AN APPEAL TO PRESIDENT LUNGU
… was it a mistake to come back home, please help!
A Zambian Investor whose timber has been confiscated has written to the President to protest his loss and the imminent collapse of his business. YOUR Excellency Sir,
I know that you do not know me and most likely you have never heard about me before. I am a returning Zambian who heeded the call by the former Presidents to return and invest in Zambia. Every time we had a Zambian President visit China and meet the Zambian community there, they all echoed one thing, “Zambians in the Diaspora should return home and invest in their country.”
In 2012 after consultation with my family and business associates, I finally made up my mind to come back to Zambia permanently. In the same year, I even started my company called Green Lake Zambia Limited specialising in Construction and Real Estate Development. The company has been in operation since then and we have done a number of construction projects for both the government and the private sector. In the same line we have invested in Real Estate Development and have employed over 200 Zambians during the course of our operations in the past 5 years.
Your Excellency, I was one of a few privileged Zambians in the Diaspora who successfully relocated and quickly found his footing in the country. Perhaps this was easy for me because prior to my relocation, I was spearheading investment projects for the company I was working for in China (Sunshine Kaidi New Energy Group) as an International Business Manager. I had been to Zambia several times on investment projects and I knew the environment very well which made it easy for me to settle down.
You Excellency Sir, as a way to diversify our business in other areas other than construction and Real
Estate
Development, Green Lake responded to the advertisement in 2016 by the Forestry Department for indigenous Zambian companies to apply for concessions throughout the country. As a company, this was a great opportunity to diversify our business and be part of indigenous Zambians who were going to take part in the sustainable management of our Natural Resources. Indeed Sir, in December, 2016, the Forestry Department issued us with a Medium Scale Concession Licence in Chief Katyetye Chiefdom in Isoka.
As a company that is committed to making use of the opportunity in line with our long term strategy of investment in local production and value addition, we went further to buy various sawmilling machines, equipment and trucks for the same business. Indeed we were very happy with our decision, and in the beginning everything seems to be going on very well.
Your Excellency, our excitement about this investment was short-lived as a few months later; the Forestry Department issued a suspension on all timber transactions throughout the country.
In May, 2017, without any prior communication from the Forestry Department or any government institution, we were surprised that our site was visited by a group of soldiers who told us that all licences were revoked by you, Your Excellency, and that we were operating illegally.
This came as a very big surprise to us. Your Excellency, the soldiers arrested the workers they found on site doing nothing because there was a suspension and took them to Isoka Police station cells.
They stayed in custody for over four days as I was out of the country at the time and had to cut short my business trip and flew to Isoka via Mbeya in Tanzania.
As I write to you Sir, the case is still in court and my workers keep travelling to Isoka for mention as the DPP has not provided any direction for the case to date.
Your Excellency Sir, I also regret to inform you that apart from the harassment and abuse that my workers went through during their arrest despite them being in possession of all legal papers, in July 2017 the soldiers came back to our timber processing site and confiscated all our timber and took it to the DC’s office.
Your Excellency, this was done without any seizure order or repossession order from the courts. All what the soldiers told us was that they were operating under orders.
This is in total disregard of the fact that our company has all the legal documentations and government receipts for all the tim-