By ALICE NACHILEMBE
The Jesuit Center for Theological Reflection says that President HH and his team have a difficult task to fix a shrinking economy and put it on a growth trajectory.
JCTR Executive Director Alex Muyebe said HH and his administration are expected to implement economic reforms that will put Zambia on a more sustainable fiscal footing, liquidate foreign debt, and secure a bailout loan package from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Fr Muyebe said Citizens, particularly, the jobless youths and women are eager to see the new team come up with deliberate efforts to create jobs and business opportunities, which made up the majority of the voters.
He said Mr Hichilema has stated that his team has come to work hence the wheels of reforms must start turning now within the first 100 days of HH’s inauguration.
Fr Muyebe also said this change should be seen before the new tenant at Plot 1 and his new administration begin to get comfortable and entrenched in destructive political virus of complacency and disdain for good counsel from well-meaning stakeholders.
“The question yet to be answered is whether HH’s team will buy into this model of leadership. HH needs the support of a game-changing team. The danger is that if there are some individuals within his team who don’t share and internalize this model of leadership, and for that matter, other goals he has set for himself and his administration such as zero tolerance to corruption, these individuals are likely to militate against their leader and his vision” he said.
He said a servant leader must be strong enough to embrace a counter-cultural way of doing business even at the expense of rocking a boat or losing close allies or friends.
Fr Muyebe said Zambians must pray hard that HH will be a transformative leader and that he will have genuine transformative individuals in his team to drive this country in the right direction of strong and functioning governance and economic systems.
