Immediate past Zesco Limited board chairperson Mbita Chitala’s recently published book ‘Corporate Capture: The Political Economy of Electricity Management in Zambia (How Not to Manage a State Enterprise)’, has invited a defamation lawsuit against the author.
The Copperbelt Energy Corporation is unhappy with some of the contents in the book and has since dragged Dr Chitala to the High Court seeking damages for defamation.
The energy company contends that the defendant should be answerable for claiming that it had colluded with influential individuals between 2014 and 2021 to disadvantage ZESCO in the power supply business.
It complains in its statement of claim that Dr Chitala accused it of not respecting the Bulk Supply Agreement between it and ZESCO.
Further, Dr Chitala, in the book, alleged that CEC wantonly stopped supplying electricity to domestic customers but instead concentrated on channeling power to mining companies.
CEC contends that allegations leveled against it in the book mean that the plantiff is engaged in bad corporate governance.
It now wants the High Court to compel Dr Chitala to pay exemplary damages for defamtion and any other reliefs the court may deem fit.
After the book was published, CEC, in January this year issued a statement expressing its displeasure over some revelations against it in the piece.