Spending priorities

I watched the Chipolopolo boys being mauled by the Lions of Cameroon last Saturday and like many Zambians I was deeply disappointed with the result. My sorrow was compounded by the fact that I had invited a number of my Cameroonian friends to watch the game in my house. While watching the game I recalled reading in one of the local papers that the govt was spending almost K6 Billion to facilitate the participation of our national team in the tournament. According to the POST of 23rd December 2007,

"In what has been designed as a graduating system of player remuneration aimed at motivating members of the Chipolopolo Boys, FAZ is expected to pay each player US $ 2, 500 (about K10 million) for a victory in the preliminary stage while the technical staff will get US $3, 000 (about K12 million) each.Zambia is in Group C alongside defending champions Egypt, the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon and Sudan.Victory in the quarterfinal of the competition will guarantee each player US $ 4, 500 (K18 million) with the technical staff expected to get US $ 5, 000 (K20 million) each.According to the tabulations, each player will earn a further US $ 5, 000 (K 20 million) reward while members of the technical bench will each get US $6, 500 (K26 million) each for a victory in the semi-final of the 16 nations biennial continental soccer showpiece. Of the total K5.8 billion, K3.4 billion is the estimated remuneration package for the team provided the Chipolopolo Boys secure victory in the final of the competition on February 10.Other expenses include daily allowances from the time the team went into residential camp on December 10 with local camping expected to gobble K323 million.The budget estimates the Spain camping which starts on December 26 to January 5 at K343 million while a training camp set for Togo shortly before the tournament starts is expected to cost K447 million, with airfares for the round trip including stop-overs in Tunisia and Morocco for international friendlies estimated at K848 million.About K400 million has been set aside as contingency funds in the budget."

The obvious question that came to my mind was whether sending our national team to Ghana was a priority. How does govt justify spending this relatively large sum of money on a soccer tournament when there hospitals without essential drugs, bridges washed away by the recent floods, street kids, poor educational facilities etc? I am not saying the govt were wrong to send the team to Ghana but it would be interesting to find out why this was seen as a priority.

The PANEL