Maravi

Banda must stop the rot over Zamtel – Mpombo

Banda must stop the rot over Zamtel – Mpombo
By George Chellah
Fri 30 Oct. 2009, 04:01 CAT

FORMER defence minister George Mpombo yesterday said President Rupiah Banda must stop the rot over Zamtel.

And Patriotic Front (PF) leader Michael Sata has warned the companies bidding to buy Zamtel that the PF-UPND government will reverse the sale without any compensation once voted into power.

Commenting on the revelation that President Banda through his advisors Dr Richard Chembe and Joseph Jalasi are pressuring Zesco to hand-over its optic fibre network, Mpombo described the transaction as one fraught with a lot of dangers for the country.

"The President must stop the rot on Zamtel. The picture being painted is very frightening. Having foreigners to be in charge of a security installation...this is the deal that should be called off. So that maybe we can also level the playing field," Mpombo said.

"I can see RP Capital becoming what is referred to as 'economic plundering cubs' because you check their conduct elsewhere, which has been condemned."

Mpombo said as former energy minister, he could clearly state that the statement from Zesco over the optic fibre network was just an afterthought after The Post exposed the skirmishes behind the transaction.

"It was government policy at that time that Zesco should lay the optic fibre network than Zamtel. In fact, there was even a meeting where the two ministers, that's myself from energy and Mr Abel Chambeshi by then he was transport and communications minister," Mpombo explained.

"It was agreed that Zesco should go ahead with the project because they where fighting on who should do it. That's how Zesco went and contracted a Chinese company for the project. So it's important that Zesco is left with the optic fibre network and it should not be tampered with. These are sensitive issues."

He said since Zamtel was being sold, Zesco should keep its optic fibre network.
"The nature of the optic fibre network... these are sensitive security installations so they can't be entrusted in the hands of foreigners. If there are any attempts, they should be stopped. We should not pander to the whims of foreigners who are here to make quick money," Mpombo advised.

"We should move cautiously. RP Capital, wherever they have worked, have left a trail of economic destruction. We should not allow the country to be subjected to some sort of economic balkanisation under the auspices of privatisation."

He said there was no way you could appoint foreigners as managers in a critical transaction like Zamtel.

"It's a blunder of major proportion because when it comes to recommending they will appoint friends. Let's move in a very transparent manner. And State House should disengage from this transaction," Mpombo said.

"These issues of people having meetings...this is a critical installation and must be handled very carefully. You can see that there is a lot of international lobbying going on. That's why this transaction must be handled with extreme caution."

Mpombo said the manner in which the Zamtel transaction was being handled does not give confidence to the people.

"Let's ask ourselves, which country in the SADC region has ever taken this route?" Mpombo asked.

And Sata said the PF/UPND would not protect the corruption over Zamtel once they attain office.

"We will reverse the whole thing without compensation. Even those that have bidded and they want to buy it must be careful because we will reverse it without compensation. Zambians have enormous experience with privatisation and we will not be fooled again," Sata said.

"Zambians will not allow any fraudulent corrupt decision to rob them of their national assets. Rupiah and the buyers should be very careful on Zamtel because 20 months from today there won't be any conflicts between the nation and the Judiciary like what's happening at the moment."

He said the MMD government had been lying to Zambians on privatisation.

"We were also told that with new capital the mines will be viable. How many redundancies are we seeing on the mines?" asked Sata.

"The same MMD government went ahead and sold Zambia Railways and brought in Railway Systems of Zambia which is worse. It's not performing as much as ZRA used to when it was under the late Anderson Mazoka. Anybody that is involved in Zamtel will regret."

Labels: GEORGE MPOMBO, NEOLIBERALISM, PF-UPND, PRIVATISATION, RP CAPITAL PARTNERS, RUPIAH BANDA, SATA, ZAMTEL

posted by MrK @ 4:51 AM