Lunte Member of Parliament, Hon. Mutotwe Kafwaya, has expressed grave concerns over the alleged collapse of the government’s debt restructuring deal, citing corruption and dishonesty as major contributors to the deal’s demise.
Hon. Kafwaya asserted that the debt restructuring deal, a key initiative pursued by the government, is now “as good as dead” due to what he claims is a lack of transparency and questionable practices in its execution.
Among the highlighted issues, Hon. Kafwaya pointed to the revelation that the government had purportedly agreed to pay $2.5 billion between 2024 and 2025 to bondholders. This decision, according to him, has reportedly angered the International Monetary Fund (IMF). He emphasized that committing to such a substantial amount contradicts the ongoing $1.3 billion program with the IMF and raises concerns about the financial feasibility of such an agreement.
Furthermore, Hon. Kafwaya criticized the government for agreeing to an 18% haircut instead of the 40% demanded from other creditors, deviating from the G20 Common Framework’s principle of equal debt treatment. He disclosed that the face value of the new bonds was increased to $3.135 billion in both scenarios, exceeding the original $3 billion face value of the old notes.
The Member of Parliament expressed his dismay, stating, “The agreement announced on 26th October 2023 with the External Bondholder Steering Committee is so absurd that it has shocked the IMF, Official Creditor Committee headed by China and France.”
In response to these concerns, Hon. Kafwaya urged the government to provide an explanation for the alleged scandalous clauses in the debt restructuring deal, which has reportedly been renounced. He emphasized the gravity of the situation, indicating that an announcement about the renouncement had been directed to the London Stock Exchange.
Hon. Kafwaya concluded by asserting that the reported carelessness in dealing with such matters is now costing the nation and could potentially lead Zambia back into a state of debt distress. He called for increased honesty in governance matters to avoid economic hardship and soaring living costs.
The government has not yet officially responded to these allegations, and the situation is likely to draw further scrutiny in the coming days.
Why do opposition leaders only become wise and intelligent once they’re in operation but once they’re in office they do exactly the opposite….Emmanuel Mwamba and his gang of Bandits are making noise 24/7 but weren’t these Bandits in office just 2 years ago….and now UPND Bandits are busy robbing Zambians in broad day light with their nonsensical compasation….No wonder Africa will never develop because of greedy and having useless leaders like HH
We pack our brains away only to come and pick them up when out of leadership. Even a firebrand goes extinguished when given the helm wheel.
The only exception in Nelson who never sought reelection but provided quality and exemplary leadership while the RSA opera and the globe was still cheering, clapping.
You observation cannot be truer. Indeed, power corrupts. But my conclusion is that this problem is endemic with the political class in Zambia because this is all their generation knows. These politicians from 1964 cannot solve the problems that the country is facing today. They see old solutions to modern problems and have too many favors they owe people to do right by the people. Zambia is headed for a generational “war” very soon. Youths will soon be ashamed to vote for these people.
@Anonymous: Mathafaka there is nothing to rob from the Zambian government. Everything we had, or could have had, was stolen by your relatives, Michael Satan and his nephew Edgar “Johnathan Mutawire” Lungu. Zambia is broke. Period. Furthermore, we Tonga do not steal. This is a fact. The reason is that traditionally, we have never had a central government. We have never had chiefs or emperors. Each man led his own homestead. In the absence of a central government, whom do you steal from? This is why we do not have a culture of stealing. It is that simple. On the other hand Satan and Lungu found Zambian cleaned by Magande, and robbed it so blind that it is now in US $31 billion debt it cannot repay.
@Gatsby: There is nothing true in what that bugger said. Zambia has no money to steal. It is that simple. What HH is struggling with is whom to pay what, thanks to the US $31 billion borrowed and stolen by your relative Michael Satan and his nephew Edgar “Johnathn Mutawire” Lungu. You do not have to worry about HH stealing. That will never happen. You have to worry about your relatives messing up again if HH is able to clean the mess left by Satan and his nephew. I understand that when you are a fish, you think that everyone lives in water, that is why you think that this government is stealing. HH has said he does not have a culture of stealing. I have explained why in my above comments
Do you have a copy of the judgement ?
………
We await GRZs response……….
Valid concerns.
If this Kapwaya was a honourable member of parliament, he could have requested that the Minister of Finance be called to issue a statement in Parliament on the issue at hand. Rushing to press statements where GRZ doesnot have an opportunity to respond shows arrogance and malice without contributing anything to solve the challenge at hand.
