Katema asks govt to protect Zambians from KCM
Katema asks govt to protect Zambians from KCMBy Kabanda Chulu in Kitwe
Sat 15 Jan. 2011, 04:00 CAT
CHINGOLA parliamentarian Joseph Katema says the government should protect the lives of Zambians from KCM’s quest to reap abnormal profits at the expense of polluting the environment.
And some government officials have said Chamber of Mines of Zambia general manager Frederick Bantubonse is a wrong person to sit on the Environmental Council of Zambia (ECZ) board.
Reacting to the latest pollution incident where Konkola Copper Mines has polluted the Kafue River with preliminary ECZ results indicating a presence of heavy metals in the River, Katema said government should intervene and protect the lives of people especially Chingola residents.
“These are the issues we expected Vice-President George Kunda to address when he visited Chingola but he kept quiet and focused on trivial issues and when government keeps quiet people will draw up conclusions that government is ‘eating’ those abnormal profits with KCM because why should government turn a blind eye when KCM is polluting the environment at the expense of making profits,” Katema said.
“We want somebody senior like Vice-President Kunda or President Banda to take leadership and demand substantial compensation from KCM the way President Obama did with BP during the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico .”
[Nice hope, except that the MMD is bought and paid for. - Mrk]
And Chingola’s Twatasha Ward councillor George Sichula accused the MMD government of having a ‘dirty covenant’ with KCM.
“This is why KCM is doing everything with impunity and it is not only polluting the environment but also disregarding labour laws and related Zambian regulations,” said Sichula.
“Since we have weak laws that results in K21 million fines, government should put in place measures that will compel offenders pay compensation towards victims and rehabilitation of affected area.”
And Nchanga parliamentarian Wilbur Simuusa said continued pollution of the environment by KCM was getting out of hand.
“It is barely a few weeks after a similar incident occurred and it is strange that this is happening only in Zambia because where Vedanta (KCM holding company) operates they follow regulations but here KCM is putting at risk the lives of many people,” said Simuusa.
And some government officials said Bantubonse should be removed from the ECZ board where he is the vice-chairperson.
“ Bantubonse is representing the chamber of mines where he is general manager and is saying the law should be lenient in addressing cases of environmental pollution. But in another breath, he is on ECZ board where he has to push for higher penalties for environmental pollution. Since 2009 or so, ECZ has had no board chairperson, so in essence, Bantubonse is the ECZ chairperson. He appeared at Parliament and made submissions that the law should be considerate on pollution. But ECZ, which he represents, the council is saying the law is not deterrent enough. Companies that pollute are charged very small amount,” said one official.
The official said there was clear conflict of interest on Bantubonse’s part.
Labels: FREDERICK BANTUBONSE, JOSEPH KATEMA, KCM, POLLUTION
posted by MrK @ 8:46 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home