Comment

Government, politics and development are inextricably linked. Yet it is at the interfaces of these that problems seem to arise. In recent years, government has increasingly taken the initiative on development issues, driving the agenda forward in a much more proactive way than the donor-driven approach of earlier. Indeed this issue of Development Zambia highlights a number of ways in which government is central to the ongoing development of the country through economic policies, regulation of non-governmental organisations, defence force HIV strategies and management of spending on health and education. This is as it should be in a healthy democracy. Notwithstanding their largely benevolent motives, NGOs, charities, agencies and indeed donors are unelected by the Zambian people and serve a stakeholder base that ranges from foreign taxpayers and individual donors to business lobbies, political masters, employees and local vested interests. The interests of Zambia as a nation often come a poor second to these. There is no doubt that the country is in transition to a new phase of growth and development, having gone through the HIPC debt relief process and demonstrated it is heading in the right direction. The challenge now is for the country to wean itself from reliance on these well-meaning, but ultimately economically distorting influences. There will be a learning curve, with inevitable mistakes along the way, but with a strong democracy the future looks bright.