By ADRIAN MWANZA
ALLOWING Vedanta back to run the Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) will be an insult to Zambians and the people of Chingola, PF presidential aspiring candidate Chishimba Kambwili has said.
Mr Kambwili was reacting to Vedanta’s distribution of face masks in the mining town last week.
Mr Kambwili wondered what the motive was for the company which no longer had ties with the mines to be distributing face masks.
He said he was suspicious because as things stood, Vedanta was no longer the owners of KCM so what were they doing in Chingola?
Mr Kambwili warned the government not to go back to Vedanta because they were doing a disservice to Zambians.
He said he suspected that some people had benefitted from Vedanta because he did not see any benefits when they almost starved the people of Chingola.
“People of Chingola deserve better and I believe beyond reasonable doubt that we can run our own mines with the attractive Copper prices that are being recorded,” he said.
He said that the president needed to investigate this because it seemed people had interests in the UK-based firm coming back.
Mr Kambwili said that he had observed that whenever Finance Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane was at the helm he brought in tax regimes that did not favour Zambians.
“During the Mwanawasa days, then Finance Minister Mr Musokotwane did the same and again he is at it. My plea is if the President is not involved then he needs to investigate the matter because there was something fishy about the whole thing,” he said.
He said if Vedanta had gone, why did they distribute face masks in the Copperbelt town if they did not have any interest coming back.
Mr Kambwili said there was no smoke without fire and that it was just a matter of time before Vedanta came back.
Mines Minister Paul Kabuswe said he could not comment on the matter and referred all queries to ZCCM-IH as they were the best people to give guidance over the matter.
“At the moment ZCCM-IH is the one handling this matter and I cannot give any statement over Vedanta,” Mr Kabuswe said.
Vedanta should not be entertained – Kambwili
