A WELL-TRAINED, WELL-TREATED AND WELL-PROTECTED LABOR FORCE

I was just thinking.

Zambian leaders need to ask themselves three simple questions:

          1. Where are we now?

          2. Where are we going?

          3. How are we going to get there?

      

One of the ways we will get to our destination as a country is through a well-trained, well-treated and well-protected labor force in our various institutions.

The people who have worked under my leadership will tell you that one of the things I did was to ensure that they were well-equipped to handle any task set before them. I ensured that they were widely exposed to the operations of Colgate-Palmolive worldwide and in most cases traveled with them for important meetings to other countries as part of their learning experiences. Because of the freedom that the company gave me in determining their pay, I tried as best as I can to make sure that their performance was rewarded and appreciated. I sat with each of the employees to determine their career paths in the company, which even included taking over my position and then helped them through the process of achieving their goals.

When our founding fathers formed the first government after independence, there was no pedigree, no historical benchmark by any one of our own people in the echelons of colonial power to draw experience from. They ran government and the entire country without being prepared by the colonial powers.

Speaking in London some years ago, President Kenneth Kaunda told a gathering of members drawn from the House of Lords:

“At Independence in 1964, the country had produced only 100 university graduates after 70 years of colonial rule. Of these, only three were doctors. We realized that we needed to develop our manpower in order for the country to attain the capacity to develop. To cut a long story short, by the time I was leaving office in 1991, we had produced about 35,000 university graduates.”

President Kaunda and his comrades came with a vision. While moving quickly to establish the University of Zambia and other Trades Institutions, they sent our young men and women all over the world on aggressive training programs in various professions. Our people were trained as metallurgists, doctors, secretaries, diplomats, lawyers, pilots and many others. Some of our young people may not know that some secretaries for Cabinet Ministers were from Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago! Some of our veteran diplomats today were attached to other countries’ Foreign Offices for training. Even as our hydro-electricity projects were going on, Zambians were being trained in Yugoslavia and Germany.

At Libala Secondary School, from Form 1 to Form 5, I was taught Geography, Art and Civics by British nationals, Physics by a South African exile, Chemistry by an Indian, Mathematics by a Sri Lankan (then Ceylonese), French by a French, History by a Black American (“Negro” at the time), Athletics by an Australian!!! The first indigenous Zambian to teach me was a Mr Sililo who took us for Math. He, I believe, had been trained in Russia and was absolutely brilliant at his job. Today, we have Zambians in charge of our learning institutions because of the amount of work our former leaders put into training.

The Industrial Development Corporation (INDECO) and its subsidiary companies sent scores of young Zambians all over the world. Oh, yes, I used to meet a lot of them at London’s Shepherds’ Bush and Liverpool Street Markets even during my travels! There were young people being trained in public relations, purchasing and supply, transport logistics, mechanical engineering, various areas of the energy sector, textile technology and many other fields all over the world.

In just a few years after its inception, our National Airline had Zambian pilots, flight engineers, cabin crew, maintenance personnel, Air-Traffic Controllers, etc. Zambia Airways was managed by Zambians, at one point by a brilliant pilot at its helm, Captain Godfrey Mulundika, who also piloted the DC 10 Aircraft.

Is it not therefore shocking and mind boggling that, where during the days of Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines, ZCCM, Zambians were in top positions both above and below the ground, today there are expatriates from India, Peru, South Africa and Australia performing jobs that Zambians did. How can we allow this to take place?

We have for many years now lost thousands of skilled labor to other countries. If our people can get jobs overseas, it means they are able to perform. Because we have not recognized the professionalism of our people by paying them well and respecting them, they have gone to countries where they are appreciated. There are Zambian teachers, doctors, nurses, lawyers, engineers, etc., all over the world while we allow expatriates to do the very jobs Zambians were doing.

Our government must seriously ensure that Zambians do not lose jobs to expatriates by reconstituting and strengthening the Zambianisation Committee, stopping the indiscriminate issuance of work permits to foreigners. While doing that, foreign companies must be urged to implement professional development programs that will equip Zambians for the future. Zambians must no longer lose jobs to foreign drivers, cooks and managers when citizens are well capable of performing these jobs.

Zambia should welcome and work with investors who will not just open retail shops to sell furniture but manufacture the furniture here and even export it. We must support investors that create jobs, provide training and expertise, and bring in new technology into the country.

It is therefore very important that as Government looks for investments in the different areas of our economy, people resources are adequately prepared. That was the UNIP Government did.

The Government must encourage local and international investors, but we must have regulations in place to safeguard the Zambian worker. We want our people to be paid well. It is vital that the appropriate labor laws are enforced to ensure that our people are not exploited in any way or any form. Where these laws don’t exist, the government must ensure that the appropriate legislation is enacted.

There are some huge foreign fast food companies right now in Zambia that would have their employees go to a supermarket around the corner to buy lunch or just sit around until time is up, but cannot provide a free or subsidized meal from their own outlets, yet huge profits are made and externalized. That is grossly unfair. It is wrong. In the old days, this was unheard of. People are the most important resource any organization will ever have and must be looked after. It is the responsibility of the government to ensure that this is done.

It’s just a thought.