WE BEGIN another year today and everyone is looking ahead with renewed hope. Indeed, the beginning of a new year comes with new expectations and aspirations.
But it also gives us time to reflect and look back on the year, and the coming to an end of a year sets us on a path of introspection. We want to see what we have been able to achieve in the past year. We give ourselves credit for the things in which we have excelled.
We also look at what we have failed to do. Failure in achieving something does not mean we cannot start all over again. In fact, the beginning of a new year means another opportunity to start all over again.
To keep trying something and never giving up is the best way of moving forward but to give up is the worst form of failure.
Readers, at personal level, let us use this year to improve our lot as individuals so that we can become better citizens of our country.
At national level, this year gives us another chance to help contribute to the development of our country. We should see ourselves as players in the development process of our nation.
Every nation depends on its citizens to contribute to development. Examples at global level abound. The countries we see as highly developed have been propelled to such levels by their hardworking citizens.
Take, for example, countries like South Korea, Singapore and Malaysia, which in the early 70s were considered undeveloped and whose Gross Domestic Product was less than that of Zambia.
Today, they rank among the developed countries of the world. This is because their citizens applied themselves and contributed massively to the development of their countries.
Our economic situation is not among the fairest at global level. But this should not dampen our spirits. We, the citizens, are key in driving the nation towards prosperity.
Government has put in place a number of measures to enable citizens to engage in various economic activities. For example, government has provided a number of financing opportunities for various categories of its citizens so that they can set up profit-making ventures and contribute to economic growth.
The drive towards diversification also depends on the nation’s citizens to make it a success. The focus by government to move from mining to agriculture is aimed at making the economy more viable.
One of the incentives government has put in place for this year is the non-involvement in the pricing of maize. This means farmers will have an opportunity to get more profit on their produce.
Therefore, with such measures in place, the part of citizens has been amplified and the New Year signifies a chance to seize opportunities and utilise them to the benefit of our nation.
To achieve this, we need to be focused as individuals so that we can have a clear view of what we want to achieve, how we seek to achieve it. Let us learn from the Psalmist, who sought wisdom from God when he asked for help to number his days aright.
One of the ways we can apply in seeking to achieve our goals as citizens this year is to abhor laziness and see it as an enemy of development. The Bible states that those who do not work should not eat. The Bible gives no room for laziness, and let us take a leaf from that.
No-one should depend on the other for survival. God has given us hands and all the other faculties we need; let us use them to create wealth for ourselves and for the nation.
It is incumbent upon each citizen to put in their best for the development of the nation. We each have a part to play, whether we are in full-time employment or not.
From us all at the Zambia Daily Mail, it is happy and prosperous New Year to you all.