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It’s morally wrong for Rupiah to justify Zamtel sale – Kabimba

It’s morally wrong for Rupiah to justify Zamtel sale – Kabimba
By George Chellah
Sun 13 June 2010, 04:40 CAT

PATRIOTIC Front (PF) secretary general Wynter Kabimba yesterday said it is morally wrong for President Rupiah Banda to justify the sale of Zamtel especially that his son, Henry, is one of the architects of the deal.

Reacting to President Banda’s statement that the partial privatisation of Zamtel to Lap Green Networks of Libya can be viewed as being the most successful in Zambia’s history, Kabimba dismissed President Banda’s assertions.

“As one of the lawyers that participated in the Dora Siliya tribunal, I strongly feel that RB is not the right person to justify the sale of Zamtel to the Zambians. It is morally wrong for him to do that because one of his sons, Henry was actually mentioned during the tribunal proceedings. And that evidence was not disputed by Dora or any of the witnesses on her side that Henry was one of the architects of the deal through RP Capital,” Kabimba said.

“It is for this reason that as opposition we are convinced that the sale of Zamtel is political and not economical. Politics has been overriding consideration in this transaction.

The best RB can do instead of looking at Zambians like they are fools in his eyes he should just keep quiet. The Shonas have a proverb, which says ‘kunyarara akusi kutaura’ meaning the fact that we are silent does not mean we are not talking and that’s what the people of Zambia are doing over Zamtel.

“But I am sure that come 2011, they will be able to speak to RB and the MMD very, very loudly. The Nigerians also have an interesting saying to the effect that ‘true wealth will always find its way back to its true owners. And that’s what will happen with Zamtel.”

He said no amount of justification about the sale of Zamtel would actually make sense to Zambians.

“The reason given by RB to the House of Chiefs in a manner of really playing patronage to our traditional leaders was that Zamtel was collapsing financially. However, what he has not told the nation is that the so-called financial collapse by Zamtel was caused by government because government was the biggest debtor of Zamtel,” Kabimba said.

“Government ministries and departments did not pay Zamtel bills even as they are the biggest consumers of Zamtel services. It’s that indebtedness by government to Zamtel and the manner in which the transaction was consummated that clearly shows every Zambian that this is a deal made by government in bad faith and against the interest of the Zambian people.”

He rejected President Banda’s assertion that the opposition should not politicise the sale.

“What RB fails to understand as President is that the disposal of public assets in which all the Zambians have an interest cannot only be a financial transaction without politics. The fact that Zamtel was a public institution means that its disposal is underpinned by politics.

This was the case in Britain under Margaret Thatcher where privatization became a driving force of the Thatcher economic policy,” Kabimba said.

“The politics of that privatization programme was to the extent that the British government in certain transactions deliberately excluded some European and American companies from participating.

Not because these companies didn’t have the money but because politically it was not in the interest of the British people for these companies to compete with either British companies or those companies that were allied with British economic interests. So to suggest that you can divorce politics from the sale of Zamtel is a clear sign of ignorance about the philosophy of privatization in this global world.”

On the welfare of Zamtel employees, Kabimba said the truth on the matter was that the redundance package was imposed on the employees by the government in its bid to please the buyers of Zamtel.

“RB also gave a reason to the chiefs that the sale of Zamtel was good because it now means that Zamtel will spread its network wider than ever before and that mobile companies will be able to use Zamtel facilities to put up antennas in remote parts of Zambia.

This theory of development is astonishing. What the people of Zambia need be it in rural areas or the urban areas is not telephone communications system as a priority but a good health care system and a good education system,” Kabimba said.

“And those two complimented together would enhance the life expectancy of an ordinary Zambian which has dropped from 65 years to 37 years during the era of the MMD government.

The Cubans for example, a country which RB visited recently and one would hope that he had learnt something from there, have a life expectancy of 78 years and yet they only got access to mobile phones about two years ago.

“The reason being that from the triumph of the Cuban revolution in January 1959, they have invested heavily in education and the health care system.”

Labels: PRIVATISATION, RUPIAH BANDA, WYNTER KABIMBA, ZAMTEL

posted by MrK @ 4:41 AM