Plunder of National Resources
By Amb. Emmanuel Mwamba
Corporate theft is hard to detect. It is complicated. The victim in this case is always the Government’s Treasury that is attacked from multiple sources using sophisticated illegal schemes.
Let’s take the current matter around Bank of Zambia.
Zambia has 249 private pension schemes registered with the Pension and Insurance Authority(PIA).
And Zambia also has eight (😎 licenced registered pension fund managers and administrators that include African Life Financial Services (Benefits Consulting Services), Madison Life Insurance Company Zambia Limited, ZSIC Life, Prudential Pensions Management Zambia and others.
African Life Financial Services(ALFS) associated with President Hakainde Hichilema has taken centre stage and was recently awarded as fund manager, the $35million Environmental Protection Fund run by Ministry of Mines and Minerals Development.
The National Pension Scheme Authority(NAPSA) has stashed most of its pension savings in banks and offshore accounts abroad. This is in billions of dollars.
They are attempts to create specifically a fund manager for NAPSA to manage these assets.
We need to watch that process.
ALFS owns the Saturnia Regna Pension Fund. This is one of Zambia’s largest private pension fund manger and has created a pension fund trust which provides pension plans of workers for over 200 corporate companies covering about 35,000 workers.
Recently Bank of Zambia Pension Fund, the Kwacha Pension Trust Fund is said to have been taken to ALFS for fund management.
Kwacha Pension Trust Fund is a single employer pension trust that manages pension on behalf of its members, who comprise former and current employees of the Bank of Zambia.
Since Monday, rumours have been swirling around that the Bank of Zambia Governor, Dr. Denny Kalyalya had resigned over this decision and other repeated and perversive interferences despite the entrenched autonomy that Bank of Zambia as a Central Bank enjoys by law and practice.
I am always surprised that while the media is preoccupied with trivial stories, quoting speeches and covering talking heads, a detailed plunder of national resources is always underway!
ZCCM-IH reputed Board Chairperson, Dolika Banda suddenly resigned shortly after ZCCM-IH Board approved and validated the contraversial conversion of its 20% dividend interests in Kansanshi Copper and Gold Mine to an annual 3.1% royalty payment.
The ZCCM-IH Minority shares have called for criminal investigations in what appears to be a corrupt deal.
Industrial Development Corporation(IDC), one of the key implementing agencies and edtablished to spearhead industrial development, had its board members; Arthur Ndlovu and Nitesh Patel removed by President Hichilema shortly before an important board meeting.
In December 2022, I felt frustrated that a roomful of journalists covering a media briefing by Minister of Finance, Hon. Dr. Situmbeko Musokotwane, who was defending the conversion of 20% dividend benefits of ZCCM-IH to a 3.1% royalty payment couldn’t ask pertinent questions.
Musokotwane announced that the Government had directed that criminal charges against FQM Directors who were facing fraud charges of externalising $2.5billion from Kansanshi Copper and Gold Mine, ZCCM-IH be dropped. Further Musokotwane announced that other civil claims by ZCCM-IH against FQM that were in court would be dropped too.
ZCCM-IH or Musokotwane or any other person had no such powers to drop criminal charges.
Further no one bothered to ask what other mechanism would be used on how the $2.5billion would be recovered.
Infact,it became the ultimate goal to cover up the theft of $2.5billion from Kansanshi under the guise that a sweet deal for Zambia was being done on the conversion of ZCCM-IH dividend interests.
Again no one bothered to ask what new tax benefits, other incentives and tax holidays were awarded to the FQM and the mining sector.
The $70million medicines payment that was about to be illegally repatriated to Egypt to a procurement agency and pushed hard by the Minister of Health, Sylvia Masebo and supported by State House may die a natural death.
Recently President Hichilema has brought and has been pushing investment in the power sector. No one is asking at what rate ZESCO is signing these power purchase agreements especially that these new independent power producers investments are being pushed by State House.
The power purchase agreements that ZESCO is being made to sign are long-term and cover years from 15years to 30 years.
I wish we paid more attention even to decisions such as the sale of the presidential jet and government luxury motor vehicles that will purposefully be sold at huge collasal losses.
So if there is a matter occuring at the Central Bank, where the Governor is threatening resignation, we need to shine the spotlight and establish the truth as Government will not willingly release information as seen in other cases.
Rumours can only be quenched by establishing the truth.
The State is always determined to keep the facts away from the prying eyes of journalists and the public, while it should be the sacred duty of the media to peel away the secrecy,lies and cover-ups.