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Kabimba clarifies his appointment to the Zamtel board of directors

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PF Secretary General and spokesperson Wynter Kabimba
PF Secretary General and spokesperson Wynter Kabimba

Patriotic Front (PF) secretary general Wynter Kabimba says his membership on the new Zamtel Board will not in any way affect the operations of the company.

Last week government appointed a new board of directors for the embattled Zamtel Telecommunication Company (Zamtel), to be led by the ruling party’s secretary general Wynter Kabimba.

Mr. Kabimba says his role on the board will be to ensure that the programme of the party which among other things aims at addressing corruption in the parastatal companies as well as protect the workers from exploitative conditions is implemented.

Mr. Kabimba notes that the PF is committed to ensuring that it delivers according to the expectations of the Zambians in line with the party manifesto.

He has assured that he has principles and will ensure that he does not use his political muscle to compromise the operations of Zamtel.

Mr. Kabimba says he is fully aware that Zamtel has to run as a profitable commercial entity but has vowed to ensure that the interests of the Zambians are protected in its operations.

In addition to Kabimba, Sata has also appointed other party cadres, including former Chimwemwe PF member of parliament Willie Nsanda and Lusaka Province Permanent Secretary Charity Mwansa to serve on the new board of directors, others include Ministry of Finance permanent secretary Dr Abraham Mwenda and a Mr Mwiinga.

In January this year, President Michael Sata dissolved the board of directors for Zamtel and appointed Dr. Mupanga Mwanakatwe as chief executive officer and chairman. The dissolution of the board of directors for Zambia by Sata follows the reversal of the sale of the company to Lap Green Networks of Libya earlier in the same month.

The Zambian government reversed the sale of the company after a Commission of Inquiry appointed by Sata revealed glaring “irregularities and flaws” in the manner in which the company was sold.

The 75% majority shares in Zamtel were sold to Lap Green Networks in 2010 at a total cost of USD275 million after the MMD government claimed it had failed to recapitalise the company, the country’s only total solution service provider.

Lap Green Networks has since taken the matter to court, demanding that the Zambian government give Zamtel back to the Libyans.

Mwanakatwe has meanwhile promised to make Zamtel more viable and profitable despite the competition the company is facing for Airtel Zambia and MTN Zambia.

Source[QFM,BizTech Africa]

editor
editorhttp://www.lusakatimes.com

94 COMMENTS

  2. HONESTLY, DO YOU SENSELESS ZAMBIANS THINK WE FOUGHT FOR TEN YEARS ONLY TO COME AND DISTRIBUTE THE NATIONAL CAKE EQUALLY? YOU MUST BE JOKING! RB ANDYAPO. NAISE NIKUDYAPO CABE. IT IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR THE WHOLE COUNTRY TO BENEFIT FROM ZAMTEL. WE GRABBED IT FROM LIBYA ON OUR OWN AND WE SHALL EAT IT ALONE!

  5. .
    These are very suicidal Board of Directors appointments. When you are in a deep hole, you don’t attempt to come out by digging the hole deeper. Zamtel is now in a big hole and Sata is simply digging the pit deeper.

    The job of the Board of Directors is NOT to have party cadres sitting on the armchairs of a company BoD. Its primary roles are to represent stockholders and provide a vehicle for Corporate Management affiliated policies and making Business Decision Support Processes on major company subject and issues. To balance the Pivotal Table, it should be represented by inside Directors and Outsiders.

    Cont…

  6. .
    Modern Board of Directors requires that sitting members have a profound understanding about the moral code and the “line of business” the company is involved in. Gone are the days when the Board of Directors were just “stooges” that went in meetings to talk about Dividend Policies, Option Policies, Executive Pays, Hiring/Firing of Executives, Public Announcements etc.

    Cont…

  7. @Mushota No.1 You actually have a reason but you don’t realise it. I will tell though; he is pompous, arrogant, provocative and has a know it all attitude. Above all, he has been misleading the President on legal matters. So, there you are, that’s why you are beginning to dislike him.

