´Show us the Memo from Attorney General´
…on Mopani transaction Kalaba dares Chipoka
04.04.24
Harry Kalaba, the leader of Citizen´s First has challenged Chipoka Mulenga, the Minister of Commer and Trade to provide evidence showing that the Attorney General of Zambia Kabesha Mulilo ´okayed´ the illegal sale or transfer of 51 pc shares of Zambia in Mopani Copper Mines to the Dubai based company International Resources Holdings (IRH).
Kalaba was reacting to an interview Mulenga had on KBNTV Wednesday where he said the “Attorney General, Solicitor General and Finance Minister” are privy to the controversial sale of the 51 pc shares without passing the transaction via the National assembly of Zambia as required per Article 210 of the country´s constitution.
“What we know is that a state of huge value such a mining company must be greenlighted by parliament via a two thirds majority,” Kalaba, a former legislator said, “we know that this did not happen and if that did not happen the AG as the chief legal advisor of the government must have signed it off from what hon. Mulenga said, the AG is fully aware of this transaction so we challenge him to show the Zambian public who own this asset to show us the AG´s consent to the transaction.”
Kalaba said “if the AG did not sign off this transaction, then it renders it illegal subject to court action and immediate reversal and sanctions against against whoever sold this jewel in the crown of our nation. We need the evidence in form of a memo by the AG to support Mr Mulenga´s claim on KBNTV.”
The offloading of a 51pc stake in MCM has engulfed the Zambian and international media space as private lawyers and opposition members of parliament seek answers as to whether President Hakainde Hichilema´s government committed an offence in selling the shares of the company to a firm that was only registered in 2022 against the laws of Zambia.
Mulenga, alongside his Mines Ministry counterpart Kabuswe have visited almost all media houses in Zambia and pleaded that contrary to popular belief allegedly fuelled by the opposition, “the 51 pc shares have not been sold they have “only been transferred” to an ´equity partner´ in the name of IRH but no evidence has been proffered to the Zambian public.
Lusaka lawyer Celestine Mukandila has commenced legal action to establish whether the ´sale´ is legal or not while attempts by the Zambian parliament to discuss the matter have been thwarted after an ´urgent matter´ on the same issue was raised by Chilubi Island legislator Mulenga Fube in parliament.
Kalaba, a leading member of the United Kwacha Alliance (UKA) said the Hichilema government must be held accountable for constitutional breaches before they sell off the entire country and take Zambia back to the stone age of lawlessness.
“We have been a country of laws from independence almost 60 years ago but now we are dangerously sliding into anarchy being perpetrated by an arrogant government, as opposition we shall not allow this…show us the AG´s consent to sell our shares in the mine and we shall keep quite it is as simple as that. Stop taking Zambians for granted,” Kalaba said.
Kalaba said the list of constitutional breaches on President Hichilema´s watch keep rising since he assumed office starting from the signing up of an electric vehicle supply chain deal with the United States and Congo, the bringing on board of the US American combatant mission in Zambia AFRICOM, the return of debt-ridden Vedanta to Konkola Copper Mines and now IRH with MCM.
“When will the illegalities stop while Zambians wallow in poverty as the Hichilema government pawns its assets for a song, including crucial basics such as 1,4 million tons of maize that have now left us in a position where we have to import the same maize at a higher prize as six million Zambians face starvation,” said Kalaba.
Kalaba asked the government to, “please explain when a ´sell is a sell´ to calm Zambians.”
Although Zambia is Africa´s second largest producer of copper, 64 pc of its population live in abject poverty prompting news outlets such as the Financial Times to call it a “mineral rich dirt-poor country” under President Hichilema.
The sixth President of Zambia Mr Edgar Lungu made moves to have Zambia own a stake in the copper mines that have been swiftly reversed by his successor President Hichilema amidst protests from the opposition and civil society.
Ends.