Former Finance Minister, Ng’andu Magande has called on President Michael Sata to constitute a commission of enquiry into the Zambia Railways Concession Agreement of 2003.
Magande who signed the agreement on behalf of government, says he is ready to give information regarding the concession, once called upon.
He says as a former custodian of government property, he is obliged to put the record straight.
Mr. Magande has told ZNBC news that it is important for government and the public to know and understand issues surrounding the concession agreement.
And Railway Systems of Zambia Chief Executive Officer, Benjamin Even has said his organization is committed to discussing and clarifying the various issues over the concession agreement.
Mr. Even has told ZNBC in a statement that his organisation will respect the process to be determined by the government.
On Wednesday, President Michael Sata directed newly appointed Justice Minister Wynter Kabimba to revisit the Railway System Concession agreement.
ZNBC
Sata is scaring investors away. Does he understand this?
l love this guy but he does have serious questions to answer.He oversaw zanaco sale and railways concession both of which have the wiff of corruption
Yes Sata is Scaring the shit out of INFESTORS NOT real investors
You can’t call these guys investors when there is no tangible benefit coming from their presence here. Let them park and go.
Even Magande would be a better president than the stone age mind we have at plot one.At least Magande knows economics.
But why is he not?
Donchi kubeba
I was borne and bred in the mine township somewhere in chingola.AS a kid i used 2 enjoy the fruits of a national company in the name of nchanga mine.I remember vividly we used 2 have the best recreation and the best medicare.But with the coming of privatisation all i have seen is delapidation of infrastructure and negligence of the youths.And in this vein i wld like 2 register my support 4 the review of the concesion involving RSZ.
What is Sata(n) doing kanshi mwe bantu?
Sata has run out of positions to distribute to his relatives and tribesmen. The only recourse is to renationalise. Wait for ZANACO, Zambian Breweries and the mines to be next. You have a sikebenga in State House!
Is it another version of Nationalisation?
Sata is behaving like the typical party cadre that he is… making a lot of noise and accusations without providing facts and evidence…his limited education is really exposing him.
With all the state apparatus at his disposal, independent auditors and lawyers available to the state, he could have conducted a thorough and proper forensic audit and investigation to obtain the facts before playing to the gallery. Alas, talk first and think later, accuse first and obtain evidence later seems to be his modus operandi!
Investors must be accountable. RSZ are infestors and have literally raped the Railway system. LPM saw this and wanted to reposess but grew cold feet. Some industries like Raiways are best not privatised but commercialised in national interest..
Tazara….who has raped this entity?
Guys you have to be serious, if Zambia Railways was not concessioned in the interest of Zambians, what is wrong with a commission of enquiry?
Magande is very jumpy chap ; who said anything about commission of inquiry; we know you will bore the investigators with your boring economic jargon, but one way of the other you benefited you and ka Titus.
Our president is a true son of Zambia; we should support him on this; the Zambia Railways Concession Agreement of 2003 is a scam!
Good work HEMCS we salute you!
MR PRESIDENT,START WITH LAND AUDIT AND SEE HOW MUCH ZRL LAND HAS BEEN SOLD BY ON GOING ZAMBIA RAILWAYS EMPLOYEES AND NOT RSZ.ASSETS WERE STOLEN BY ZAMBIA RAILWAYS EMPLOYEES EVEN BEFORE RSZ CAME ON BOARD. MOST ASSETS WERE STOLEN , IT WAS FREE FOR ALL BWANA.WITHOUT RSZ YOUR ASSETTS ARE EMPTY.LET ZAMBIA RAILWAYS ACCOUNT FOR THE ASSETS FIRST BEFORE RSZ. MR PRESIDENT YOU WILL CRY.THE SAME PEOPLE WHO ARE TELLING YOU LIES STRIPED YOUR COMPANY NAKED.YOU WILL BE DISAPPOINTED.
