Cry beloved local companies
Amb. Emmanuel Mwamba wrote;
Vedanta bought KCM mine selling for $650m, for $25m. For 20 years, Vedanta engaged in terrible mining methods, cheated on taxes, engaged in transfer pricing, accumulated utility, other supply debts and borrowed against the mine assets.
President Hakainde Hichilema rolled a red carpet for Vedanta’s return to KCM.
He has acted similarly in other circumstances.
First Quantum Minerals stole $2.5billion from Kansanshi Mine as verified by credible audits.
He has dropped the criminal cases against FQM directors and has not provided a path-way on how Zambia will recover its $2.5billion from FQM.
He has proceeded to give FQM unfair tax and other incentives.
But he won’t do the same for local companies. He has refused to pay local contractors and suppliers accusing them of being thieves and supplying “air”.
He has not published the forensic audits launched as an independent fact to establish his allegations,done by PriceWaterHouse and others, on the debt owed to local suppliers and contractors.
He has engaged in monetary and fiscal policies that have seen local enterprise sent to their deathbeds.
Thriving enterprises such as Mikalile and Savenda have been targeted.
But local companies associated with him have been allowed to thrive.
For example African Life Financial Services Zambia Ltd (Aflife) has been awarded a management contract of the Ministry of Mines $40million Environmental Protection Fund.
The Pensions and Insurance Authority (PIA), the regulator of the pensions and insurance, exposed in an independent audit what appeared to be collosal theft or irregular externalisation of over $40million at Aflife…but the matter died as soon as President Hichilema became President.
For this, the corruption fight is a fuss, a tool of oppression for we are not respecting the principle that “he who comes to equity must come with clean hands”.
Look at how they have handled the Gold Scandal, saving their own and the foreigners.
If we are serious about asset recovery, we must recover all stolen public resources.
If we are fighting corruption, we must fight all corruption.
If we are fighting thieves, we must fight all thieves.
The UPND government paid out alot of unpaid companies that were not paid by you the PF even farmers. Give us your manifesto rather than tarnishing HH s achievements that you people failed to achieve.