EDITH Nawakwi says Margaret Mwanakatwe has single-handedly caused a run on the kwacha by telling the world that her treasury is empty. Nawakwi, Zambia’s first female Minister of Finance, said Mwanakatwe’s pronouncement in Parliament that she could not meet the external debt commitments was tantamount to treason. She said Mwanakatwe’s statement in her ministerial statement a week ago that she was trying to look for people to purchase the Eurobond from her hands immediately caused an impact on the dollar.

“Single handedly, the Minister of Finance, Madam Margaret Mwanakatwe has caused a run on the kwacha. She went to Parliament I think about seven days ago to issue a ministerial statement. In her last paragraph she stated and I quote that she was trying to look for people to purchase the Euro bond from her hands. The Eurobond is a sovereign debt issued on the international market on the belief that the Republic of Zambia was raising money to finance productive investment and the buyers of the Euro bond were totally in love with the government of the Republic of Zambia, they trusted the government to honour up to its obligation,” Nawakwi said in an interview.

She said Mwanakatwe’s pronouncements were unheard of as it sent anyone who was holding kwacha to start running for the dollar.

“For any Minister of Finance on the African [continent] and I have never heard this precedence, for any Minister of Finance to stand up on the international scale…because when you talk in parliament, it’s all over the world, to tell the world that her treasury is empty and therefore she cannot meet the commitments is tantamount to treason. Single handedly…if you watched that day she gave the speech and watch the dollar, immediately there was an immediate impact. Anyone who was holding kwacha balances started to run for the dollar. And I am sure even on the international market, those who had the Euro bond started to discount it at whatever price off takers would offer,” Nawakwi said.

She said Mwanakatwe’s pronouncements clearly showed that the government was bankrupt. Nawakwi said that the country’s economy has been put on gear six on a downhill. The Forum for Democracy (FDD) president said Mwanakatwe’s risky ministerial statement further compounded another situation when she said she only had one-month worth of import cover.

“That meant the government is ideally on its knees and broke…And it is inexcusable for her to start condemning others on the Internet that they are talking too much because just her statement alone caused the run on the Kwacha. And as if that was not enough, I don’t know where the economic intelligence units are to tell her that she had made a mistake, she went back to present the budget and do you know what she told us? She says that she has one-month worth of import cover, having told all of us that the government is virtually on its knees and bankrupt to go and rub it in, put salt on the injury, that she has one-month worth of import cover…the impact is what we are seeing now. Single handedly the Minister of Finance has run down the kwacha, caused an immediate depreciation in the kwacha,” Nawakwi said.

She said Mwanakatwe was telling the world that apart from being broke, Zambia was tossing the Eurobond obligation to Scavengers.

“Scavengers don’t play where it’s clean, where there is a scavenger, it’s free zone…The increase in the price of fuel is an offshoot of the product of what I have described. This economy has been put on gear six on a downhill and you know what happens when you are in gear six on a downhill, it’s terrible,” said Nawakwi.