Maravi

Give the ‘nonsense’ some serious reflection, Kavindele advises Rupiah

Give the ‘nonsense’ some serious reflection, Kavindele advises Rupiah
Written by George Chellah
Wednesday, February 11, 2009 9:51:35 AM

FORMER Republican vice-president Enoch Kavindele yesterday advised President Rupiah Banda to take Attorney General Mumba Malila's advice on the partial privatisation of ZAMTEL to avoid problems in future.

Commenting on President Banda's description as nonsense the argument that communications minister Dora Siliya was handling the privatisation of ZAMTEL illegally, Kavindele warned against the mishandling of the privatization of ZAMTEL. He advised President Banda to learn from the circumstances that led to the removal of former president Frederick Chiluba's immunity.

Kavindele also said Siliya should not think that she is too powerful as a minister.

“ZAMTEL is so strategic a company to this country that it just can't be sold like that. My advice, or the correct thing to do is to follow the Attorney General's advice. Procedure has to be followed,” Kavindele said.

“Any short circuiting in procedure will in future cause problems, some people would have left government but these problems will follow them. The President may be getting alternative advice to that given by the Attorney General from various sources for different reasons, but he should know that a lot of people will advise him to suit their own agenda.”

Kavindele advised President Banda to learn from the circumstances that led to the removal of Chiluba's immunity.

“Dr Chiluba's immunity was removed not by those in opposition but people he himself painstakingly identified and financed to stand for elections as members of parliament for they didn't have the money to do so. The very people he gave money and vehicles for campaigns later turned around and removed his immunity,” Kavindele said. “The very ones who appeared to be in support of what Dr Chiluba did were the first ones to remove his immunity. I remember as leader of government business in the House then, I could see two female opposition members of parliament sobbing when they were lifting Dr Chiluba's immunity.

“The opposition members of parliament were the ones who were defending Dr Chiluba, and not those who were supporting him when he was doing certain things. President Banda has no choice in this matter but to do a correct thing, which is to take advice from the Attorney General. That's the only alternative.”

Kavindele said the privatisation of ZAMTEL should go beyond Cabinet.

“It must be debated in Parliament. We have done that before. For instance, when ZCCM was being privatised, Anglo America insisted that the President's signature was not enough. It had to be debated in Parliament and a law be put in place and it was done,” Kavindele said.

He insisted that President Banda should just take the advice of the Attorney General seriously.

“Any other statements being made…people have various interests to protect. Parliament needs to be involved and the procedure of privatization is all laid down and it cannot be circumvented. I am also speaking as former minister of commerce and industry at the time when companies were being privatised. Whether those that have commented are saying nonsense, this time let the President give the nonsense some serious reflection,” Kavindele said.

Asked what could be done in an event where the Attorney General's advice was ignored by the President, Kavindele answered:

“A concerned citizen can write to the Chief Justice asking him to appoint a tribunal under the Parliamentary and Ministerial Code of Conduct, in which case the minister will appear there as an individual being challenged on the basis of breaking and breaching the laws she has sworn to defend. This has happened in two previous tribunals where the late Dr Remmy Mushota, the late Gorden Mandandi and Dr Peter Machungwa were removed from Cabinet, not by the President but by the tribunal appointed by the Chief Justice.”

Kavindele continued:

“So if the tribunal says the minister is found guilty of breaching her constitutional obligations, that's it. The President will have no say and that will further complicate the privatisation of ZAMTEL, which they are trying to save.”

Kavindele cautioned President Banda against taking advice from certain people he did not name.

“I know many people will be going there persuading the President to use shortcuts in achieving this goal. But those will be first ones when it suits them to condemn the President. It has happened before with the case of Dr Chiluba, like I have said before, who was no doubt a very popular MMD president that time,” Kavindele said.

Kavindele said Siliya should not think that she is too powerful in her position as a minister.

“Today, there are many ex-government officials including ministers who are going to court not that they stole but they breached tender procedures. For example, Katele Kalumba and Stella Chibanda… and Samuel Musonda, the ex-ZANACO managing director, was convicted for breaching tender procedures. Precedents have been set in this country, so Dora should not think she is too powerful,” Kavindele said. “The late Dr Lemmy Mushota was a powerful member of Cabinet who almost single-handedly wrote the Constitution which barred Dr Kenneth Kaunda from standing for the 1996 elections. The late Mandandi, Machungwa and Katele were very powerful men in Chiluba's administration and were in fact members of the kitchen or inner cabinet.”

Kavindele said his attempts to meet President Banda over the privatisation of ZAMTEL have been in vain.

“I know that some people will try and attack me that 'Kavindele is a very senior member of the party so why didn't he meet the President and advise him?' But I want to say that when rumours about RP Capital Partners Limited and ZAMTEL started, I sort an appointment to advise the President on this and also share my experiences with him. I am the last elected vice-president of the party. I served in Parliament for 21 years and served in these ministerial positions, so I have the experience. But the appointment hasn't been given yet. I am still waiting,” he said.

Kavindele said the government, to a large extent, was responsible for ZAMTEL's financial problems.

“ZAMTEL needs money to be injected but the government needs to pay bills. The government is the biggest debtor of ZAMTEL,” Kavindele said.

Addressing the press before leaving for Tanzania on Monday, President Banda said Siliya was on the right track regarding the partial privatisation of ZAMTEL.

"As to the argument that she did it illegally, that is nonsense. First of all, when the Attorney General gives an opinion, he does not give the opinion to the public. The opinion given by the Attorney General is given to the particular client. If the Vice-President writes to the Attorney General and say 'I want your opinion on this', the Attorney General must write that letter to him. And if the minister writes to the Attorney General, the Attorney General must reply to her, not to the public," President Banda said. "So just that should worry you as Zambians that your country has become so lawlessness that everything that is discussed in government offices, letters are exchanged and proliferated and given to the whole world? How are you going to run this country? It is something which, again, falls in the line of indiscipline, which means that there is a lot of indiscipline around. People are peddling government documents. So we will find a way to stop this."

President Banda said Siliya should be given the opportunity to explain the issue in Parliament. He said Siliya was smarter than some of the people questioning her.

According to the MoU, RP Capital had been single sourced and contracted by the Zambian government to provide consultancy services to the government in connection with valuation of ZAMTEL for purposes of the potential sale of government shares in ZAMTEL, assistance in negotiations with prospective acquirers in conjunction with the government team and project management of the potential ZAMTEL sale process working with the Ministry of Communications and Transport and/or the Zambia Development Agency (ZDA), as the case may be.

The MoU further stated that the Zambian government shall pay to RP fee amounting to five [5] per cent of the negotiated amount and would get US $2 million [about K10.3 billion] as transaction fees at the end of the transaction.

The MoU stated that RP Capital Partners Limited would be reimbursed the expenses it would incur in air tickets, accommodation charges, sundries, report production and communication charges.

Labels: CORRUPTION, DORA SILIYA, ENOCH KAVINDELE, PRIVATISATION, RP CAPITAL PARTNERS, RUPIAH BANDA, ZAMTEL

posted by MrK @ 9:51 AM