NATIONAL ASSETS UNDER THREAT

ZAMBIANS have every right to worry when the assets that expect to help better their lives and the welfare of the country are under threat because they are allegedly being plundered by those given the mandate to oversee the affairs of the country.

Zambians elect leaders for them to bring meaningful change but what happens is different. But it should not be so.

The leaders instead champion their interests by enriching themselves when they should be helping the poor Zambians.

The reports pertaining to the illegal transactions involving the Mopani Copper Mines and Mufulira Slug Dump that are marred with corruption make sad reading. It is nothing less than asset stripping.

In this vein, we agree with the Citizens First president, Mr Harry Kalaba, who said Zambia is being stripped of its assets by President Hakainde Hichilema and the UPND government through opaque transactions such as the sale of 51 percent shares in Mopani and the secret sale of the Mufulira Slug Dump to Jubilee Metals of South Africa.

Mr Kalaba said Zambia’s assets were being stripped because the people elected President Hichilema who had never believed in transparency in all his undertakings.

Mr Kalaba said in an interview yesterday that it was clear that the Mopani transaction lacked transparency and that was why the Minister of Finance and National Planning, Dr Situmbeko Musokotwane, Paul Kabuswe, the Minister of Mines and Minerals Development and President Hichilema had all issued conflicting statements over the deal.

The Mopani deal has been questioned by other prominent Zambians, notably Ms Edith Nawakwi, the Forum for Democracy and Development president expressing shock over the secret sell of the Mufulira Black Mountain, which is worth billions of Kwacha from which Zambians should have benefitted.

Ms Nawakwi has also accused Government and President Hichilema in particular of having secretly sold Mopani’s asset, the Mufulira slug dump to Jubilee Metals of South Africa for a song.

She has rightly demanded that Government should come clean on the Mufulira slug dump because the transaction was opaque and smelt of grand corruption as the people involved were said to be close associates to the powers-that-be.

It clearly raises a red flag when those in government stop being transparent in the manner they conduct national affairs, particularly those bordering on the economy.

It is not wrong for people to ask for details in the transaction of Mopani – transfer of shares - for example. It is their right.

As Ms Nawakwi said, “President Hakainde Hichilema must tell us the truth of how much he sold our assets. The meaning of transfer of shares is that there is always money involved.”

She said Mopani was sold to International Resources Holding which was never among the companies that had submitted a bid for the copper-rich giant mining company without any money getting into the treasury.

Mr Kalaba, a member of the United Kwacha Alliance said it was the first time in history that Zambia has had a President who was determined to strip the country of its assets to gift them to foreign friends.

“There is no doubt that Zambia’s assets are now being stripped and by the time President Hichilema and the UPND will be leaving office, our dear country shall be a shell,” he said.

Government must thus do the right thing by disclosing to the public the finer details of the Mopani deal.

It does not make sense to deny that Mopani has not been sold or given away when Government shares are offloaded to a foreign entity and left with no say.

Zambians deserve better.