ZAMBIA: NEW PRESIDENT’S ANTI-CORRUPTION CAMPAIGN TAKES POLITICAL TURN

   Thu, 25 November 2021

After 100 days in office, Zambia’s widely praised new president has made notable political and civil society achievements, while pledging to turn around the country’s economy. However, his economic reforms are stalled and his government’s ability to drive meaningful change has been constrained by the conditions of a looming IMF programme. Impatient and powerful political and business backers of the new government are increasing pressure to secure lucrative economic stakes in the mining and agricultural sectors, including fertiliser contracts, that risk uprooting the government’s pro-investor credentials. President Hichilema is now torn between pushing ahead with his reformist legacy or giving way to some of his loyalists’ intentions to resume looting of state assets.