Economic Independence in Zambia and the role of Law in Economic Development

Abstract

The Zambian economy, much to the dislike of the country's leadership, has been and still is dependent on hired skills and borrowed capital. This state of affairs is a legacy of the colonial past when colonies were made to believe and ran as if they would not exist on their own, and consequently looked upon their colonial masters as their benefactors. With the attainment of political independence, newly independent States have attempted to sever ties with previous colonial masters in the hope that they would prove their sovereignty to the outside world. In this quest, most newly independent States if not all, have recognised economic independence as a prerequisite to meaningful sovereignty. The steps Zambia has taken to transform its economy from the colonial legacy forms the subject matter of this dissertation. Since each newly independent country's approach to, and concept of, economic independence vary from that of the other, it is not surprising that Zambia's efforts towards economic independence have no precedence. This dissertation looks at the state of the economy in Zambia prior to the attainment of political independence with a view to determining the nature of economic dependence that was inherited,. The main body of the study concerns itself with the reasons why Zambia inherited an economy which was dependent, and with the attempts that have been made to bring about economic independence. Deliberate emphasis is given to the legal framework under which the transformation takes place. The reason for this is to determine whether the law has a crucial role to play in the transformation of an economy. The arguments on which the whole work revolves are two: (a) that attainment of political independence is not enough to warrant the achievement of economic independence; and (b)that an appropriate legal framework can, though not necessarily, help to shape a country's economic destiny. In Zambia political independence is just one of the conditions that may lead to the achievement of economic independence. Other conditions of equal importance are the availability of skilled local manpower and local sources of capital. An appropriate legal framework is not a condition as such but rather offers a conducive atmosphere under which orderly economic transformation may take place.