The Impact of Wrong Policy Advice on Zambia
Source: AFRODAD
The analysis indicates the culpability of the IMF, World Bank and the international community to the very serious growth and development reversals that Zambia has suffered particularly during the 1990s as a result of its faithful adherence to their programmes and conditionalities.
The challenge remains that of bringing the IMF and the World Bank and indeed some donors to account for their roles in the Zambian economic and social crisis. This paper is part of the collection of evidence that could be presented for arbitration and prosecution. However, it will be necessary to collect more materials and to strengthen the evidential presentations.
It is expected that the IMF, World Bank and lenders will invoke the standard disclaimer that the policies, programmes and projects that are the subject of contention were generated by the Zambian Government. However, there is circumstantial evidence that most of such policies and projects were evolved around the [understood and known] conditionalities of the lenders. Furthermore, un-collaborated stories abound about the roles of the IMF, World Bank and lenders in the preparation of the policy and project documents and protocols for the Zambian Government. It can also be argued that the IMF, World Bank and donors were aware or ought to have been aware the Zambian Government since October 1991 has had severely reduced capacities due to the desperate economic situation, lack of experience among the senior political and administrative officials and, more importantly, high levels of corruption.
The second challenge will be the creation of an international institutional framework to provide arbitration and trial. There are already in existence certain global, regional and bilateral structures that could act as hosts for such an arbitral court.
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