‘DON’T ABANDON PRIVATISATION INQUIRY’
ACOMMISSION of inquiry into the privatisation of state assets should not be abandoned because Zambians needed to know why a hotel worth US$25 million was sold at USS$5 million, Citizens Democratic Party (CDP) leader, Robert Mwanza has said.
Mr Mwanza said the truth must come out why individuals who were mandated with disposing of the assets failed to declare interest as shareholders in the companies that benefitted from the transactions.
He called on President Edgar Lungu to ensure that the planned inquiry was actualised because Zambians want to know if people benefitted dubiously.
Mr Mwanza said there was need to bring closure to the matter because a lot of people were now victims of the fraudulent activities that might have taken place during the privatisation period.
He said a commission of inquiry into the privatisation would force people to explain why a hotel worth US$25 million was sold at USS$5 million.
“The people who were involved in the selling of the assets were now keen to sale more public assets as evidenced by the pronouncements to sell the Presidential jet,” said Mr Mwanza.
He said it was in the interest of the people of Zambia that the matter was not allowed to die a natural death and ensure it was concluded before the general elections.
And the Zambian DNA said President Lungu’s willingness to constitute a Commission of Inquiry over the privatisation of national assets in the 1990s was elating.
DNA spokesperson Spuki Mulemwa said Zambians calling for the Commission of Inquiry into the privatisation of national assets were merely exercising their rights.
He said every Zambian needed to know how national assets were disposed of in the privatisation era.
Mr. Mulemwa said that the quest to institute a Commission Inquiry over the privatisation of national assets must be supported
He dismissed sentiments that the call for the Commission of Inquiry over the Privatisation of National Assets in the 1990s was targeted at stopping the political ambition of one of the opposition leaders.