Time keeping...important aspect in a development process

By Olivia A. Phiri

In Zambia we are famous for not observing time, whether we are invited for a party, business meeting or even a funeral. It would be easy to judge that we are not serious people, but that is not the truth, we are self less and hard-working, just too relaxed in observing time. I came up with five reasons why (i) We do not own watches, (ii) We do not have a highly mechanised or industrialised nation or economy,(iii) Climate, (iv) Culture and lastly, (v) Poverty.

Lack of Watches

Very few people wear or own watches in our country, the few that do either are very old people that stream from the colonial days like grandfathers, other people are business men and social elites. Watches can be said to be expensive and a bit unnecessary in this day of the cell phone but most young people only look at the phone to answer phone calls, access the internet and send text messages. Time does not seem to be very important, some people say that they know they wont be the only ones late thus only look at the time on occasion and not as a prerequisite to ensuring that they are on time. The youth in Zambia and mostly female tend to think it's actually fashionable to be late and makes them stand out at conferences and meetings. Unfortunately  when a person is late in a multicultural setting, everyone turns their wrists to check their time, in reaction to how disturbing your appearance or attendance is. Some people actually find bad time keeping an insult and may result in incomplete deals or agreements.
People for example in Europe do not wear cheap watches, they attach the value of watches to the value and importance of time. The reason we do not buy watches even when we can afford them is because we attach no real value to time itself. For example if you had a Rolex watch or Tag Heuer ...then you would definitely look at it more often and maybe observe time too. This however is not the reason Europeans observe time compared to Zambians, it's the mutual respect and orderliness they have for other people and thus they have cities that never sleep because they are constantly on a row, having up to four jobs per person. For a person who has no respect for time and others i doubt if we would manage clocking in systems, or payment by the hour jobs. Respect for time is very important as aspect in developing a good relationship, making good first impression, improving mental alertness, contributing to national development overall in that all activities will be done in good time and effectively. The advise would be to go out and buy a watch, just try, show the commitment to time by just purchasing a good quality affordable watch.

Lack of an industrialised economy

To be continued