By ADRIAN MWANZA
GOVERNMENT should take bold policy steps to remove tax holidays to ensure that Zambians benefit from high mineral prices, former cabinet minister George Mpombo has said.
Mining, he said, should benefit Zambians and not foreigners. Dr Mpombo said it was criminal for the government to give tax holidays to mining firms at a time like this when the economy was grappling with a number of issues.
Dr Mpombo said it was wrong to remove subsidies on commodities but give tax breaks to mining giants.
He said begging for alms with a bowl from the West despite having huge deposits of minerals which were being given out for free through dubious tax concessions, totally inexcusable.
Dr Mpombo said the new dawn administration’s mining policy was a mess and they needed to ensure that they took a bold step by making to halt mining concessions which did not favour the country.
Dr Mpombo said it was shocking that despite the government noticing that there was a problem it remained unmoved.
He said it was important for Government to ensure that the issue of mining concessions was dealt with once and for all so that the country starts benefitting.
Mr Mpombo said what was pertaining was neo colonialism and that the new dawn administration needed to show policy direction.
Now, he said, was not the time to give tax holidays to mining firms and that Government needed to ensure that it capitalised on the high copper prices on the global market by removing such concessions.
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