Bringing Vedanta back is counter productive, says George Mpombo
By NOEL IYOMBWA
IT will be dangerous and counterproductive to bring back Vedanta Mineral Resources to run Konkola Copper Mines, a former minister, Dr George Mpombo has warned.
Speaking in an interview Dr Mpombo said that the issue of Vedanta is complicated both local and internationally hence the need for the government to be careful if they want to give them back KCM.
He said it will be counterproductive to bring the company to repossess KCM in the sense that government will miss the reason why the PF administration took over the operations of the mine.
Dr Mpombo, who served under the MMD, observed that bringing back Vedanta will have political and economic consequences to the country and the economy in particular.
He noted that the UPND government should realise that for the Patriotic Front government to take over mine they knew what they were doing.
Dr Mpombo appealed to the government to engage different stakeholders including former government officials before it decides to give back the mine.
“Government should not move recklessly regarding KCM, let them consult different stakeholders including former government officials because they had national interest at heart.
“If they go ahead with the decision to give back the mine to Vedanta it will bring issues that they fail to handle as it will be too late,” Dr Mpombosaid.
In May 2019, then President Edgar Lungu announced a decision to take over Konkola Copper Mines because the mine had made too many empty promises of investing billions of dollars.
Government lawyers, led by Attorney General Likando Kalaluka instituted a legal proceedings to actualise the takeover so that another investor could come on board.
