ZESCO PAID $80 MILLION TO CHINA BY MISTAKE – GOVT
Is it Airtel Mobile Money?, Wonders Mwamba.
China Won’t Refund So We’ve asked Exim Bank of China to treat Zesco’s $80m pay as advance debt payment, the Ministry of Finance has said.
Commodity international news outlet Bloomberg and Reuters have reported that Zambia’s Power Utility, ZESCO Ltd erroneously paid a collosal sum of $80million to China.
And the News Diggers reports that Secretary to the Treasury, Felix Nkulukusa, has also confirmed the details stating that Zesco payed Exim Bank of China US$80 million.
However, Nkulukusa has revealed that Zesco did not consult government before making the payment, hence the confusion on the transaction.
“Zesco Ltd had been accumulating revenues from electricity sales in a securitized account from a power plant, Kafue Gorge Lower Power Station, that Chinese companies built and financed, and “unfortunately” transferred about $80 million from the account”, Secretary to the Treasury Felix Nkulukusa said.
Since we owe China a lot of money, China will not even bother to refund the money and Nkulukusa has advised China that the $80million must now be treated as advance payment towards debt payments!
Opposition PF Spokesperson Emmanuel Mwamba has made the following observations to this ordeal.:
No wonder Dr. Situmbeko Musokotwane has presented two unprecedented supplementary budgets in one fiscal year, and has proceeded to recall Parliament to return and approve more National Borrowings Plan.
My questions are;
1. Where are the guard rails at Ministry of Finance, and Bank of Zambia?
2. Citizens have trouble remitting $2,000 as they have to provide lists of documents including ZRA’s Tax Payers Identification Number (T-Pin) for duch a payment to be processed.
3. ZESCO Managing Director and Board have limited mandates and cannot make such a lumpsome and collosal payment without requisite approvals.
I’ve noticed that Nkulukusa is trivialising this huge payment by attributing it to social-media. When did Bloomberg reports become mere social-media talk?
Maybe he thought he was paying into that dirty offshore account in Panama.
You just wonder how many other such “mistakes” they are making.
Vote wisely in 2026.
The mistake is too collosal to be treated as business as usual, heads must roll
This doesnot make sense. Wrongly paying US$80million? That is a colossal mistake. Whoever made that mistake must be fired. How many such wrong payments have we made without detection?
How was this grave mistake made? What corrective and preventive measures have we put in place. Please donot trivialize this matter. It is very serious. It means those in charge of the kitty donot take their jobs seriously.