THE Patriotic Front (PF) says it may reverse “all” the wrongly awarded contracts that were entered into illegally by the former MMD government in various sectors, party secretary general Wynter Kabimba has said.
Mr Kabimba said the MMD government committed many mistakes during its tenure of office and that the PF government has started “correcting” them.
“All Zambians know that the sale of the US$257 million Zamtel to Lap Green of Libya was not done in the best interest of Zambia,” Mr Kabimba said.
“The President is even failing to have private conversations with other Heads of State because the security system of the country has been sold to another country.”
“The sale of the Zambia Telecommunications Company Limited (ZAMTEL) by the previous administration to Lap Green of Libya has put the country’s communication security at risk,” he said.
PF Secretary General Wynter Kabimba said the sale of ZAMTEL to a foreign country was not done in the best interest of citizens and that the PF was resolved on correcting such wrongs.
“It is a well known fact by all Zambians that the sale of ZAMTEL to Lap Green of Libya was not done in the best interest of Zambians. As PF Government, these are wrongs that we want to correct, in the best interest of the nation,” Mr Kabimba said.
He said ZAMTEL was a significant communication service provider and needed to be handled prudently to avoid placing the country’s communication system at risk.
[pullquote]“The President is even failing to have private conversations with other Heads of State because the security system of the country has been sold to another country.”[/pullquote]
Mr Kabimba said that the MMD acted against the will of Zambians to sell ZAMTEL.
Mr Kabimba said; “These are the wrongs that we want to correct, in the interest of the nation.”
He was speaking on the Radio Phoenix programme “Let the people talk” with veteran journalist Frank Mutubila from Lusaka yesterday
He also said the PF is ready to work with opposition United Party for National Development (UPND) to foster economic development in Southern Province.
Mr Kabimba said government is willing to work with the UPND to enhance development in Southern Province.
He said the PF does not perceive UPND “as an enemy” of the government and that it is more than ready to work with the opposition party in implementing development projects in the province.
Mr Kabimba said the PF is happy that some UPND members have shown willingness to work with the ruling party.
He was responding to a caller who wanted to know if the PF government perceives some people in the UPND as enemies.
But Mr Kabimba said despite the political differences that existed between the two parties in the past, the PF government is working hard to unite all the 73 tribes in Zambia to promote peace and unity and spearhead development in all parts of the country.
“The Patriotic Front doesn’t have enemies in the UPND or other opposition parties. We want to work with our brothers and sisters in the opposition. We are happy that UPND has supported us in some of the governance issues.
“We are inviting them to work with us so that we can develop this country. Let us put all our political differences aside and unite for the sake of development,” Mr Kabimba said.
He also said the PF government remains committed to fighting corruption in the country.
He assured the nation that the PF will continue to pursue and implement pro-poor social and economic policies, which will help to improve living standards.
Meanwhile, the UPND has welcomed Mr Kabimba’s call for the two parties to work together.
Spokesperson Charles Kakoma said the UPND is happy that the ruling party has extended an olive branch to it.
Mr Kakoma said the move taken by the PF will help to promote unity and development not only in Southern Province, but in all parts of the country.
He said the UPND is happy that the PF has shown political maturity by inviting the opposition to work with it in implementing development projects around the country.
“We have accepted this olive branch which has been extended to us and we are pledging to work with the PF government for the purpose of fostering development in our country,” he said.
[Zambia Daily Mail]
bazani dyela ma votes
the president failing to have private conversations with other presidents because zamtel was sold.can`t understand
zamtel controls all the all communication system in the country iwe….
Yes Mr. Kabimba has a point you can do any private business if u know that ur message will end up in wrong ears…
Open lines, open secrets. Mr Banda! Three years and everything goes bancum. Zamtel gone, ZANACO gone, Lusaka Int. Airport nearly went, Gold gone, Money gone, that..this gone, it was like auction sale! Get rich quick mentality! Short circuiting, Banda got republican presidency on silver platter and the result is no original ideas, shame. MMD stopped being creative because they became over drunk with power.
Problem is, I see PF doing the same mistakes. They are punch-drunk with power and are making too many mis-steps already.
Be factual; like what? Have they sold anything? Are they denying a chance for people to use public media? All they have done is pursue thieves.
that is why it is calling for oppositions to help…
Are these people ever going to disengage the reverse gear?
