Siliya has Rupiah's blessings, says Sata

Siliya has Rupiah's blessings, says Sata
Written by Patson Chilemba and Ernest Chanda
The Post, 9 February 2009

PATRIOTIC Front (PF) president Michael Sata yesterday observed that irregularities surrounding the sale of Zamtel have President Rupiah Banda's blessings. And Sata said he is opposed to the privatisation of Zamtel because it is a very serious and strategic institution to the country.

Meanwhile, Speaker of the National Assembly Amusaa Mwanamwambwa on Friday asked the Minister of Communications and Transport to explain the reported award of a contract to RP Capital Partners of Cayman Islands to value ZAMTEL's assets before implementing the partial privatisation of the company.

Commenting on communications minister Dora Siliya's decision to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with RP Capital Partners Limited over the partial privatisation of ZAMTEL shares in total disregard of legal advice from the Attorney General's office, Sata said Siliya disregarded the legal advice because she enjoyed the blessings of President Banda in the manner she was handling the sale of ZAMTEL.

"Dora knows there is nothing [Attorney General Mumba] Malila will do because she's closer than Malila will ever be to Rupiah Banda. Siliya will prefer another one other than Malila to be Attorney General so that they [Siliya and family tree] can enjoy a field day. The young man in charge of privatisation, he can't say anything because he's an endangered species," Sata said. "She [Dora] is an intelligent woman who believes in transparency but she can't do that because she will be fired."

Sata said Siliya, President Banda and his family tree should be made to account for their actions on ZAMTEL.

"The person who should be made to explain is Rupiah Banda. Rupiah Banda employs Siliya. Why is Rupiah Banda quiet when he knows very well what is going on? Let's not waste our message on Dora. Who is Siliya to defy the Attorney General?" Sata asked. "And we can't leave the issue of ZAMTEL to a simple line ministry."

Sata said there was so much deception over the manner in which government intended to privatise ZAMTEL and urged Zambians to stand up for their assets. He said President Banda and Siliya should not be allowed to massacre a strategic national institution such as ZAMTEL.

Sata said President Banda's government was always creating ways of looting public money. He said the family tree, which briefly disappeared with the demise of late president Levy Mwanawasa, had reared its ugly head in President Banda's government.

"Show me one thing in which the family tree is not involved. The family tree is involved in Kasaba Bay, the importation of GMO maize, ZAMTEL. Even the quarrel involving Zambian Airways and Zambezi, the family tree is involved. If you want to find out who is behind Nkwazi Airways, you will know," he said.

Sata said ZAMTEL should not be privatised because it was important both to the security of the nation as well as being a national asset. He said what ZAMTEL needed was political will to enhance its operations.

And Speaker Mwanamwambwa last Friday directed Siliya to explain the reported awarding of a contract to RP Capital Partners to value ZAMTEL's assets before implementing the partial privatisation of the company

This was after a point of order from Kantanshi PF member of parliament Yamfwa Mukanga who sought a ruling on whether the government was in order to give such a contract to a foreign company when there were Zambian companies capable of carrying out such valuation.

As science and technology deputy minister Jonas Shakafuswa was on the floor of the House debating the budget, Mukanga rose on a point of order with a copy of The Post newspaper in his hand.

"I rise on a very serious point of order. I have in my hand a copy of The Post newspaper edition number 4495 of Friday February 6, 2009 in which there is a story indicating that this government has awarded RP Capital Partners of Caymen Islands a US $2 million [about K10.3 billion] contract to value ZAMTEL's assets...Is this government in order to give such a contract without following tender procedures? Mr Speaker, I need your serious ruling on the matter." Mukanga said.

In his ruling, Speaker Mwanamwambwa called on Siliya to clarify more on the matter.

Later in an interview, Mukanga complained that the government had disregarded the law by awarding such a contract without tender procedures.

"I think I am very much concerned and I am very much disappointed. What government is using is taxpayers' money. ZAMTEL is one of the two remaining parastatal companies, how can it go just like that and we are just watching as Zambians? I think we are not going to accept a government which will be following procedures we don't know, from the briefcase, where we see a company is just single sourced and they go and give that company a lot of money," Mukanga said. "US $2 million is a lot of money, a lot of things can be done with that money. If you gave me US $2 million in Kantanshi, you can see a lot of development and people would appreciate. So we are saying 'No' to such procedures and I think it's important that even the offices of the Auditor General should start moving in and finding out, because you will find that when such things are done they are related to corruption. So, it's important that we open our eyes even as Zambians and stop things like that from happening.

"We should find out more because we cannot rule out the fact that some government official wants to benefit from the deal. So it's important that our law enforcement bodies like the Anti Corruption Commission move in and find out what is happening. Why can't they [government] use consultants that we have in Zambia? Why can't they use PriceWaterHouse Coopers? Why can't they use Deloitte? Why should they go out and give contracts to foreign companies when we have our own?" asked Mukanga.

And National Union of Communication Workers president Patrick Kaonga yesterday appealed to President Banda to clarify on the future of ZAMTEL and its workers.

"Our main appeal is for the Republican President to come out in the open and tell the Zambians, particularly the workers of ZAMTEL, what is their future? ZAMTEL is a very strategic company for the development of Zambia. We can't allow it to go down. Our cry is please recapitalise ZAMTEL as soon as possible because any further delay, this company will go down. We all know that ZAMTEL has been undergoing a lot of financial problems dating back to 2001, but now it has come to where the company is making big losses," said Kaonga. "And there are a lot of contributing factors to that. One is that government liberalised the telecom industry without preparing ZAMTEL for that liberalisation. They should have injected a lot of money in the company at that time to help it compete with the new players on the market. We just can't imagine a situation where 3,000 ZAMTEL employees lose their jobs. That is a very big number by Zambian standards."

Malila has strongly criticised Siliya's decision to proceed to sign an MoU with RP Capital Partners Limited over the partial privatization of ZAMTEL shares in total disregard of legal advice from his office.

According to well-placed sources in the Ministry of Communication and Transport, late last year the permanent secretary in the ministry had written to the Attorney General's chambers seeking legal advice on the MoU that the ministry intended to sign with RP Capital Partners Limited of Cayman Islands.

In response, acting principal counsel Inonge Kwenda Mweene, on behalf of the Solicitor General, wrote to the permanent secretary on the matter.

Despite legal advice, Siliya on December 22, 2008 signed the MoU with RP Capital on behalf of the Zambian government without making the amendments to the MoU.

However, Malila in his letter dated January 5, 2009 to the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Communication and Transport advised that the MoU be nullified and that the necessary processes be followed.

According to the MoU, RP Capital had been 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 Communication 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 Capital a 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.

Sources in the Ministry of Communication and Transport said President Banda's son, Henry, is one of the contact persons for RP Capital Partners Limited and he has attended a few meetings at the Ministry.

However, when contacted last Friday, Henry said he had no comment on the matter.