Mr Hakainde Hichilema if not careful, WILL ROT IN JAIL …you can’t sell a silver spoon, a national asset in the most unclear circumstances – Changala
By Thomas Ngala(The Mast)
MR Hakainde Hichilema if he is not careful he will rot in jail, warns Brebner Changala as he questions the President’s remarks that Mopani was owned by creditors.
On Friday, gracing the commissioning of the Lusaka International Arbitration Centre at Law Association of Zambia (LAZ) House in Lusaka, President Hichilema said Mopani belonged to creditors, “that is the truth.”
“When I hear my critics in the political arena commenting about the Mopani transaction and demeaning the value of that transaction you simply feel sorry for people, genuinely,” said President Hichilema while acknowledging that many citizens saw Mopani as a 100 per cent company owned by government. “It is not like that…Either out of ignorance or just spite. Mopani belonged to creditors. One creditor alone Glencore was owed $1.5 billion with interest $1.72 billion. We had to negotiate the Glencore debt alone, from $1.7 to $500 million. Otherwise, we would not consummate the Mopani transaction.”
But Changala, a good governance activist, told The Mast that “you cannot sell a silver spoon, a national asset” in the most unclear circumstances.
He said the sale of Mopani needed a ministerial statement on the floor of the House before parliament adjourned.
“Either the Minister of Finance should have made a statement that he had received some money in the treasury. There should have been a statement from the Minister of Justice. There should have been a coherent statement from the Minister of Mines,” he said.
Changala said President Hichilema has opened a Pandora’s box.
“…and that Pandora’s box is dirty. It’s a can of worms. It clearly shows that Zambia is in the wrong hands,” he said.
He argued that President Hichilema does not mean well for the country.
“They tell us that Mopani was not sold. If it was not sold, what happened? Can we have a clear statement from the minister and indeed from the Head of State. Short of that, Zambians must wake up. We are back to the privatisation days. This country will be ripped, if it hasn’t been ripped already naked and poverty will be our signature going forward,” he said. “My line of thought is that the President must not take the people of Zambia for granted. The Mopani asset is a critical asset to the people of Zambia. It is an economic and lifeline asset that must not be short-changed through treachery, trickery, and you know banditry. The President of the Republic of Zambia moved the nation to Mopani, Mufulira on the Copperbelt to hand over 51 per cent shares to IRH, publicly. And he asked the people of Zambia to celebrate and to shame the doomsayers.”
He said the President and the Minister of Mines and Mineral Development Paul Kabuswe are not being honest.
“And for that we demand a ministerial statement on the sale of Mopani. Why do we want a ministerial statement? The President must state to this country as he has already said that the owners were the creditors. What was he doing and on whose behalf was he handing over the mine to IRH?” he asked. “Who negotiated the 51 per cent shareholding so that ZCCM-IH remains with 49? Was there any property tax paid to ZRA? But most importantly, who are these creditors who owned Mopani? Can we have a list of these creditors who owned Mopani and if Zambia didn’t own that mine, why were the ones handing over Mopani which was not their entity? How did Zambia, through ZCCM-IH get 49 per cent shareholding? How much did Zambia pay for the 49 per cent shares to the creditors? These are critical questions? Who signed the share transfer agreement? And who signed on behalf of the creditors? There are always two sides of the coin.”
He also called on the former minister of mines Richard Musukwa to clarify on the issue.
“I want to invite the last minister in the previous administration, honourable Musukwa, the one who handled the exit of Glencore from Mopani. What was the transaction and what were the exit conditions and prevailing circumstances? When they moved out, what did they ask this government to do? To take full possession at a certain cost? Which other creditors held shares other than Glencore and ZCCM-IH? So the onus is on Glencore and the previous Zambian government, what was the negotiation, what was the exit contractual agreement? Was it that Mopani became solely a property of the Republic of Zambia through ZCCM-IH? When the PF lost power, how did it change that Mopani became a property of creditors? At what stage did it become? So, I invite the former minister Musukwa and the former minister of finance Bwalya Ng’andu to shed more light on this revelation by President Hichilema, which are highly concerning and worrisome,” said Changala.