Kansanshi Mining Plc, Solwezi council to sign tax rebates deal

Kansanshi Mining Plc, Solwezi council to sign tax rebates deal
By Chris Mulaliki in Solwezi
Friday July 06, 2007 [04:00]

SOLWEZI Municipal Council is in the process of signing a memorandum of understanding with Kansanshi Mining Plc on tax rebates to ensure meaningful development in the district. Solwezi mayor Emmanuel Chihili told a full council meeting that the local authority and Kansanshi Mining were working on an MOU to be presented to government for approval.

“We are in a process of making a memorandum of understanding between Kansanshi Mining Plc and the council on tax rebates and present it to central government for approval so that more meaningful development is achieved,” Chihili told councillors.

Chihili who is an employee of Kansanshi Mining said concerned by the council over Kansanshi Foundation’s social responsibility had been addressed.

He challenged the council management to present projects it felt could be embarked on next year. And Chihili bemoaned the poor accounting system at the council, as there were no internal controls to safeguard the resources of the local authority.

He said despite the council receiving at least K2.1 billion from various sources, council programmes were not prioritised. Chihili said the external audit report for the period 1st January 2005 to February 28, 2006, revealed that record keeping was poor, revenue collection not closely monitored while payments were also not checked.

“According to the findings, we are told that our accounting system was non-existent for the period under review. Internal controls to safeguard the resources of the council were not put in place,” he said.