Sale of Zamtel was against national interest - Kabimba

Sale of Zamtel was against national interest - Kabimba
By Kombe Chimpinde in Lusaka and Henry Chibulu in Mazabuka
Sat 07 Jan. 2012, 14:00 CAT

THE sale of 75 per cent shares in Zamtel to LAP Green was against the interests and security of the state, says Wynter Kabimba.

Featuring on Radio Phoenix's Let The People Talk phone-in programme yesterday, Kabimba, who is PF secretary general, said he could not understand why reasonable men and women in MMD could approve the sale of Zamtel and the country's optic fibre for personal commissions.

Kabimba disclosed that currently, the President could not have a private conversation by phone in State House because 75 per cent of the national optic fibre which was in the hands of Zesco had been sold to LAP Green, a foreign firm.

"At the time when Zamtel was being sold to LAP Green, we raised our red flag ourselves as PF and said that this transaction is against our national interest. You can't have your optic fibre sold to a foreign company, sold to another country. Where does your security lie? But because people wanted a commission from LAP Green, people went ahead and sold Zamtel," he said.

Kabimba said the sale did not make any sense, stressing that he could not understand how reasonable men and women in MMD approved it.

"How can reasonable, rational men and women in the MMD make such a decision which goes against the security of this state. They can only do that because they were beneficiaries within that transaction," he explained.

"The issue of RP Capital, I was one of the lawyers that prosecuted the RP capital issue before the Dennis Chirwa-led tribunal and the findings are there and the fact that the tribunal said ‘no but we can't do this' (tribunal lacking jurisdiction on the matter)... does not mean the transaction is clean."

Kabimba said Zamtel was not the only company whose sale was marred with fraud and corruption and that the PF would not relent in returning them to Zambians.

"The PF had said, from the word go, that we do not approve of this transaction because it is against national interest. Not because it was against Michael Sata as an individual or the PF but against the interest of the Zambians," he said.

"We want to make sure that these iniquities are redressed. We want to make sure that these companies go back to the people of Zambia to secure the security of this country."

Kabimba said a fight had been waged not against MMD but corrupt politicians.

"This is the most dangerous group. That is the group that we are fighting, the group that is burying billions of kwacha. We are serious about the fight against corruption not only against former leaders even within our party."

He said the PF wanted to make sure corruption did not take root in government.

"We shall not tire, we shall move forward and ensure that the right thing is done and in the process one or two individuals will be inconvenienced. It is just normal. We are not running a perfect system," Kabimba warned, adding that the party was not on a path of retribution.

"We want to make sure that the wealth that belongs to Zambia is recovered. If that wealth of Zambia is in Mr Rupiah's (Banda) hands, we shall recover it for you. If that wealth is with whoever had served in the MMD, we shall recover that wealth for you and get back to you. That we are determined to do."

And Kabimba said the PF would endeavour to end politics of vindictiveness by embracing the constructive criticism of the opposition.

"I'm surprised that today George Kunda can be crying foul about not being covered by the state media, a culture which he created even as educated as he is," Kabimba said.

"We in the PF would like to see that the opposition constitutes a group of our opponents, that can take over power in future. We are not bent on destroying opposition political parties."

On the composition of the current Cabinet, Kabimba acknowledged the vitality of ensuring social and cultural stability in the governance system by making sure all ethnic groupings in the country are represented.

After several callers raised concern over the composition of Cabinet, Kabimba admitted it was not practicable to have an equal number of ethnic groupings into government.

"We shall not run an exclusive governance system, we shall run an inclusive governance system so that every Zambian that has skills or something to offer to better. Equal numbers are not practicable," he said.

"If you want to post a graph and start questioning how many Tongas, Bembas are there…obviously you reach a point where there will be one ethnic group that will be larger by one person. Wilbur Simuusa, for example, is from Southern Province, Shamenda is from Central Province," Kabimba said.

He said President Sata and his government was not immune to making mistakes in their policy pronouncements.

"PF is not composed of saints. What we want to hear from people is how they would improve on the mistakes we are making. He (Sata) is mortal, he does not have any divine spirit to tell the people of Zambia that everything he is going to say has an element of divine direction.

Meanwhile, Zamtel employees in Mazabuka are happy with the government's decision to seize 75 per cent shares that were held by LAP Green, claiming that it was long overdue.

The jubilant employees talked to say Zamtel was sold to the Libyan investor by the previous government for a song despite its viability in the telecommunication industry.