Maravi

Zambian Airways is not a special airline – Siliya

Zambian Airways is not a special airline – Siliya
Written by Agness Changala and Katwishi Bwalya
Thursday, January 22, 2009 9:37:11 AM

TRANSPORT and communications minister Dora Siliya on Wednesday told Parliament that Zambian Airways is not a special airline in the industry to have its debt deferred to another five years.

In a ministerial statement to Parliament, Siliya said government had learnt lessons from Zambia Airways’ case, adding that it would now put in place stringent measures before licensing an airline.

“The airline was not a member of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and this is contrary to the regulation stipulated in the license that Zambian Airways was holding,” Siliya told Parliament.

She said Zambian Airways was not a special case to have its debt deferred, saying that would mean discriminating against other airlines who had also complained of high operational costs.

“Besides the government does not even have a policy that talks about deferring debt and this is why the proposal which was put on the table to defer the debt was rejected because it was just political,” said Siliya amid shouts from several members of parliament who shouted “just prosecute them.”

Siliya said government would mitigate job losses created by Zambian Airways’ suspension of operations by allowing more investments in the aviation industry which would provide an opportunity for the workers to get jobs from other airlines.

She said even if government had the money to spare, it would not bail out Zambian Airways because it would only benefit few individuals who were shareholders in the company.

“Even if there was US $30 million, I would rather put that money to more pressing developmental projects like hospitals, schools road infrastructure,” said Siliya.

But several members of parliament took Siliya to task for allowing Zambian Airways to accrue an alleged debt of about US $29 million.

Sinazongwe UPND member of parliament Raphael Muyanda urged the government to prosecute directors and shareholders of Zambian Airways for “defrauding the Zambian people of their money”.

“Mr. Speaker, Post Newspapers’ 30 percent shareholding in the airline is not just a mere shareholding but a major controlling player in the airline,” he said. “Post Newspaper is an outrageous company which was allowed to have shares in the airline and I urge you as government to prosecute the directors and shareholders of Zambian Airways because the Post is a dirty company.”

And Patriotic Front Luapula member of parliament Peter Machungwa wondered why the airline was allowed to borrow when it had no assets as sureties.

“It is clear from the statement that the company was operating above the law, because first of all it was not a member of IATA, and why did the government allow it to borrow and accrue this debt for this long?” Machungwa asked.

At this point, Patriotic Front member of parliament for Lusaka Central Guy Scott wondered why Siliya was contradicting President Rupiah Banda who had repeatedly said the government would not allow any mining company to go down and consequently loss of jobs for Zambians.

But Bahati Patriotic Front member of parliament Besa Chimbaka said some sections of society claimed that former finance minister Ng’andu Magande had the best solutions to the problems facing the airline and wondered why the same solution could not be applied.

And UPND Itezhi-Itezhi member of parliament Godfrey Beene asked Siliya to tell the House that it was not the government’s obligation to bail out private companies.

Labels: DORA SILIYA, IATA, ZAMBIAN AIRWAYS

posted by MrK @ 9:39 AM