Letters to the editor

Thu, 22 Feb 2018 08:25:21 +0000

CEC: a superfluous broker making easy money from ZESCO

Dear Editor,

I fully concur with reservations voiced by a UNZA don over the planned takeover of Copperbelt Energy Corporation (CEC) by a group of foreign investors.

UNZA director-graduate School of Business Lubinda Haabazoka is right to state that that the move is not only ill-conceived, but will have negative economic repercussions as it will result in enormous capital flight.

True, when foreigners take over CEC, all the profits will leave Zambia at an unbelievable speed since the company is not a loss making entity. Is this what Zambia wants in her desire to develop economically?

There is another issue. The new owners may just throw away CEC recently announced expansion programme into dust bin for as long as they can get their money from the current arrangement. That is possible.

Like Dr Haabazoka has correctly observed, it would be more ideal if the company is taken over by local investors, preferably ZESCO because they will have total interest of their mother land at heart apart from profits alone.

That aside, I don’t think Zambia frantically needs CEC which to me is just a huge middleman bleeding ZESCO for absolutely no good reasons.

Is there a big deal for ZESCO which generates power, to sell directly to the mines like it does to other industries and domestic consumers? Why was CEC born?

Frankly speaking no Zambian in his right frame of mind will miss CEC if it was brought to an end.

This is because all it does is wait for ZESCO workers to get bitten by mosquitoes in power generation points to supply it with power as its workers (CEC) sip coffee in their ivory towers and later sell it to the mines at a bigger profit.

Does that surly make any business sense? ZESCO should wake up and walk a kilometre further by taking charge of what belongs to them.

Just how much does CEC pay ZESCO to warrant this outlandish arrangement?

If indeed CEC is taken over by foreigners, mine owners can also expect to pay a little bit more than they are doing now.

For me, I strongly suspect that CEC was created by a bunch of egoistic individuals virtuously bent on plainly pocketing power from ZESCO to enrich themselves. I stand to be corrected.

In the premise, I would advise government to set up a technical command to look into the operations CEC and see if Zambia really needs this company.

Let ZESCO sell power to all who needs it in Zambia without electricity going through the hands of intermediaries who make it expensive for our mines to make a few more bucks for themselves.

Jay Kabemba, LUSAKA

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That reported IMF/Zambia deadlock

Dear Editor,

This is how international finance works, all it takes is a rumour or a news article and we have a snow ball effect. It is called efficient market hypothesis.

This amount Zambia wanted from IMF is minuscule and can be raised by the State if it was to cut on wastage of funds through the huge expenditure on liabilities such as luxury SUVs, first class and business class trips for non-performing government officers getting huge allowances and salaries.  The Bloomberg author of that IMF/Zambia deadlock article might even be connected to some IMF officials or other parties that have an interest in seeing Zambia’s economy drop. Read between the lines because these guys know Zambia has the means to be self-reliant but they opt to keep silent and want the nation to remain a beggar! May they be judged accordingly by God!

They say history repeats itself! Before colonialism the Europeans would trade with Africans in a manner that saw only the tribal/ village chief and elders benefit.

This pattern continued after gaining independence. What I’m saying is these Europeans in whatever form be they IMF, or so called investors have absolutely no interest in you as an African because you mean nothing to them.

If your leaders go and buy luxury SUVs from burrowed funds while your kids have no books in school despite you fighting for that money to pay for their school fees then it is up to you to raise it as an issue otherwise you will continue being a slave being used both by African slave owners and Western buyers! This has nothing to do with Margaret Mwanakatwe, if anything it shows that the Imperialist Monetary Fund (IMF) are really not happy with Zambia having an independent thinking finance minister.

They want a “yes boss” type whom they can easily control! Shame on them! Still we wait and see how Maggie performs!

Ba Maggie if you are reading this and I believe you are please cut or remove all ministerial allowances, salaries and stop buying luxury SUVs for line ministries and all supporting institutions such as ZDA, IDC, ZRA, PACRA, RDA, ERB etc etc that money spent is not value for money but just a wastage of resources.

Zambia can easily save up to a billion dollars a year if these measures are introduced. Let’s show the world we can do it!

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