By today’s standards, we are supposed to have a much better railway system one that is supposed to timely transport passengers and goods. Shame upon we Zambians for being complacent. Even when we see things going wrong we are happy. Let the president move in and do what he thinks is right. Those who are alive and have got good memory, think of how Zambia Railways operated. It employed a lot of people and moreover the passenger train system was far much better than today. Who can deny this? Yes, the new operators of the railway system must wake up and do the right thing. As it is, they are also complacent since as a nation we have not approached them on a serious note to do the right thing. One Zambia One Nation.
RSZ must be looked at objectively a responsible President cannot let things go to the dogs in the name of fearing to scare away investors.
Magande on this one you let the people of Zambia down.Any way you cannot be 100% always on RSZ it was a miss.I don’t think PF has the capacity to handle the situation,worse UPND,the man HH can just push it among his assets.
At least if it became HH’s assert then it would be functional and succesful for we know that all of HH’s asserts are doing well and employing thousands of Zambians.
This is a country where mediocrity is a standard! Does one need any tools of analysis to see that RSZ is a total disaster, God help Zambia..
This is what we call Government of the people by the people. Indeed a wise Government will ensure that the resources of the country are well managed and protected. Thank you PF and please know we are behind you in this regard.
Problem with us Zambians is that we are not Jealous of our national resources,just like the way we carelesslly use public resources saying ‘FyaBoma’.We as a nation can longer afford carelesslly anymore. Zambia as a Country is growing old with its natural resources equally being depleted with little or nothing to show.Let us stop being petty and pretentious like we dont see,not part of.Thisis our country and we are the ones to develop by putting in place corrective measures.
Plunderes, thieves, kawalalas,, zambia, zambia,??everywhere, just stealing, get them behind bars, bastards.
I do not know really what goes on in some peoples minds @ 1- 6. Even a small boy can see that something is wrong with RSZ. We need to face it off head on and uplift our dead railways after the inquiry.
Europe has the rail system intact and in place. Zambia a third world cannot afford to neglect such important infrastructure in the name of scaring investors.Heavy duty vehicles are destroying our roads built through our tax., and the people benefiting reaping millions out of the country use the roads for free and pay no reasonable tax at all, and when our President wants to fix it you say scaring investors, these are infests they milk us a lot and deserve nothing. Zambia will only be developed by Zambians
The fact of the matter is that Chiluba gave away this concession. Mwanawasa tried to take it back and failed because the agreement was binding to GRZ. The agreement stated that if GRZ terminated the concession the had to pay US$20m. RSZ will win this case in court any day
JUST WHY DO OUR POLITICIANS PUT US IN AN AWKWARD SITUATION? YASH PAUL KEDIA NEEDS TO BE CALLED TO TESTIFY.
I don’t think it’s only $20m. It gata be bigger. Otherwise that’s nothing for govt!
Well, government and RSZ should sort the mess that is now our Zambia Railways. It can only be to the benefit of both parties, no?
Talking about railways in Zambia, even TAZARA is limping, and look at Mchinji railway. Running railways is an expensive venture and unprofitable it seems, I think even the British are struggling with theirs. However, if you look at it NOT from the visible profit side but from the overall economic benefit for Zambia (movement of heavy goods, reduced wear on our roads) you find that the benefits far outweigh the profits. I would suggest that the concession be renegotiated so that government does the capital investment and RSZ operate the railways for us to avoid the party cadre mentality that destroyed ZR in the first place
Sad that so many of our citizens have been duped for too long into worshipping foreigners regardless of the fact that Zambian assets must be for Zambians, and because of the fact that the MMD failed to deliver quality education, most citizens are so mentally ill-suited to understand that foreigners do not have Zambia at heart, but only money for their owners abroad. We must get back Zambia Railways. Magande was a culprit for signing a dody deal without thinking about the long-term implications of a contract that ensalves Zambians with a failed foreign backed agenda to steal our assets.
