Maravi

Rise up and defend parastatals from MMD abuse - Shamenda

Rise up and defend parastatals from MMD abuse - Shamenda
By Moses Kuwema
Thu 09 June 2011, 04:01 CAT

ZAMBIANS should rise up and defend parastatal institutions from being abused by the MMD government, says Fackson Shamenda.

Commenting on the raging debate on President Rupiah Banda’s announcement recently that Zesco Limited would install solar geysers free of charge to all interested customers, Shamenda said good governance was not only about holding free and fair elections but it also touched on the abuse of state institutions.

“This is very unfortunate; that is why institutions such as the IMF International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have been calling for the privatisation of parastatal institutions because they are scared of this same type of abuse through political interference.

That is why these days, there is no sense of ownership from the public on these parastatal institutions because they have been turned into MMD institutions,” said Shamenda, who is former Zambia Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) president.

He said economic abuse which was currently happening at Zesco was dangerous as it resulted in the suffering of people, something he said should be condemned in the strongest terms.

Shamenda said the current abuse of parastatal institutions should be used as a campaign issue this year.

“Those who are aspiring for the higher positions should promise that there will be no abuse of public institutions. This is the worst ever abuse of parastatal institutions we have seen in this country.

I used to sit on some of the boards of these parastatal institutions in 1991 but this abuse was not there, this time around it’s a disaster,” he said.

He said it was embarrassing for professionals at Zesco to be defending what was indefensible adding that this was as a result of them lacking ‘spines’.

On Tuesday, assistant parish priest for Kitwe’s Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Father Anthony Salangeta called on Zesco to stop borrowing money from financial institutions on the pretext of increasing productivity since it had excess money to finance MMD operations.

Fr Salangeta called for an end to the abuse of public institutions that benefit a few individuals in President Banda's government.

“This is what we mean when we say there must be fairness in the way resources are distributed in this country, in the way the law is applied in the country, in the way ZNBC, Zambia Daily Mail and Times of Zambia are being used in this country. This is hypocrisy of the worst kind.

Time and again we hear Zesco borrowing so much from the World Bank to renovate this and that, to increase production, to enhance operations and they say the company has no money of their own to do those things but suddenly they have money to do campaign projects for the MMD in an election year. This is unacceptable from a public institution which is financed by the public with divergent political views and inclinations,” said Fr Salangeta.

Labels: FACKSON SHAMENDA, MMD, PARASTATALS, RUPIAH BANDA, SEPARATION OF POWERS

posted by MrK @ 6:30 PM