KAMBWILI SPEAKS OUT ON BLACK MOUNTAIN

By ADRIAN MWANZA

YOUTHS and cooperatives mining at the black mountain in Kitwe are being used as pawns because the real beneficiaries are senior UPND members, PF   presidential hopeful, Chishimba Kambwili, has charged.

However, Kitwe District Commissioner, Lawrence Mwanza, one of those involved in the Black Mountain operations, said it was unfortunate that he was being accused of being partisan when that was not the case.

Mr Kambwili in an interview said the inclusion of the Kitwe District Commissioner in the coordination and the running of the Black Mountain was a sign of fraud by the ruling party because the beneficiaries were senior members of the UPND.

Mr Kambwili said it was wrong for the DC to be collecting money from the cooperatives because it was clear that the youth are just being used as pawns while the real beneficiaries included some ministers and other senior members of the ruling party.

“I’m aware that some senior members have even trooped from the far places just to come and get a piece of the cake from the Black Mountain,” he said.

Mr Kambwili said that the DC was a politician who is appointed by the President to be the eyes of the party hence his allegiance would be the head of State and the party.

He said that if the UPND meant well then they had to remove the DC from the process so that people could earn what was rightfully theirs.

Mr Kambwili said there was too much illegality in the manner things were being conducted and that sanity needed to be restored before the matter escalated.

He said it was shocking that hand pickers were just being allowed to only work for two hours while those with machinery were allowed to do so for days.

Mr Kambwili said that the whole thing was just a scheme to enrich the UPND members who used to envy what their counterparts used to do.