  8. The question is???

    Was the Zamtel Reversal engineered to find culprits and punish them or just a gimmick to have PF run this company to its demise so that it can become a Non-Profitable Organisation through the means of siphoning funds out of Zamtel to PF Party?

    This is how KK managed to sustain UNIP by forcing companies pay royalties to the “Party and Its Government” ideology. Basically, it was a polite way of contributing to the UNIP dynasty.

    Cont…

  10. .
    What is missing in Sata’s Crossword Puzzle is not only the lack of Education which we all know is a deficit on his part of life. But he is showing severe lack of wisdom which he is entitled to get from his Economical & Political Advisors, if at all he has any advisors that he can listen from.

    Zambia has a lot of Scholars, Professionals & Business Executives, Entrepreneurs and sound Industrialist that can advise Sata on such delicate Zamtel issues. We do not need False Prophet Mmembe to think on behalf of the whole nation, just because he helped Sata into power now that he (Mmembe) is getting lectures on Socialist Frameworks from the Cuban Embassy in Lusaka, taking them to brainwash Sata with his dogma and creed.

  12. Winter, if as you claim you’re a brilliant lawyer, although you never won any case to backup your claim, you should have turned down the appointment on moral ground.You point accusing fingers on others you fail to notice three accusing fingers pointing at you.By the way are you still persuing the case of Band’s parentage or you have given up? Dull lawyer.

  15. Zamtel back thats cool.Willies nsanda used to hit me with itumbo at mwaiseni stores ,now shoprite in kitwe ,when we quee for cooking oil.

  16. his role on the board will be to ensure that the programme of the party which among other things aims at addressing corruption in the parastatal companies as well as protect the workers from exploitative conditions is implemented.

    This is a strange one indeed , since when did the function of a board for any company or a parastatal for that matter?

    Is ZAMTEL now ZAMBIA?

    Since the reversal of Zamtel , I have noted that the number of phone calls and their duration to this embassy from Statehouse have quadrupled and continue rising.

    This was not the case during RB. Looks like every Jim and Jack in state house has access to international lines and are just calling here anyhow and for who knows what.

    • Suffice it to say Wynter Kabimba doesn’t not know what the role of a BoD is. How else does he explain that he will usurp the role of the union who are the one’s mandated to protect the workers. The BoD is supposed to look after the interests of the shareholders. I’m afraid Zamtel will be back to it’s previous status when it was teetering on its last legs very soon.

    • @Ricky Bobby, you are wrong when you say that it will go back to its old days. I think it will be worse. Maweee twafwa

  17. Gentlemen. The PF way of doing things sucks. How do you get a secretory general of a political party to be board chairman? How do you get party caders who have not worked for many years and make them board directors of a company operating in a very competative industry? How do you get Mupanga Mwanakatwe the gut who failed to perform at Celtel and was fief for none Perfomance and he failed to get a job since 2003 and you make him CEO simply because he ya Bemba and was on the commission of enquiry?

  18. It is all rubbish, Winter of all the people to head a parastal. It is a deliberate move to use backdoor tricks to make ZAMTEL finance PF. Wyinter failed to run LCC. Remeber it was his duing his time as LCC town clerk that we saw the worst sight of Intercity Bus Terminus. It is him who introduced MMD levy collection from bus sto[s as a way of fundreasing for MMD on behalf of hos boss Sata. That bis why the 2 are inseperable. Lwalessness is their way of living. To hell

  19. I only rememer Wynter Kabimba az a vibrant Lusaka City Counil Town clerk. I don’t know him az a lawyer worse still az a politician. Now he must head the Zamtel Board…

  20. this is a circus. where is the anti-corruption commission for winter to be dealing with corruption i zamtel? we will see!

  21. Zambians, Can someone pls give me a list of the Board of Directors of AIRTEL AND ZAMTEL, am sure they cannot appoint Nsanda and Kabimba? Zamtel in its current BOARD structure cannot attain the levels of both AIRTEL AND MTN.