Zambians let us work up and be real with what we say.First, can’t we see that for the first Zambia has attracted a lot of Diplomatic representation even from countries like Somali, Angola and we all know what this means. So far the govt has received funds towards remodeling Lusaka city roads with the Chine Govt, Water sanitation about K1.7trillion, $56millon to Zesco to revamp power. Second, More Mines have opened, some more yet to open. Third Minimum wage is about welfare of us Zambians surely but some critics are now increasing things to discourage govt despite making a lot of money. The only way govt can fight this is by leaving those investors who are willing so pay Zambians well and Nationalize those Companies that are not paying well because it is our resources e.g Nationalize RSZ
If u nationalize RSZ, ZCBC and UBZ, even if flash increases the Bus fares the govt will maintain low fares because it is subsidized hence difficult on the part. If the govt wants to maintain low food prices, they have to get involved themselves in doing much of agriculture to avoid wrong investors to exploit Zambians. The principle is very simple as result Govt is on the right track. This will also increase govt revenue as long as you put right people in right positions. Its not all companies but a few key organizations that will create Jobs for Zambians.Remember that the govt is the highest employer and it can not create jobs if most of our resources are controlled by outsiders who are employing a few Zambians. Let us support our Govt.
THE PRESIDENT HAS NOT BEEN TOLD THE TRUETH.ZRL NEEDS BILLION OF $ TO BRING IT TO VIABLE AND PROFITABLE LEVELS.FROM 1966 TO 2003 AT THE TIME OF ACCESSIONING NO RECAPITALIZATION WAS DONE IN TERMS OF TRACK OVERALL.APART FROM THE 170 KILOMETRES WHICH THE WORLD BANK FUNDED IN THE 80s FROM PEMBA TO LIVINGSTONE NO OTHER OVERHAUL WAS DONE THE WHO SYSTEM.IT IS ACTUAL RSZ WHO WAS CHEATED IN THIS DEAL AS YOU WILL LATER FIND OUT.RSZ WAS GIVEN AN OPERATING LICENSE NOT AS CONSTRUCTION LICENSE.YES ,THEY ARE SUPPOSE TO MAINTAIN THE LINE.BUT ,WHAT IS MAINTENANCE? IT MEANS MAINTAINING THE STANDARD THAT YOU FOUND AND RSZ HAS NO OBLIGATION TO BUILD THE RAILWAYS BECAUSE IT BELONGS TO GRZ.FOR YOUR OWN INFORMATION YOU NEED $40 MILLION TO BREACH THIS CONTRACT.SO AT THE END RSZ WILL STILL TO THE BANK SMILING.
Hi
I remember US$20m but its actually US$40m. Sata knows this he is just playing games to redeem his face. Mwananwasa a lawyer failed to cancel this concession
#S 1 AND 2. SO YOU GUYS ARE HAPPY WITH THE SERVICES OFFERED BY RSZ? HAVE RSZ ADDED VALUE TO THE RAIL FACILITY? FROM WHERE ZAMBIA RAILWAYS USED TO BE HOW IS IT NOW- I MEAN WHAT ARE THE IMPROVEMENTS? IF THE SERVE HAS GREATLY IMPROVE AND THE CONCESSION WAS LEGALLY OBTAINED, WELL THEN LET THEM CONTINUE RUNNING IT. HAVE THEY ELECTRIFIED THE RAIL SYSTEM? HAVE THEY INCREASED PASSENGER AND CARGO CAPACITY? THOSE ARE THE QUESTION TO ASK AND MUST BE ANSWERED.
…RAIL SYSTEMS THE WORLD OVER IMPROVE IN PASSENGER AND CARGO SERVICE AND CAPACITY AS WELL AS IN OPERATIONS STANDARDS AS THEY ARE THE CHEAPEST MEANS OF CONVEYANCE. ZAMBIA WILL NEVER INDUSTRIALISE WITHOUT IMPROVING AND CONSTRUCTING NEW RAIL LINES.
