WE cannot continue preserving the bushes and the animals while people continue suffering hence mining in the lower Zambezi will start after the rains, Feira Member of Parliament Emmanuel Tembo has said.
Mr Tembo said in an interview that it was high time Zambians started looking at what worked for them and cut issues of wanting to fulfill obligations of certain international instruments which the country was mostly forced to sign to get aid from certain countries.
He said he did not agree with stakeholders who were calling for the protection of the lives of the animals because people came first and ensuring that they are well taken care of was a priority.
Mr Tembo said his priority was to ensure that he protects the people of his constituency whose lives would be changed once mining activities in the lower Zambezi started.
“What is important now is that we need to look at our own survival and not the lives of the animals, trees and the ecosystem and those speaking against mining in lower Zambezi do not have the interests of the Zambians at heart,” said Mr Tembo.
He said it was high time that the people of Luangwa started exploiting the mineral resources that they have in the area because they had suffered enough and he would not keep the bush and allow the people to continue suffering.
And Mr Tembo disclosed that works leading to the opening of the mine in lower Zambezi had advanced and a road had been constructed in the lower Zambezi for easy transportation of the minerals.
He said preparatory works with regards to connecting the mine to power had also advanced and houses and offices had also been built.
Mr Tembo said he was confident that all the works would be completed by the end of the rain season for the mining activities to start.
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