Now that is maturity and providing good example to the all countrymen and women. Not tribal verbal war all times- that hinders progress, its one useless reason why some barotse activists want beeaking away feom zambia. Good move Mr Kabimba that is a the PF zambians knows- practicing marure politics. Teach these under-5s real politics zambia may need them tomorrow. And teach corrupt and selfish political parties like MMD that corrupt acts always boomerangs.
They cant disengange the reversal gear, remember that this was one if their campaign promises. They will never change till they fulfill all promises or else 5 years is in count-down
BRAVO PF
I hope Wynter Kabimba himself is not using government resources because he is not in government as we know it. Him being a lawyer must understand that the law will visit him if he is found wanting. We hope PF is following the law in all the decisions they are making because – “he who lives in a glass house must not throw stones.” If what PF is doing is to be seen to be consistent and in good faith, they must go far beyond RB`s government in investigating all irregularities. Let PF constitute a commission of inquiry in to the sale of ZCCM and the sale of all government houses.
Why is this our government only limiting their investigations to Rupiah Banda’s tenure of office and dont see many other wrong sale of many government institutions beginning from the time MMD came into power since Mr Sata is still around and can help the nation to know what really happened as he was part of the system. No wonder pp are calling it selective , which -hunting corruption fight specifically for targeted individuals- shame.
Because you need to uproot the stem so that the branches can wilt easily. Why start with petty thieves when the real big one is there waiting? Hit the big ones first; then you can deal with the tuma millions later. Zamtel, Henry, Dora and the RP Capital took millions of dollars; that could be used to build schools or support social services. Hit them!! Reverse contracts that were used for billions of kwachas; then you will see how the rest will behave. That’s the logic mune. Hit the decision makers, the ministers that made stupid deals at the expense of poor Zambians; people that ordered crude oil at three times the actual cost so as their accounts and businesses could benefit. Going, going, … soon going to Chimbokaila with their soft bums.
may i ask, why did MMD gov sale Zamtel in the first place?
Mr kabimba cant talk for all of us zambians. was tthe company making a loss? was a bail out an option instead? MMD jus wanted to make a quick buck? so if the company is making a loss should we keep pumping money because the president uses zamtel landline?
company was not making losses; the government was not paying their bills, simple! If the government paid their bills, and if they had allowed them to inject the billions in infrastructure so as to compete with other networks, Zamtel could have done better.
F ALL YA ZAMBIANS
President Can’t have secure conversations with other heads of State because of Sale of Zambia???
Lies and Damn Lies. PF guys please work up , this is not Zambia in 1964 when there were only 100 people with university education. Those lies can’t fly.
Secure connections is not about ownership of the communication channel. It is about the encryption of the communication channel that matters. Even if you own ZAMTEL and you have poorly qualified people to encrypt that channel, your connection can still be hacked.
Mr. Kabimba stop talking to us like Kids. We know that there is encryption technology out there to scramble communication.
On-line shopping is booming fast, why because the encryption works good and we don’t need to own Internet to feel safe about shopping.
A stronger encryption channel can be setup based on the encryption standard and you don’t have to own the communication channel.
I don’t think the whole nation can be held to ransom of poor communication and expensive telecommunication services, just because we want the president to have private conversations with other heads of state.
If that is important, for goodness sake then setup a private communication company for Mr Sata to use for his personal communication. he can even launch a satallite in sapce for that.
Every Zambia who uses telecommunication services for their business know that the sale of ZAMNTEL has brought many advantages to an average Zambia. International calls are now cheap. There is competition in the industry
Mr Kabimba forgets to tell us how much Zamtel was costing the Zambian tax-payer to keep it afloat. As some people above have said, why not investigate the whole privatisation process that was started when Chiluba and his henchman Sata were in govt in the early 90s. Most of the major govt assets were privatised long before RB became president in 2008. Are PF saying that they want to take us back to the UNIP days of nationalisation and long queues?
