By AARON CHIYANZO
FIFTY- ONE percent of any investment in the gold subsector should be owned by Zambians if locals are to benefit meaningfully from the resource, People’s Alliance for Change (PAC) president Andyford Banda has said.
Mr Banda said no foreigner should be allowed to wholly own any investment in gold unless they partner with locals.
He said in an interview that Government should guarantee loans for Zambians so that banks could finance local investors to procure equipment for gold production.
Mr Banda said consultants could be engaged by Government to help Zambians as they venture into gold mining.
He said it was possible for Zambians to venture into gold production if Government provided a platform that favoured their involvement.
Mr Banda said foreign investments that have so far been made into the gold subsectors in Zambia could have been easily been done by locals if the right platform was available.
He said benefits from gold should not only be in terms of taxes by actual benefits to the locals.
Mr Banda said really benefits from gold could only be achieved if policies that support local participation were created.
He said at least 51 percent of any investment in gold should be held by Zambians.
“There was no need to engage a Sudanese company to come and invest $5 million in our gold when that can be done by Zambians. There was just need to empower Zambians and get consultants have experience in gold to come and help.
“Benefiting from gold should not just be in terms of taxes but actual benefits where local people are involved in the whole process,” he said.