#S 4 AND 9. WHAT I HAVE BEEN NOTICING ALL ALONG IS THAT ZAMBIANS ARE NOT PATRIOTIC. IN FACT MOST OF THEM ARE JUST A BUNCH OF FOOLS. THEY WOULDN’T MIND SOMEONE JUST COMING IN THE NAME OF INVESTOR TO COME AND MESS UP EVEN THING THAT ARE WORKING PROPERLY. A CASE IN POINT IS THE KAPIRI GLASS WHICH INVESTORS DESERTED AND LEFT MOLTEN LAVA STONE DRY UP IN THE ENTIRE MACHINE NECESSITATING THE COMPLETE BUYING OF NEW PLANT TO WHOEVER TAKES OVER. ZAMBIANS JUST LOOK ON EVEN SMILING AND NOTHING WAS DONE TO THE INVESTOR CULPRITS. I WONDER WHAT IS BEING DONE TO KAWAMBWA TEA PLANTATION. YOU THINK IN THE FIRST WORLD AN INVESTOR CAN BE ALLOW TO RUN DOWN A PUBLIC FACILITY? EVEN B4 THE GOVT COMES IN PEOPLE THEMSELVES WILL TAKE THAT INVESTOR TO TASK. TO BE CONCISE, SATA IS DOING A GREAT JOB AND IN A HURRY.
…IT’S TRUE WHEN THE CONGOLESE SAY, “MUNTU WA ZAMBIE NI PUMBAFU”.
…WHAT I HAVE OBSERVED IS THAT THE ZAMBIANS LIVING MAINLY OVERSEAS (AND NOT NECESSARILY ABROAD) ARE THE ONES WITH SERIOUS BRAIN DEFICIENCY. ONE WOULD HAVE THOUGHT THE WOULD BE THE ONES TO ADVISE ZAMBIANS AT HOME ON HOW THINGS SHOULD BE RUN. ALAS, THEY SERIOUSLY NEED TO BE EDUCATED BY ZAMBIANS LIVING IN ZAMBIA IN ALL SECTIONS OF KNOWLEDGE.
#13 SPOT ON. YOU ARE GREAT. BUT UNFORTUNATELY YOU ARE JUST ONE OF THE PEOPLE WITH THE RIGHT BRAINS IN THE RIGHT PLACE. MOST OF ZAMBIAN (OVERSEAS) DON’T EVEN HAVE IT.
#20, THAT’S WHY AS THEY HAVE ALREADY STARTED, IT SHOULD BE MANDATORY FOR GOVT TO PUBLISH EVERY INTENTIONS ON NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS AND THE AGREEMENTS ENTERED INTO BY GOVT WITH INVESTORS FOR THE PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE. FEW WEEKS AGO MINISTRY OF FINANCE PUBLISHED THE 2012 BUDGET AND EXPENDITURE. IT’S ONLY THE BEGINNING BUT A STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION. THAT $20M AGREEMENT WOULD HAVE BEEN USED BY GRZ TO IMPROVE RAILWAYS.
#21 AND NOT 20 ON #35 CONTRIBUTION.
#25 DON’T WORRY TOO MUCH ABOUT MAGANDE IN THE MEANTIME. ZAMBIANS WILL CATCH UP WITH HIM IN THE PROCESS OF DEALING WITH DODGY INVESTORS AS HE WAS THE ONE SIGNING THOSE PAPERS. BUT, TROUBLE WITH MAGANDE IS THAT HE USED TO SIGN PAPERS WITHOUT KNOWING AGREEMENT CONTENTS- ESPECIALLY WHEN THE AMOUNT OF MONEY WAS PERCEIVEDLY SMALL. HE SAID IT HIMSELF. AND THIS AMOUNT WAS EQUALLY SMALL.
