Mufalo returned to where they were before.

The moral of this story is that monetary increases in our obtaining socio-economic environment do not always move persons from point A to B. In short, we can not expect any change in livelihoods accruing from wage increments.

From 1991 to today, we decided to dance with the devil we did not understand! Nearly, 18 years later, we still have not interrogated our dance, mostly because for the few it is havesting gold, and this is irrespective of whether one is in government, donor circuit, church or civil society. The individual benefits to be reaped are immense!

The rot that came with this country's shift from provision of social amenities to where the State allowed interested individuals to asssume State responsiblities is inarguably where the solution to our problems lie. We can not go anywahere if the State fails to provide or regulate housing, health, education, and transport. These amenities need regulation, with such regulation being direct or by State intervention through CONTINUED provision of equivalent services. And in this country, there was no continuation in quality and quantity!

Surely, how then can wage increments address the fact that costs of social amenities are dictated by factors most distant from the regulation of the State? A nurse, teacher in Lusaka seeks to send his or her child to a private school, and the private school owner always increases the schoo fees each year!

I have to close here, as I surely do not intend to write a dissertation on State Failure in Zambia. But we should always be cognisant of the fact that the proliferation of NGOs or CSOs in general is always indicative of the failure of the State to provide for its people.