‘CEEC BIASED’

….NAREP blasts CEEC over aquaculture funds

THEREis something fishy about the disbursement of the aquaculture funds by the Citizens Economic Empowerment Commission (CEEC) because ordinary citizens are not benefitting, National Restoration Party (NAREP) Lusaka district chairperson James Phindwa has said.

Mr Phindwa said hundreds of NAREP youths and ordinary Zambians who had applied for the aquaculture loans had not been successful.

He said if indeed the money was being disbursed, then it was going to PF members and sympathizers only.

Mr Phindwa challenged CEEC to publish the list of beneficiaries so that Zambians could prove that the funds were available and benefitting intended target groups.

He said in an interview that aquaculture funds were supposed to benefit Zambians regardless of political affiliation.

Mr Phindwa said it was shocking that none of the NAREP members who had been applying for the funds had testified to have succeeded.

“I know of many of our members of have been applying for the aquaculture loans but none of them has succeed. Does it mean that the money is only for PF members if it is indeed there,” he wondered.

Mr Phindwa wondered why NAREP members should be sidelined from accessing the loans if they were for all Zambians.

The Ministry of Fisheries and

Livestock had set aside US$29 million for the implementation of the Aquaculture Seed Fund under the Zambia Aquaculture Enterprise Development Project (ZAEDP).

The Aquaculture Seed Fund was being administered under the CEEC to benefit more than 3,000 entrepreneurs along the fish value chain in all the 10 provinces of Zambia.

Efforts to get a comment from CEEC proved futile.