@Philosopher & @The Thinker:
Are U guys now admitting that the successive MMD govts since UNIP were all corrupt and useless such that they couldn’t tell between a corrupt and an honest deal? Why in God’s name if there were all these wrongs you are talking about didn’t Chiluba, LPM, or RB take it seriously to correct the wrongs and clean the system up like PF is at least attempting to do? Why did MMD have to wait for PF to come and do the work Zambians voted “you arrogant thieves” into office to do? Or is it that to MMD govt business only meant “wako ni wako, get rich quick” nonsense? Wow, no wonder you lost the elections!
Cont… @Philosopher & @The Thinker:
PF will tackle what it thinks is credible cases of corruption committed by previous govts. If there are any other corruption cases that you MMD sycophants feels deserves attention, you had 20 years to deal with those cases, yet you spent every single minute in govt fatten your personal accounts and chasing phantom homosexuals. You are a disgrace and should shut up for once and let the govt do its job!
don’t forget to have your finger in every pie, especially in the worse scam and the worse plunder, the mining looting !
just an example, Mopani
According to NGOs in its pilot audit by Grant Thornton, Zambia and Econ Poyry, Zambia lost an estimated income of USD 175 million in tax revenue between 2003 and 2008 from tax avoidance practices’ by Glencore AG International owned Mopani Copper Mines.
The report was carried out in 2009, at the request of the PREVIOUS Zambian government (ie Levy’s govt)
“The organizations also questioned Dr Musokotwane’s inertia to act despite being given the report last year (2009) in which auditors expressed frustrations in carrying out the exercise which was within provisions of Zambia laws.
continued
copper from Mopani is sold under a contract with copper in one instance being sold at 25 per cent of official prices at LME. In other words, they are not paying taxes over 75% of the copper sold to Glencore.
Moreover, in the report by Action Aid, which Mopani has described as flawed and incomplete draft added that the Zambian government (ZCCM-ih) , may probably be losing USD 50 million annually on dividend payments from its 10% stake in Mopani Copper Mines.”
at least $500 million lost !!!
Why Muso the crook didn’t revoke Glencore licence ??
by the way Bootlicker you pretended you are a shareholder of zccm-ih…
I suppose you went to the AGM which held on Wednesday, 7th December 2011 at Southern Sun Ridgeway Hotel, corner of Church Road and Independence Avenue, Lusaka at 10:00
We relied on your big mouth…!
so what did you say and what’s new ?? LOL LOL
Investor confidence?? we will end up like Zim!!! if wrongs were done on these deals handle them with care to avoid loss of investor confidence…whoever comes in next will also be assumed to have intentions of cancelling current deals. hire and fire, blame etc must be left to law enforcement so the rest of govnmnt can now do some real work and development
Yes we need foreign investments, thats undisputed. But we want honest and transparent investments. This should save as a warning to would be inverstors that Zambia does not or will not tolerate foreign investments or investors coming to Zambia with intentions of snapping up assets on the cheap through a few corrupt and greedy govt officials. Zambia does not need or should she hunger for such investors or investments—-this can only scare away corrupt elements, but will surely be appreciated by honest business men and women who want to do business honetly and fairly!!!!
# 22 @ onezed
so foreign mining companies fu..ck us but we must close our eyes, stop our ears and be happy !!!
reassure us, we are allowed to use vaseline, then…??!! >;-))
Hope mushota and her fiance have had their two veg and a sausage she defrosted from the fridge yesterday.Here we go again, a lawyer who does not understand that reversing a contract is costly is extremely dangerous for a nation whos economy is still in the intensive care unit sustained on a drip by donor aid and borrowed money.It doesnt matter who signed it for as long as it was signed in the name of GRZ.The PF government knowns they are still servicinng the debts from the Kaunda time.It is therefore stupid of them to pretend that they will get away with it.Unless Kabimba tells the nation that he has found a loop hole in these contracts.
Zambians are not stupid and do know that most of Kabimba’s suits end up in shameful losses and he has no capacity of redeeming himself .
THOSE OF YOU QUESTIONING WINTERS WORD OF THE PRESIDENT CAN’T HAVE SECURE COVERSATIONS SHOULD NOTE THAT ZAMTEL CONTROLS ALL THE NETWORKS IN ZAMBIA, IT BEING THE ONLY COUNTRY’S NETWORK. AIRTEL, MTN AND ANY NETWORK PROVIDER THAT MAY COME SHOULD GO THROUGH ZAMTEL WHICH OWNS THE NATIONS CELL TOWER. SO IF YOU THINK THE CONVERSATIONS YOU MAKE ARE PRIVATE YOU ARE WRONG. ITS JUST OUR RIGHT TO PRIVATE WHICH HELPS NOT TO PUBLICISE OUR CONVERSATIONS.
