A renowned economist professor Oliver Sasa says it is high time government begins to build systems and structures that respect local professionals in all sectors.
Professor Sasa is of the view that over the years government had doubted its own professionals and had preferred to settle for foreign nationals who might have attended the same level of school with local professionals, a situation he has described as sad.
He stated that it was sad that government had continued to assume that foreign professionals were better, further stating that Lazard was only a company that might have had professionals from other countries.
Professor Sasa who was reacting to government’s decision through the ministry of finance to pay a foreign company to provide advisory services regarding liability management for its debt portfolio noted the need for government to have confidence in its own professionals.
Among the companies is a French company, Lazard Freres, although government has not yet disclosed which company would be given the tender.
Zambia had issued a call for financial advisors to help it restructure its debt and manage any loans maturing from next year and beyond.