  22. Zambians, Can someone pls give me a list of names of the Board of Directors of AIRTELZAMBIA AND MTN ZAMBIA, am sure they cannot appoint Nsanda and Kabimba? Zamtel in its current BOARD structure cannot attain the levels of both AIRTEL AND MTN.

  25. Zamtel is a business concern, why would party policy concern the functions of a business concern that is regulated by Government policy???
    This is a clear indication that the PF Government wants to introduce corruption and bad business practices under the guise of implementing party policy. What boards require are competent business people who will add value.
    Zamtel failed previously because the appointees were political. This should not have been repeated.
    Ken

  26. WHAT A SUCIDAL APOINTMENT. THESE BOARD MEMBERS ARE GOING TO B UNTOUCHABLE BCOZ OF THEIR HUGE INVESTMENT IN THE RULING PARTY. T

  27. THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH PARY CADRES BEING APPOINTED TO BOARDS OF PARASTATALS THEY IN A WAY NEED SOMETHING TO OCCUPY THEMSELVES WITH AFTER ALL THESE ARE THE PEOPLE WHO SRAFICED EVEN THE LITO THE HAD TO ENSURE MMD WAS VOTED OUT OF POWER. YES THEY ARE BEING REWARDED FOR THEIR EFFORTS. THEY ARE IN CHARGE AND ARE ACTING AS THEY PLEASE. JUST WATCH THE NEXT APPOINTMENTS.

  28. Willie Nsanda on board of directors, what formal position has willie nsanda held in his life, ba Nsanda ni ba mekenika ba myotoka balya aba fyashi, what value or skills will he add to the board, yabaaaa, elo twabamo.

  29. Conflict of interest of note. How foolish does PF think we are.

    @ Independent Observer – I totally agree with you. President keeps digging deeper holes on this issue. 

  30. INDEPENDENT OBSERVER – you have given me a good start of the day. – it’s nice to see that we still have thoughtful & intelligent bloggers on lusaka@times –  well analysed and true full statements – i appreciate your objective comments

  31. INDEPENDENT OBSERVER – you have given me a good start of the day – it’s nice to see that we still have thoughtful & intelligent bloggers on lusaka@times –  well analysed and true full statements – i appreciate your objective comments

  33. I wouldn’t like to chair the annual board’s meeting with such morons in the room, he can’t even justify his appointment articulately; the only thing Wynter and other politicians will bring to the table is confusion. This is the other reason why I haven’t bothered to apply to those management vacancies on Zamtel’s website who would want to report to such buff.o.o.n.s and political appointees. 

  34. Why does the word “corruption” excite these guys so much? Board members dealing with corruption in a corporate? Guys….

  35. He has not and can not clarify anything about this issue.His argument is shallow,lacks substance.Not all people are dull,un-educated to notice this questionable decision.But there is nothing we,myself in particular,can do about it.Just wishing you the best in your endeavours

  36. Zamtel is a complex engineering firm versed in IT transmission and computing systems. Zamtel Board of Directors must be well placed to comprehend the intricacies of the Company. There are hundreds of Lawyers that can offer independent legal inputs to the deliberations of the Board. For God’s sake, what will this PF cadre, Kabimba offer to add value to Zamtel. These are signs of the demise of Zamtel bound to usher-in misery its staff and their families. Since the crooks have grabbed State machinery it is time to harvest the loot as the Auditor-General watches in agony.

  37. What a mess! Zamtel is a complex engineering firm versed in IT transmission and computing systems. Zamtel Board of Directors must be well placed to comprehend the intricacies of the Company. There are hundreds of Lawyers that can offer independent legal inputs to the deliberations of the Board. For God’s sake, what will this PF cadre, Kabimba offer to add value to Zamtel. These are signs of the demise of Zamtel bound to usher-in misery its staff and their families. Since the crooks have grabbed State machinery it is time to harvest the loot as the Auditor-General watches in agony.