Hope Mushota and her fiancy have had their two veg and a sausage she defrosted from the fridge yesterday.Here we go again, a lawyer who does not understand that reversing a contract is costly is extremely dangerous for a nation whos economy is still in the intensive care unit sustained on a drip by donor aid and borrowed money.It doesnt matter who signed it, for as long as it was signed in the name of GRZ .The PF government knowns they are still servicing the debts from the Kaunda time.It is therefore stupid of them to pretend that they will get away with it.Unless Kabimba tells the nation that he has found a loop hole in these contracts.
Zambians are not stupid and do know that most of Kabimba’s suits end up in shameful losses and he has no capacity of redeeming himself .
I can see the gvt is doing alot to fight this animal called corruption.As individuals we all need to put our efforts together and help this gvt. Laziness and late coming at work should be avoided. Zambia is the only country we can call ours. Let us all work to build a better Zambia. we also need to check these leaders so that while they fight corruption, they do not fall into the same trap. Report any corrupt leader to ACC or police, or even the press so that he is exposed. Dont wait for any one to do it for you. One Zambia…..
Bootlicker, you are now on the other side of the coin. You thought would rule forever and ever. Have you received your dismissal letter yet?
Zamtel belongs to the people of Zambia and no sane person can sell it fraudulantly against their wish. Mubarak has been told to expect the death sentence for the massacre of many protestors, corruption, plunder and abuse of office and his sons face lengthy jail sentences for corruption.
This sounds like the Zambian story in the past 3 short years when father and sons raped the nation of its resources.
The GRZ must also reclaim the piece of land in NW Province which was foolishly given to Mswati of Swaziland by the power-drunk RB. Land is precious anywhere in the world. People in Zambia and those of us in the diaspora want land.
PF government will regret for its involvement in the expropriation of foreign capital. At the time of the sale, Zamtel was heavily debt laden with 400 billion kwacha. The balance sheet of Zamtel was rotten to the core and the business was not viable. It’s good that PF is revealing that ZCCM and other assets will be repossessed from the new owners but Sata’s illiterates will live to regret that day because they will certainly know the legal consequences of expropriating foreign property.
Sell failing Zambian parastatals/companies transparently and without Bandaism or soft bum bum siliyaism, then maybe we can listen to you. Try the same crap in the West (America or Europe) and see if you are not going to get the same out—-reversals!!!!!!
Iwe PF Sin.Try to use the correct side of your brain for correct things.
Ask yourself how and what made Zamtel debt laden.
Ba PF Spin with the grammar exhibited in your post we can all see who is illiterate.
Sata, go ahead and get back Zamtel. Don’t listen to people like the chief MMD bootliker. We need Zamtel back. We need to control our own communication security too.
# 17 Yamba yamba. The irony of things is the political rhetoric that lacks direction. We are all agreed on the fight against corruption and culprits to face the law, this to be done unselectively. The question is how clean are the people driving this crusade against corruption?. If only one single case of corruption (and they are many) involving some PFmembers was tackled to demonstrate to the nation, then everyone will have confidence in PF fighting corruption. Remember these were all in MMD when corruption began and entrenched in the nation. Some PF members were even accused of corruption whilst in MMD. They have to blush hard to come clean for archived records to be atoned. The reversal of all privatisation deals done without transparency really require re examining to determine
Serously, is this the only reason you can come up with for not selling Zamtel?
value for money and benefit to Zambia in the deal. However, that can only be achieved with an analytical eye in retrospective circumstances and compelling recapitalisation requirements to make these companies more competitive. That will imply PF swallowing some pride to arrive at an optimal decision without prejudice to the nation on account of political partisanship. The final danger is that the next govt may want to come and follow the trend set. Thankfully they wont be many deals with PF govt from the look of things and rightly so, because in the absence of a leading dog you will never see a plain.
