Ndola’s Chifubu Member of Parliament Lloyd Lubusha says he will side with the people on the planned restructuring of Indeni Petroleum Refinery in Ndola.
Energy Minister Peter Kapala this week officially informed Indeni workers during a meeting held at the plant that the firm will be restructured in order to make it more viable.
Mr. Kapala, who was accompanied by Finance Minister Dr. Situmbeko Musokotwane, Information Minister Chushi Kasanda and Copperbelt Minister Elisha Matambo, confirmed that workers at Indeni who include 327 permanent ones will be declared redundant and asked to reapply when the petroleum firm is restructured.
Reacting to the proposed restructuring of Indeni, Mr. Lubosha said he will also support the Government’s plan to make Indeni viable.
The Chifubu Member of Parliament said the issue of Indeni affects people in all parts of Ndola Town.
“The issue of Indeni Petroleum Refinery has been a very big issue in Ndola. Ndola is divided into four constituencies namely Chifubu Constituency, Kabushi Constituency, Ndola Central Constituency and Bwana Mkubwa Constituency. The workers at Indeni are dotted in these constituencies so as members of Parliament we become major stakeholders to determine the future of Indeni,” Mr. Lubosha said.
He hailed the Government for officially stating its position on Indeni and for assuring workers that they will be paid a redundancy package swiftly.
“As members of Parliament first number one we stand with the people whilst we support the Government. We stand grateful as members of Parliament because the decision that the Ministers of Energy Finance and Information have laid on the table is an extraordinary decision. Past administrations when it came to commercializing, transitioning of public enterprises we never saw the decision that has been made by the New Dawn Government under the leadership of His Excellency President Hakainde Hichilema, commander in chief of all commanders,” Mr. Lubusha said.
“The New Dawn administration has assured the workers that they will be paid. Not only being paid as it was in the previous administration where after being paid they were laid off again today the New Dawn administration because it is a caring Government it has said it will take on board all of you . This clearly indicates that it is an administration we need to trust because it is there to stand with the people. It is our humble appeal as Members of Parliament that we will support the Government programmes that will help to recover our economic and finance problems where they are today,” he said.
Meanwhile, Bwana Mkubwa Independent Member of Parliament Warren Chisha Mwambazi said he was relieved to hear that the Government won’t sell Indeni.
“The issue of Indeni is a very thorn issue in our Constituency because if you look at the numbers that have been given, there is about 327 Indeni employees , there is Three Thousand who are contractors and suppliers to Indeni and our livelihoods in Ndola is based on this industry. So the most important point is that Indeni has not been sold because those were the speculations,” he said.
Mr. Mwambazi asked Indeni workers to be patient as the Government begins the restructuring process.
“I am very grateful that now we have the actual position of the Government of his Excellency President Hakainde Hichilema, who cares for the people. What is important as Indeni workers; let’s have patience and follow the procedure then we are going to achieve what we want. Our role is to ensure that our people are taken care of by the Government,” he said.
According to Mr. Kapala, under the newly proposed structure Indeni will stop petroleum refinery business and start operating like an oil marketing company.
Let them dance. It’s their time.
The UPND won three of the four constituencies in Ndola. In contrast, Kitwe didn’t give a single constituency out of five to the UPND. It appears Ndola voters were easily carried away by the UPND’s false and inflated promises. It’s difficult to sympathize with such voters. They are now getting their just desserts. If you make a bed of thorns, be prepared to sleep in it.
The law makers are lying to the workers and people of Ndola.
1. You don’t know the deal Musokotwane and h² has struck with IMF now do you?
2. When you say all workers won’t lose their jobs, Lloyd you lie, you ungrateful goon.
3. When you insinuate that it won’t be sold, independent MP, you too lie to the people.
Privatization is a thorny issue to not only Ndola people, but all Zambians.
Zambians watched while MMD former fossil Musokotwane party and h² ripped it out of its viable industries effectively rendering it a ghost town or city. Once beaten, twice shy.
What is this cliché “under the leadership of …” good for? It stinks of acquiescence at best and sycophancy at worst. Can we just speak normally. Also the tired joke of calling people honorable. With these last few words remaining I say pull out the books and see what the money says about Indeni. Then pull out the social security pact and look after the victims.
Kenneth Kaunda was an idealist who had the country at heart but he was very poorly advised on the economy. Most of the factories he set were not viable and only survived on milking the govt treasury. I have in mind Nitrogen chemicals, Indeni, Mulungushi textiles, mansa batteries. Such companies have very little opportunity for vertical integration. The economies of scale, new technologies and global competition challenges are insurmountable. Good investments were in companies like Zaffico, Zambia sugar etc. we can start to make tooth picks for a start instead of importing from China.
piyeef is long gone let the new work.
Zambia needs to invest in it’s people and infrastructure. Not derelict factories from the UNIP error. For all those un-informed daydreamers pressing for govt control of unprofitable businesses, google ZIMCO Evans Wilima, Dixie Zulu. No ill-intent on the former directors but we ought to learn from their unintended failures. Mostly to do with political agendas of those in powerwhich were grossly misaligned with business reality.
It is unwise to blem the people of ndola,for making a bold decision to change government in regards to the issue if indeni.change was inevitable am sure they were tired of the misappropriation of public resources by the previous government.the issue of indeni is on the table before senior technocrats let’s give them a little more time to come up a better recovery plan which I believe is underway.a lot of people benefit from the refinary not only the people of ndola.
What business model is going to be implemented?
Ndola roads were and are still terrible. For years the stretch from Skyways to Ndola Central Hospital roundabout has been a mess. PF only started working on some roads when elections approached. And the dust road going to the new Airport has UPND fixed it? Fix it quickly and make some points ba sleepy UPND
Ndola roads were and are still terrible. For years the stretch from Skyways to Ndola Central Hospital roundabout has been a mess. PF only started working on some roads when elections approached. And the dust road going to the new Airport has UPND fixed it? Fix it quickly and make some points ba sleepy UPND. In Kansenshi and Mitengo you have to navigate with a campus to find roads