24/09/2025
ZAMBIA’S BUDGET FACES SCRUTINY AMID POWER CRISIS, RISING UNEMPLOYMENT.
As Zambia prepares to unveil its 2026 national budget this Friday, Democratic Union (DU) President Ackim Antony Njobvu says the government must prioritize “real issues” affecting citizens including electricity generation, education, and jobs while warning against politically driven allocations in an election year.
“We expect the government to attend to the basic challenges we’re facing as a country: load shedding, poor quality education, high levels of unemployment, and water integration,” Njobvu told Kumwesu Media in an interview.
Zambia has been grappling with rolling blackouts that have disrupted businesses and households, while unemployment particularly among youth continues to fuel public discontent. Njobvu said fresh investment in power generation is “urgent” if the economy is to recover.
“Load shedding has crippled many businesses. Even those of us working from home are finding it difficult. We need the budget to focus on electricity generation to restore productivity,” he said.
The opposition leader also raised concerns over the impact of free education, citing overcrowded classrooms and teacher shortages. “The quality of learning has gone down. We need more infrastructure and recruitment of teachers so that teacher-student ratios improve,” he added.
On fiscal policy, Njobvu said the government should consider adjustments to civil servants’ salaries, noting that many were “surviving on loans” and that financial stress has driven some into despair. He also called for reforms in the mining tax regime to ensure Zambia benefits more from its vast mineral wealth.
But Njobvu cautioned that, with the 2026 elections on the horizon, the risk of politically motivated spending looms large. “My fear is that instead of channeling funds to health, education or productive sectors, the government may divert resources to social handouts that appear genuine but are actually meant for buying votes,” he warned.
He further emphasized the need to dismantle local debt, particularly payments owed to suppliers, as a way of unlocking liquidity in the economy. “For the economy to open up, government must settle domestic arrears,” Njobvu said.
The Finance Ministry is expected to present the 2026 budget in parliament on Friday. Markets will be watching for measures to address Zambia’s energy crisis, soaring food prices, and a rising public debt load that reached $21.6 billion at the end of 2024.