  38. What a mess! Zamtel is a complex engineering firm versed in IT transmission and computing systems. Zamtel Board of Directors must be well placed to comprehend the intricacies of the Company. There are hundreds of Lawyers that can offer independent legal inputs to the deliberations of the Board. For God’s sake, what will this PF cadre, Kabimba offer to add value to Zamtel. These are signs of the demise of Zamtel bound to usher-in misery its staff and their families. Since the crooks have grabbed State machinery it is time to harvest the loot as the Auditor-General watches in agony.

  39. The board of directors, in keeping with their responsibilities to the
    shareholders and other stakeholders, is committed to the achievement of
    business success and the enhancement of long-term shareholder value with
    the highest standards of integrity and ethics. Each director, as well as each
    member is therefore expected to lead by example in a
    culture that emphasizes trust, integrity, honesty, judgment, respect,
    responsibility and accountability.The board of directors’ role is to oversee the proper functioning of the
    institution. In order to achieve this, the board shall have clear, well- defined
    and understood responsibilities. There shall be a balance of skills, knowledge,
    experience and perspectives among directors so that the board works
    effectively .

  41. People like Kabimba are responsible for Zambia’s downgrading by the rating agency – Fitch. Zambia’s sovereign rating has been damaged by people like this Kabimba waffling on things they don’t understand. Zambia’s ability to borrow money to build new railways or sewerage systems has been severely hampered because the independent opinion of rating agencies is that Zambia’s credit worthiness is rubbish. Rating agencies are saying Zambia’s debut Eurobond is a junk bond because Zambia does not protect investment – any investment foreign or local. Sata in his ignorance doesn’t even understand the business model he is talking about on Zamtel. Zamtel needs to modernise but to do that Zamtel needs alot of money.

  44. Clearly INDEPENDENT and Theresa are the same person and why on earth he is writing poems in the hope of drawing attention is beyond me.

    Stop writing poems you are opening a can of worms for yourself 
    Joseph sakar I agree maybe that is why I don’t like him. He is very repulsive is the man

    Thanks

  45. There lies your mistake Kabimba, it is not for you to explain, clarify or justify your appointment to the board, but the appointing authority’s or that of his spokesperson.

    Learn to shut your mouth!

  46. Its difficult to like this PF government. Zambian intellectuals, please lets reclaim Zambia from the Kaponyas

  47. No wonder this man never wins cases. The reasons he has given don’t relate to business ethos and are scary if we are thinking of developing the country.
    If Lapgreen or Angolan Telecom quasi government organizations could have the business acumen of doing business beyond their borders, i don’t see the same in this board or even fostering growth within the market.

  48. These are signs leading to the demise of Zamtel, and certainly bound to usher-in misery its staff and their families. Since the crooks have grabbed the State machinery it is time to harvest the loot as the Auditor-General watches in agony.

  49. CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR APPOINTMENT SIR….WHEN ARE YOU GIVING BACK JOBS TO QUALIFIED FORMER ZAMTEL EMPLOYEES WHO WHERE CORRUPTLY RETRENCHED…WHAT IS YOUR POSITION SIR…REMEMBER THAT HIS EXCELLENCY THE PRESIDENT MICHAEL CHILUFYA SATA PROMISED RETRENCHED ZAMTEL EMPLOYEES THAT IF THEY VOTE FOR HIM AND PF..HE WILL GIVE THEM BACK THEIR JOBS….AND THAT THEY SHOULD CONSIDER THEMSELVES TO BE ON LEAVE…..SO MR KABIMBA SIR WHEN IS OUR LEAVE ENDING…REMEMBER THAT TIME FLIES…WE ARE SUFFERING AND WE NEED TO GET BACK OUR JOBS IMMEDIATELY……OF COURSE NOT EVERYONE WILL BE RECALLED BUT THOSE WITH QUALIFICATIONS SHOULD DEFINATELY BE CALLED BECAUSE THEY DESERVE THEIR JOBS……

  52. Zamtel will become bloated again and make losses year after year. It’s a shame that Zambia is being taken backwards. But hey, that’s democracy for you. Somebody voted these guys into power!!

