Hamududu backs sale of 49% Indeni stake
By MUKOSELA KASALWE THE planned move to sell 49 percent stake of Indeni, in principle, is a prudent move towards firm economic recovery and is a welcome decision, says Party for National Unity president Highvie Hamududu.
Mr. Hamududu said the good thing about partial privatisation was that, government still retained some stake to safeguard national interests when required.
But an AVIC official clarified to the Daily Nation, that the firm submitted to pre-qualify for participation in the sale of majority stake in Indeni but that the percentage was not yet established hence, dismissed the 49 percentage as false.
He has urged government to line up a good number of the remaining state-owned enterprises (SOEs) for smart partnership with private capital.
Mr. Hamududu said other SOEs like National Housing Authority, Zambia State Insurance Corporation, ZAMTEL, Zambia Railways, ZAFFICO, NATSAVE, Nitrogen Chemicals should be lined up for partial privatisation.
In an interview yesterday, Mr Hamududu observed that injection of private equity in SOEs would bring the efficiencies and profitability that is urgently needed to grow the economy and secure employment.
“The beauty about partial privatisation is that, government still retains some stake to safeguard national interest when required,” he said.
Mr. Hamududu said Zambia needs to urgently leverage on its assets to attract international private capital through private equity stakes in SOEs.
He said if the move is under- taken comprehensively it could be the magic formula the country needs to overcome the current economic challenges and re-establish the economy on a robust and sustainable economic trajectory and raise foreign exchange to roll back the debt burden.
Mr. Hamududu said the move would rate Zambia high on the global capital market and boast foreign direct investments (FDIs).
He reaffirmed that experience has demonstrated already the positive efficiency of such a move.
Mr. Hamududu gave ZANACO as an example, of a firm which if it was not privatised, it could have been such a liability through abuses and sheer inefficiency typical of SOEs that are fully owned by government.
He said fully governmentowned SOEs have been problematic in developing countries due to patronage and are not adding any real value, but mere semantics and so called national pride.
Mr. Hamududu implored government to summon courage and bite the bullet on this path.
He said it was done before and that it could be even done better and smarter this time around.