Bring back windfall tax bill to Parliament - Sinda MP

Bring back windfall tax bill to Parliament - Sinda MP
Written by Kabanda Chulu

OPPOSITION FDD Sinda member of parliament Levy Ngoma has challenged President Rupiah Banda and his government to match their rhetoric with actions on how Zambians must benefit from the copper mining industry.

Reacting to President Banda’s comments that laws governing the mines were not totally fair to Zambians, Ngoma last week said there was no way the MMD government could be talking about maintaining the legacy of president Levy Mwanawasa when they scrapped the windfall tax for the mines (which the late leader stood for).

He said the government would have nothing to lose if it decided to bring back the windfall tax bill to Parliament because natural resources were a gift from God and all Zambians should benefit.

“This government should reconsider its position over the windfall tax for the mines and what President Banda said last week is not correct and if they want to talk about the legacy of Mwanawasa then the MMD government should bring back that bill because that is what Mwanawasa stood for and I still remember when he (Mwanawasa) came to parliament and pleaded with MPs to pass the windfall tax regime so that Zambians can benefit. But a few months in office, the Rupiah Banda led government decided to do away with what Mwanawasa stood for because they were arm twisted by the so called investors hence bringing the variable tax, but at whose benefit are we encouraging this kind of tax? So, government should match its rhetoric with actions over the mining industry especially that natural resources like copper are God-given and all Zambians must benefit in one way or another.”

He said any reasonable government would have done something for its people by bringing back the windfall mining tax regime to parliament especially that copper prices were rising.

“This has nothing to do with politics and the reasoning then was that copper prices were low but we told them to sustain the windfall tax in the statutory books but they could not listen. Even the most eloquent Ministers like Felix Mutati failed to debate properly because they knew that it is wrong to remove the windfall tax regime,” said Ngoma. “Now that copper prices are increasing, what is the position of this government because we understand that a good tax regime entails that ordinary citizens have maximum benefits from God given resources.”

And Patriotic Front (PF) chairperson for labour Davies Mwila has advised the MMD government to be consistent with whatever they were doing about the mining industry.

Mwila challenged President Banda’s government to be consistent with the tax regime over the mining sector and not just complain about what the investors were doing.

“We complained about the removal of the windfall tax regime and explained that the mines can only pay if the price is above US $ 5,000 per tonne but then copper prices were below US $ 4,000 per tonne so where was the justification for the removal?” Mwila asked. “This government must be consistent in whatever they are doing especially the taxes relating to the mining sector, which we think should be in the longer term and this situation whereby the MMD government are shifting goal posts.”

He said copper prices were increasing and Zambians could not benefit since the MMD government was not serious about the governance of this country.

“It is not fair to Zambians because we told them to maintain the tax regime but the government listened to investors and why should President Banda complain when his government did not want to listen, actually it’s a kind of hypocrisy to complain because if they are serious enough let them bring back the windfall tax Bill to parliament instead of complaining but not doing anything,” said Mwila.

Officiating at the 28th general conference of the Council of Churches in Zambia (CCZ) at Mulungushi University in Kabwe last week, President Banda said Zambians wanted most of the money investors put in their pockets.

“We are working very hard to try and resolve this problem of the laws that govern our mining in our country because we see that it's not totally fair to us. But at the same time, you don't want to take everything from them so that they don't find it interesting to remain in Zambia,” President Banda said. “We need to make prudent laws, to make sure that they don't take advantage of our people. And I think most investors, proper investors, do not mind fair laws being put in place to protect the citizens of that country.”

However, there have been some inconsistencies in the current MMD government over laws relating to the mining sector. For instance, finance minister Situmbeko Musokotwane in his budget speech announced the introduction of a 15 per cent export levy on copper concentrates to encourage the utilization of local smelting capacity in a bid to create employment.

But the same government through the ministry of mines have allowed First Quantum Minerals, the owners of Kansanshi Mines to be exporting copper concentrates through a tax waiver despite the country having enough smelting capacity at Nchanga, Mufulira, Nkana and Chambishi Copper Smelter.