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Zambia Must Prosper (ZMP) leader Kelvin Fube says the failure by Finance and National Planning Minister, Situmbeko Musokotwane, to avail plans to dismantle local debt as he presented the 2026 national budget is a missed opportunity.
“We are still studying the budget , but so far, we have noticed the following low hanging solutions that have been missed which include the mounting domestic arrears owed to Zambian suppliers, predominantly SMEs, have reached alarming levels, with a staggering increase from K28 billion in 2021 to K84 billion in 2025,” Fube said in a statement on Sunday.
He said this K58 billion surge was a stark testament to the suffocating grip on SMEs, pushing them to the brink of survival.
To alleviate this burden,Fube proposed the conversion of all domestic arrears outstanding for over three months into government securities.
This move, he said would not expand government debt but rather just reclassify it, enabling SMEs to either hold these instruments to maturity or discount them to access much-needed liquidity.
“This would be a lifeline for many struggling SMEs.This would be an immidiate stimulus that would improve consumer spending , allow people to rescue properties being held by all manner of lenders, and simply bring back economic sanity,” Fube highlighted.
He noted that currently, doing business with government was like running charity.
Fube called for the reforming of Citizen Economic Empowerment Commission (CEEC) and redirecting Constituency Development Fund (CDF) grants.
He suggested that removing the grant component from the CDF and allocate it to CEEC for targeted lending to productive sectors would be efficient.
Fube said CEEC should be reformed to leverage technology, providing mobile money loans through network providers at lower costs, expanded payment horizons, and increased loan amounts.
Read more: zambia-to-spend-k253-1-billion-in-2026-who-got-what-see-budget-breakdown
Fube added that redirecting CDF grants to CEEC would enhance the fund’s impact under a reformed regime, making it more accessible and beneficial to SMEs.
“On health, we express disappointment with the lack of seriousness and sustainable provisions in the budget,” he said.
Instead of introducing new taxes on mobile telecom products, he proposed channelling such as contributions to the National Health Insurance Management Authority (NHIMA).
Fube said this could potentially raise between minimum of $15 -$20 million per month, ensuring universal health coverage for Zambian citizens.
Unfortunately, he said this opportunity seemed to have been missed.
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