  54. Gentlemen. Already what is happening at Zamtel is a sorry sight. Our new CEO has no strategy. He is just there like a zombie. He is not giving any direction. We don’t know whether we are going forward or backwards. He has no idea of how to run the joint let alone he seem not to understand what the job of a CEO is. All he knows is to threaten staff with dismissals. He lacks the basic management skills. Whatever report we give him, he has to print it, bind it and take it to the wife Marget Mwanakatwe to read through, inteprate it for him and tell him what to do. She is actuall the CEO for Zamtel and not Mupanga. The place is headed for total collapse.

  55. How many tribes are in Zambia coz appointments seem to from one tribe and has Zambia got an army, if so what is the level of eduction required for one to be recruited?it seems to me it is one thief after another……..

  58. Has anybody been arrested for the “corrupt sale of Zamtel” yet. Are Zambians so addicted to mediocrity and so complacent as to allow this to keep going on 5 months after elections? Zambia is a massive “Fawlty Towers” establishment. Every where you look, there is chaos, a leadership that appears to lack stability, direction or the even the pretence of a desire to make things better. As Mrs Fawlty famously said when Basil hired O’reilly’s men ” why did I think you could do it why did I trust you” Mrs Fawlty, can you bring out the brolly and beat the “c”out this lot.

  59. Independent Observer, Spot On. From now on Zamtel will become a non-entity and just die a silent death. Kaponya’s will not invest money in Zamtel, coz they want to milk the company for 2016 campaign elections. Its already failing to compete with private telecoms. We are being subjected to trash ever single day. God help us.

  61. You people you surprise me a lot.
    Why do you think there was a reversal to the sale of zamtel ?
    what did you expect to happen?

  62. ladies and gentlemen you all seem to forget that a board is made up of share holders with more shares. Zamtel”s major shareholder is the Govt. PF govt so who do you expect board members to come from. Secondly a board does not run the day to day business of a company, thats why there is an executive. Cant we give the board a chance before we crucify them

  63. The Zamtel board is chaired by Winter Kabimba. The Airtel Board is Chaired by Nr George Sokota an accomplished enterpronuer and chartered accountant and the MTN Board is chaired by a Mr Valentine Chitalu another accomplished business man and chartered accountant.

    • Thank you for partly answering my question, So Airtel Board is Chaired by Mr. Sokota and MTN by Mr. V. Chitalu and Zamtel by Mr. Kabimba. Am sure MTN and Airtel are happy knowing that ZAMTEL is no longer a threat but a sleeping giant and hopely it does not over sleep.

  64. Zamtel is headed for a very long, cold, confused Wynter! #49 Former Zamtel Worker! Join the que somewhere behind Barotseland promises, civil servant increment promise, constitution promise & general 90 day issues. Sata promised!?! Can you take your head out of your ass and see that we were all lied to… hoodwinked so to speak!

  65. I am short of words to describe what i have just read. Anyways today being a friday i will not give any comment, coz it might dumpen my already gud mood. First kunwako ka whyskey then i will come back… Nonsense yachila pa zed.

  66. I guess this is another wasted 5 years Sata u have disappointed me MMD get ur act together n get back in power

  67. So the day has comewhat I had been warning you people of. I am now happy you people deserve this and deserve to be under Zombi’s and corrupt people. I am really very sad for Zamtel. We worked very hard to bring it to a place to fight the the other operators but ALAS! nothing to add.

  68. Zambia under PF is headed for unprecedented economic slump because they are messing around with issues they do not understand. The Sata regime has reinstated abuse of office in our law which effectively is causing paralysis in the civil service. Civil servants are afraid to make decisions because they fear being entangled in the “conflict of interest”. Woe is to Zambia if the PF government continues to pacify mmembe – a baron of falsehood industry. MMD left government with a very strong economic record: low inflation, unprecedented investment but today Kabimba a dangerous propagandist is running an industry of lies that threaten the Zambia’s future.  Kabimba is free lie to Sata but most Zambians are beyond his “brainwashing machinery”. 

