We're ready to fight over Zamtel - Sata

We're ready to fight over Zamtel - Sata
By Chibaula Silwamba in Johannesburg and Ernest Chanda in Lusak
Wed 11 Jan. 2012, 14:00 CAT

WE are ready to fight the Libyans over Zamtel, vows President Michael Sata. And President Sata warned that former vice-president George Kunda will be sorted out, calling him the "dullest lawyer in Central Africa".

In an interview at Lanseria International Airport in South Africa yesterday, President Sata dared the Libyan-owned LAP Green Network after the firm threatened to battle it out with the Zambian government over its purchase of Zamtel.

"Let the Libyans fight. We are ready to fight. If they haven't fought in their own country to the bitter end...why didn't they save killed ousted leader Muammar Gaddafi?" President Sata said.

LAP GreenN's management last week declared that the 75 per cent shareholding in Zamtel belongs to Libyans, vowing that the company will do "everything possible" to fight for ownership of a majority stake in Zambia's biggest telecommunication company.

LAP GreenN, the Libyan-owned telecommunications network, in a statement availed to The Post, stated that it is "deeply concerned about unsubstantiated news reports that the Zambian government is moving to seize the 75 per cent stake".

"We hope these reports are untrue, as this situation will not only be damaging to the telecoms industry in Zambia but would also send the wrong signal to those looking to invest in this country. LAP GreenN looks forward to continuing to develop Zamtel into a leading telecoms company, working with its partner in this investment, the Zambian government," stated LAP GreenN's newly-appointed chairman Wafik Alshater.

LAP GreenN claims that it bought its stake in Zamtel in June 2010 for US$257 million (about K1.37 trillion) following an open, transparent and competitive bid process that was overseen by the Zambian Development Agency.

But it was heard during a tribunal called to investigate the sale of Zamtel that then Minister of Communications and Transport Dora Siliya irregularly single sourced RP Capital Partners of Cayman Islands to valuate the assets of the company before the 75 per cent shares of the firm were sold to LAP GreenN.

However, Alshater stated that the new management is determined to safeguard its ‘legally' acquired assets which ultimately belong to the Libyan people, who fought a bitter war of liberation in 2011".

The Rupiah Banda regime in 2010 sold 75 per cent shares of Zamtel to LAP Green Network for US$257 million under controversial circumstances.

A commission of inquiry, which President Sata set up to probe the deal, headed by justice minister Sebastian Zulu, revealed that the Zamtel transaction was illegal, fraudulent and must be reversed.

And commenting on Kunda's statement yesterday when he featured on Radio Phoenix's Let The People Talk programme that the MMD will petition the High Court to rule on whether or not Guy Scott qualifies to be Vice-President on the basis of his parentage, President Sata dismissed the Muchinga parliamentarian's argument.

"Tell George Kunda we are waiting for him. We will sort him out. He is the dullest lawyer in central Africa; we shall sort him out," President Sata said.

And speaking on arrival from South African at the Kenneth Kaunda International Airport yesterday, President Sata challenged Kunda to go ahead and petition the appointment of Vice-President Guy Scott on the basis of his parentage.

President Sata said he was ready to challenge the petition.

"George Kunda is the dullest lawyer in the world, because he is so dull he's bitting his tongue. If I would have appointed Guy Scott as acting President, then George Kunda would have had some value in what he's saying.

But because he's so dull, even if I kill a fly, I can't hire him. We're waiting for him, let him go to court. Let him go to court, you will have some news; we will mincemeat him," President Sata said.

"Let him go ahead, you know George Kunda if he did not want only to plunder money, he would not have taken the constitution to NCC, then he would have blocked his Scott's appointment. But he went to England, he chewed money, he comes here. When Rupiah Banda becomes president he abandons Chiluba plunder case, he abandons the whole plunder. So he's very welcome to petition him Scott."

When informed that Kunda had also complained that the State was using the corruption fight to persecute opposition politicians, President Sata responded: "We haven't started; if they start burying money we are going to dig all the money they have buried down. How can you expect a former Minister of Commerce to buy a plot for K2.8 billion? Don't worry, this is just the beginning. And very shortly I'm going to swear in Mutembo Nchito as Director of Public Prosecutions who knows them better; he'll sort them out including Dora Siliya, she must recover quickly."