JOE KOMAKOMA'S SPEECH AT JUBILIEE 2000 GRAND FINALE,
THE WORLD WILL NEVER BE THE SAME AGAIN
LONDON SPEECH [2 DECEMBER 2000]

My dear sisters and brothers, allow me to start by thanking the jubilee 2000 Coalition for inviting me to speak to you today

I also thank CAFOD for having enabled me, as an overseas partner to participate in many debt cancellation events here in the UK

I come from a country (Zambia) that has been terribly affected by the burden of debt repayment.

Through the Jubilee 2000 campaign, the true horror of the suffering of our people is now well known by the people and the leaders of the richest countries.

The Jubilee 2000 campaign has brought hope to millions of our people

Hope that one-day they will see an end to the suffering and poverty caused by the burden of debt repayment

But even as we are gathered here today

The situation in Zambia continues to be desperate

We are hoping to move from the situation where our country has to spend

One third of its total annual revenue on debt repayment – as we did this year

As a result poverty has worsened. Today - eight out of ten people in Zambia live on less than £1 a day two out of three children cannot afford to go to school

Our hospitals do not have enough medicines

Prices of goods keep going up each day

This year alone the price of fuel has doubled

Life expectancy, at birth, has dropped to 37 years

Zambia hopes to be officially recognised and classified as a highly indebted poor country - from January next year

This classification will earn Zambia a significant amount of debt relief

It is through the efforts of the Jubilee 2000 campaign that Zambia earned the possibility of this early classification

The jubilee 2000 campaign forced the international financial institutions and the leaders of the richest countries to start acting sooner rather than later

We are fully aware though that being classified as a highly indebted poor country will not solve all our current problems

We know that we have not yet got everything we wanted

We know that actual debt relief will only be felt in the next five years

We also know that the leaders of the powerful nations have been slow to deliver on their promises

In the case of Zambia, I am told that qualification to the HIPC initiative may actually complicate our case since we shall be expected to pay even more in debt payments.

However, where a few years ago Third world debt was not even an international issue, Today we are speaking about the pace of debt relief

This in itself is an achievement to be recognised and appreciated

It is this shift, in worldwide thinking which has given hope to countries like Zambia.

Debt relief will give us a breathing space

We hope to start putting our children back into schools

And getting medicines into our hospitals

In Zambia we are already preparing ourselves for the time we shall get this relief.

The local Jubilee 2000 campaign has worked with our government to put into place a debt monitoring mechanism which will ensure that money freed from debt relief will only go towards the fight against poverty.

This would have been inconceivable a few years ago

But today it is a reality

This shows how far we have come with this campaign

The world will, indeed, never be the same again

Those of us from the Christian world can be proud of our role in the campaign

We know that we have made a great contribution towards the building the kingdom of God.

The achievements of the Jubilee 2000 campaign are what the reign of god is all about!

We all want to see the reign of God

Where nobody will go hungry

Where nobody will be left behind

And where everybody will have equal chances in life.

The Jubilee 2000 campaign has proved that the world can be changed!

There are still many issues out there waiting to be tackled

But today it is a time to look back with pride at the formal ending of a very successful phase in our struggle for justice in the world

I thank you all

Joe Komakoma (Fr.)

CCJP-Zambia

Jubilee 2000 London Event

December 2, 2000