CEC blamed for failed deal.
“Zesco and Government are the ones that invited CEC to start the negotiations in February and the failed discussion ended in March because the government realised that we cannot have a period where power was not flowing on the Copperbelt,”
COPPERBELT Energy Corporation (CEC) board is to blame for the failed negotiations because it issued a letter that the management did not have its blessings to negotiate on the Bulk Supply Agreement (BSA), Zesco Director of Strategy and Corporate Affairs Patrick Mwila has said.
And Mr Mwila said Zesco was ready for the discussions as long as these were held on fair terms.
Mr Mwila said therefore whatever Government, Zesco and CEC management discussed was now water under the bridge.
He said in an interview recently that negotiations of BSA started way back before the expiration of the agreement for which critical issues were agreed upon.
Mr Mwila said it was shocking that the CEC board had to issue a letter stating that the management which commenced negotiations concerning the BSA agreement did not have its blessings.
He said this had been the major issue which had negatively affected the negotiations to agree on terms for the new BSA agreement.
The BSA agreement ended on March 31, 2020 and negotiations between Government, Zesco and CEC to agree on the new agreement had failed.
“Zesco and Government are the ones that invited CEC to start the negotiations in February and the failed discussion ended in March because the government realised that we cannot have a period where power was not flowing on the Copperbelt and we could wait for the agreement to come to an end,” Mr Mwila said.
“So that is why there was that move to say, let’s have a year’s agreement so that it acts as a bridge so then that gives time for all of us to agree on longer terms so that no one is treated unfairly, no one said there should be no agreement,” he said.
“We invited CEC, they came and we agreed some things but two days before the BSA came to an end the board wrote to the government that the management did not have a mandate to negotiate, so all what was negotiated went into the water,” he said.
After the failed negotiations, in order to ensure that mining houses on the Copperbelt continued to receive power, Minister of Energy, Mathew Nkhuwa, signed a statutory Instrument number 57 of 2020 declaring all of CEC’s distribution and transmission lines as Common Carrier.
Mr Mwila said Zesco and Government pushed for an agreement but the ones who did not want an agreement was the CEC board.