Reflections on the New Dawn Government's major Policy Pronouncements

Assesing the Performance of Government against Manifesto and Campaign promises.

About seven months since the United Party for National Development (UPND) was given an overwhelming electoral mandate in the August 2021 elections. The dust and euphoria of the election victory may have settled, but the government is now getting down to the huge task of implementing its programs and commitments. Although, seven months is a relatively short time to assess the performance of any government, there are indications from the general public that it is an important juncture to look back at what has been achieved against manifesto and campaign promises.

In this regard, The Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) in partnership with Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Zambia Office convened a two-day workshop at Protea Chisamba Safari Lodge on 30 March-2 April, 2022. The main aim of the workshop was to reflect on the issues confronting the New Dawn government, identify barriers to implementation and provide possible solutions. The workshop was tailored to offer the first comprehensive assessment of the performance of the New Dawn government since it came to power in August 2021. Specifically, additionally, the workshop was a policy dialogue between government and key stakeholders. 

The keynote Presentation was given by Prof. Oliver Saasa., while other presentations were made by officials from the Zambia National Women's Lobby - ZNWL, the Centre for Policy Dialogue, Ministry of Information and Media - Zambia, Transparency International Zambia and the Ministry of Finance and National Planning, (Budget Office). The event also had a panel discussion which engaged officials from different political parties i.e. Patriotic Front - PF, UPND Zambia, Patriots for Economic Progress (PeP) and the Socialist Party Zambia.