Correction.
Government has responded to such public pronouncement before. When again on this one, they choose to respond to Kapwaya’s presser is not for you to tell that simply. The media is another way of effective communication. It is the 4th state.
@Ngoma Yamaano: Musaama, I blame GRZ for not doing a good job of educating people on why we have the problems we have. HH should have hired me as his information minister, and I would have been singing night and day about the US $31 billion borrowed and looted by Michael Satan and his nephew Edgar “Johnathan Mutawire” Lungu, is the cause of all of their suffering. By not explaining this to the people, the government has given room to the looters to accuse the government of the crimes the looters committed. How can anyone steal from a country that has nothing to steal? This MP should be made to substantiate his claims with evidence, failure to which he should prosecuted for slander
These f00ls put us in this mess and what are they telling us now.
Just two years ago they were in power and today the governance of almost everything is extremely bad. Ba Mwankole..
Praise singers that is the bitter truth,running government is not joke business like your fallen Messiah HH thought now he is running away all the time with Mutinta when he lied that he will travel economy class because of the Zambian debt but the opposite happening
This article is too complicated for Kaponya Kaizar.
When I told you that hh is a failure and crook, many thuggish t0nga upnd supporters got extremely angry and threw insults at me. Here we are today. Dollar almost 30. People are suffering but meanwhile they are entering consent judgments to award upnd thugs for silly things like being tapped by a police officer. They are all thieves. 2026 hh will die of heart attack when he sees results of election
Without malice most of your comments are actually valid. But you add anger to it which makes you lose objectivity. That said, despite you living an alternative lifestyle (I know that you swing both ways and I have an intelligence file on you), it is true that consent judgments are theft of public resources. As for the USD, let it float, the mentality that the USD being low is the solution to our problems is myopic. We should simply export more finished products including minerals. The fortunate or unfortunate reality is that HH is likely to win in 2026 as well owing to a lack of credible opposition. Many Zambians do not view ECL as the best alternative, the PF should reorganize and go a convention.
@ Kaizar Zulu,you seem to hate the tonga people so much,don`t you know that they are good people and their women are very beautiful?
Zoona ba Gatsby are you saying this thing calling itself Kaizer Zulu is gay??? Yaba…no wonder
Mwana bwembya are you trying to say that all tongas are upnd supporters and thugs? I ask because my comment referred specifically to tonga thuggish upnd supporters.
As for 2020 vision you must be naive to believe that nonsense from a cadre whose party is well known funded by gay organisations like bentrust. Hh entertains gays at community house everyone knows this
Where is Kalyalya? Where is Musokotwane? Where is Mutati? Our so called financial Gurus.
The old political class cannot resolve modern problems. This is my objective conclusion. You cannot have a country where all key leaders are 50+ years old.
They are busy eating mabisi. You think they care about poor Zambians? Their children are abroad living like Kings.
A witch will bewitch and when he sees you suffering, he will be celebrating. Who brought us in this situation? If people have any morals left within themselves, they should be the last ones to even talk about this.
And where is Nkulukusa?
Who borrowed money using Euro Bonds? PF , Sata and ECL
Why did the PF contract private debt with such high interest rates? They are very dull and had dull MP”s like Kafwaya himself .
He should be ashamed of himself
Kafwaya and his PF surrogates are shameless bigots. They are the the root cause of the debt problem the country is now trying to address. Why didnt they see that there would be consequences of their overzealous borrowing? Shameless bigots!!
The ignorance and arrogance of this man is breathtaking.
PF members have no moral authority to speak about the perilous debt position that Zambia is in, they should be ashamed.
The government is trying its hardest to negotiate the best deal possible and we now get nonentities like Mutotwe Kafwaya talking nonsense.
What he should be doing is saying to his PF friends, “we have done Zambia bad and others are having to pick up our mess”
MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE FARM, KWACHA: KAYA!
Wait and see the kwacha will be back at K18 even reaching K17…ZCCM’s listing at the LME has to be sorted out, that scandal affected our forex inflows greatly but no one came out to discuss it, we need to cut down on govt expenditure…less people must be on the payroll, we need to cut down on the importation of unnecessary luxury items, more forex must be deposited into BOZ as a requirement to set up big investments in the country.