@Muna Dekhane: I appreciate your sentiments. But remember that MMD was in power only a few months ago. They had all the time to persue and prosecute every corruption case they felt was regitimate. But what did they do, they wasted time and money prosecuting people Rupiah Bannda felt were his enemies (exhibite A, Mr. Mpombo) instead of prosecuting “real” corruption cases by PF or any other person you people feel have cases to answer. The quetion is why? It is really not PF’s govt ,or any other govt for that matter, to satisfy people’s curiosity about other suspected corruption cases which MMD failed to prosecute when they were in govt. In fact MMD put Sata in Prison for 40 days for car thieft, the case he eventually won in court—-so what is so special about MMD “thieves”?
“The President is even failing to have private conversations with other Heads of State because the security system of the country has been sold to another country.”
The presidents failed public relations can not be blamed on Zamtel, he is just a failure at networking with others, simple.
i Can’t wait to see the reverse of KCM Plc from Mwenyes to other credible investors. Mwenyes can’t run the mines. They are only fit to operate retail shops.
Kabimba is wrong and does not appear to understand the issues. MMD Chief Bootlicker @14 and 15 together with Utu JiliJili @24 are correct. Winter’s point and thinking on telecommunications is from the encient era. I do not know of a telecommunications company in the west that is owned by the State. They are all in private hands and I think Obama and Cameron may have more to worry about intercepted calls and national security than Sata and Kabimba. The PF’s position will be costly to Zambia and its economy. Not just in compensation costs but Investor confidence too. The deals are done and ZAMTEL for one was a good deal for Zambia. PF should just focus on investigating any personal beneficiaries from such sales and prosecute those found wanting. But leave the companies alone.
Mr Kakoma, that is the way forward we want development in all areas of the country. UNPD I personally thank you for accepting the olive invitation, but should not allow you to relax to check the government. Let s work together as a country. Mr Kakoma VIVA Kakoma oyeeee
Zamtel, under new management, has done extremely well over the last few months. While there may have been irregularities in its sale, I feel that it is a much better entity now, than it was since inception. Perhaps GRZ would do better to correct the irregularities, i.e. have LAP Green pay more, or let GRZ own more shares. Whatever the case, a GRZ-run Zamtel is a recipe for disaster.
GRZ should ask the archaic OP to provide secure communications, isn’t that their job?
Good evening
Zamtel was sold under it’s value and that’s no secret. The same way, it’s no secret that the country’s rich resources like copper continue to be sold out under their real value. With a patriotic government in power, Zambians have now been accorded a new voice to speak out against such injustice and claim their rightful share of the cake.
The saddest thing about it all is that whenever Zambians rise to the occasion to change the status quo, they start facing opposition from their own. This is quite strange because all over the world, citizens disagree in many things but when it comes to matters of national security or protection of national resources, they always agree because they share a common interest.
# 36 Yambayamba. In principle I agree with you that thefts and plunder of national resources should have been dealt with by MMD including the people in PFnow. What is being potrayed is that they are clean and have changed the public perception that they are innocent. The only reason they seem so is because they are in power. You and me have haven’t been beneficiaries to these regimes (at least I haven’t). When Mr Sata was minister of health in MMD govt. he fell ill and took $32,000.00 with him to South Africa which was confiscated at the airport and offered no convincing reason for it. What Iam informing readers is that much as we appreciate the fight on corruption by PF govt, there is little confidence to it because the next govt will come to unearth their corruption being covered now
The fight on corruption by late president Mwanawasa was genuine and had modus operandi whivh is clearly missing with PF govt. Mr Mwanawasa began his fight with Chiluba who he took over from. Mr Sata has not/can not demonstrate that even over cases he is quite conversant with for he lacks that capacity to do so. Fighting corruption as a government is not an end in itself as being put to Zambians that PF has achieved so much in a short period. We need positive signals of development with a political will road map of development to give confidence to investors both local and foreign. That will go well with fight of corruption.
# 21
Bootlicker ?! Bootlicker ?! Bootlicker ?!
where are you ??
lost in the corridors of Southern Sun Ridgeway Hotel ??!! LOL LOL LOL
What a buffon !!
Deals indeed. can someone tell me where i can report some serious, money changing hands between RBs relatives and some road contraction companies from southafrica?
Sorry i mean construction companies.