Senior government minister predicts economic crisis

A senior Zambian minister has said that Zambia is in an economic crisis and that its rulers were “autocratic and intolerant”, news reports said on Thursday. Environment and Natural Resources Minister Ben Mwila, who has also been named as a possible presidential candidate, published a full page advertisement in the country’s main newspapers in which he said: “We should focus our attention on the economy which is regrettably in an intensive care unit.” He added that although his ruling party the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) had improved fiscal discipline, the economy was still in “dire straits.” Mwila added: “We proclaim we are democrats from the highest platforms but, with due respect, have yet to learn the art of dialogue. Autocracy and arbitrariness in the ruling party can only disminish our status in the public eye.”