  70. Why can we not Appoint Dambisa Moyo to one of these positions. BARCLAYS MADE HER A SILENT DIRECTOR, BUT HER OWN NATION SEES NO USE OF HER MEGA MIND. Really Zambia lets use Dambisa, Amon Simutowe, Dr. Chirwa and many others for the betterment of our beloved nation.

  71. BARCLAYS ENGLAND, not cairo Road made Dambisa Moyo one of theirs and we let her brains not develop Zambia. I wouldn’t mind paying her three times Herve Renard’s salary.

  72. Ha ahah ahahah aa I remember the article Bye Bye LAP Green it was not nice meeting you. Zambians deserved this very much things were moving in the right direction and everybody supported the reversal now this is teh price depreciation of Kwacha, no investors the old liar as board members and above all a MD who knows nothing about Management. Ah they thought they can work with stolen strategy and budgets. There is a saying which thay normally say about car racing, it is not the machine it is man behind. Same here it is not the strategy it is the people behind.

  73. You are right Libyan. Mupanga and his PF clew thought they could just praharise the strategy and use it. What they forgot to still was the thought process behind the strategy and the execution plan. Mupanga sat on the commission and told the commissioners and the president a lot of lies in order to position himself for the job. He has failed to give us direction. He is just a dummy CEO. This man has never achieved anything in his career. He was fired for poor Perfomance at Celtel and failed to gets job since 2003 and today GRZ makes him Zamtel CEO and yet Zamtel is a complex business

  74. For your information. Mupanga is a failure through and through. He failed twice at UNZA. The father had to send him abroad to an easier University and got a fake PHD in aviation radion communication and yet he masquerades to be a telecoms engineer. He fluked and got a job at Celtel as Technical Director. He failed and was fired for none Perfomance and incompetence. He failed to get a job in more than 9 years and the industry has moved on a milliln times since and today he is Zamtel CEO? Give us a break.

  75. If Mupanga was a real PhD in Telecoms engineering , why didn’t he even get a teaching job at UNZA in his 9 years of unemployment when he was being taken care of by a wife who was cohabiting with other men in Ghana and Uganda?

  76. @74 he was the one managing the affairs of the house thus a domestic assistant/engineer. That means he was employed by the wife for 9yrs but then he needed some career devt, hence the looking for a job.

  77. So finally people know the real face of PF no plan no strategy they only knew how to loose election and now they are just out to take revenge from RB and MMD in that they care less how much loss to the country. I was just reading that they are trying to appoint a Jew as Governor BoZ. We should now know the PF is strictly working to destroy the country under the influence of US as most of the leaders have done under influence of US.

  79. A very loyal board which increased their allowance in the first meeting. Ah more money in their pockets. How faithful they are to mother Zambia. Shame on them all, they just manupulate to get advantages for themselves. Look at the Dr. who played teh whole commision to get the MD position not knowing what damage he is posing to the country economy. I feel PF is a bunch of disorganised selfish people who can go to any extend for their own benefit not releasing the damage they do to the country.

  80. The first order of business for the Zamtel board was to increase their allowances by more than 100%. Mupanga gave himself a ZMK150 million per month salary.

  81. More money in their pockets what will become of the supporter who supported for the sake of more money in pocket and more jobs.

  82. # 63 You extol the virtues of Sokota and Chitalu as accomplished accountants and entrepreneurs!!! Do you know that Sokota got there by deceit through his impeccable connections in UNIP which he later dumped to get on the popular gravy train – the MMD. All know that Chiatalu got there through the privatisation of state enterprises and his impeccable connections to his clients such as CDC and USAID. By the way, professionally, accountants are known as bean counters and normally kept in the backroom!

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