#27 I UNDERSTAND WHERE YOU ARE COMING FROM. MAYBE YOU HAVE NEVER LIVED OVERSEAS (PLS, PARDON ME IF YOU HAVE) TO KNOW FOR INSTANCE HOW THEY RUN THEIR PUBLIC TRANSPORT SYSTEMS. IN SIMILAR WAY AS KFC OR McDONALD’S THE TRANSPORT SYSTEMS ARE OWNED BY GOVTs BUT FRANCHISED PRIVATE COMPANIES. THE GOVTs REAP BY GETTING CONTRACT FRANCHISE MONEY, TAX, ETC. BEAUTIFULLY, THE GOVTS SET STANDARDS ON HOW TO RUN THESE PUBLIC FACILITIES. THEY PRESCRIBE THE TYPE AND QUALITY OF TRAINS, BUSES, BOATS ETC. EG FOR HEALTHY AND SAFETY REASONS THE GOVT CAN’T ALLOW AN OPERATOR TO OPERATE BELOW A MINIMUM SIZE OF A COMMUTER BUS. EG THE GOVT CAN’T ALLOW UTU BAFA OR SENGELELA UKO TYPE BUSES TO CARRY COMMUTERS. THEY EVEN PRESCRIBE THE INSIDE CONFIGURATION OF THE BUSES TO ALLOW FOR SHOPPING RECEPTACLES, WHEEL-CHAIRED…
…, BABYBPUSH CHAIR (OR BUGGIES), MORE ROOM FOR STANDING PASSENGERS AND OTHER REGULATORY INSTRUCTIONS SUCH AS NO SMOKING ON THE BUS, TRAIN OR BOAT, NO DRINKING ALCOHOL ON THE COMMUTER BUS (MIND YOU I DIDN’T SAY ON THE BOAT OR TRAIN BECAUSE THERE ARE ACCEPTIONS FOR BOAT JOURNEYS AND CERTAIN TRAIN JOURNEYS). THEY, TO SOME EXTENT CONTROL EVEN THE FARES PEOPLE PAY. BUT IN WHOLE GROUND AND RIVER TRANSPORT BUSINESS IS VERY LUCRATIVE. SINCE I STARTED LIVING IN THE FIRST WORLDS I HAVE NEVER HEARD LOSSES ANNOUNCED. AND THOSE WHO WORK FOR THE TRANSPORT SYSTEMS ARE PAID VERY GOOD MONEY FOR THE JOBS THEY DO.
Do some Zambians crititical of Satas move on RSZ realise that a well run railway system could be a money spinner and a big employer?. Those of us who were old enough in the seventies and early eighties know what a pride it was to work for ZR. Zambia is loosing billions of Dollers every year repairing roads because of the heavy cargo being carried by trucks which would have normally been carried by rail. The economic and financial implications here are very big countrymen.
On this one I support Sata. Our railway system has collapsed. The mines use the roads and have caused many deaths on the roads due to big tracts on the roads. Let us get the railway systems back.
viva SATA
I think the president is right on RSZ. It was a rip-off.
The Preisdent is right, get it from these crooks
2003 and you have kept quite you crook…What are you up-to now? Sata should have you caged as one of the worst plunderers this country has had to endure. Get lost, we will soon our railways back.
Ba dala Ba Magande..tuyanda chitima chesu..whats the problem?You mean you cant see parastals under the goverment like ZR,ZCCM etc were doing much better than so called investors???
The need to revisit the agreement was started by Levy Mwanawasa and Magande. When they came in power the negotiations had already been made under Kasonde. In 2008 Magande went as far as asking the World Bank to help Zambia in reviewing the rail concession as the Rail concession was not favouring Zambia (April, 2008). He questioned this agreement and protected every Zambian.4 years later this uneducated President comes and says the very same thing, we give him credit and call him a hero. Zambians know which people are there for you and which people are out to blind you that they are working hard when in fact they are just jumping on the bandwagon of intelligent people. LT republish your article /2008/04/11/rail-concession-not-favouring-zambia–magande
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