By NATION REPORTER
THE Zambians for Unity Peace and Development (ZUPED) has challenged the Minister of Finance and National Planning, Dr Situmbeko Musokotwane and line ministers to quickly resolve the issues surrounding Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) by signing the shareholders’ agreement and the implementation agreement so that documents can be registered in the court of arbitration.
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The organisation said this will result in Vedanta Resources taking over KCM so that government can be getting the necessary foreign exchange and stabilise the Kwacha which has been depreciating.
ZUPED president, Ronnie Jere, said there is no need to politicise these issues.
Mr Jere said the statement attributed to Dr Musokotwane saying the performance of the dollar would have been worse if PF was still in government was unnecessary.
“The Minister was politicising the issue of the dollar. But we all know that the foreign exchange problem is as a result of having less exports and importing more. We need to use a lot of foreign exchange to import and if we can’t have foreign exchange there is no way our kwacha can appreciate.
We implore the Minister of Finance to quickly help matters by ensuring that the Kwacha is stabilised through unlocking mines such as KCM and Mopani Copper Mines,” he said.
Mr Jere has also wondered why the transition process seems to be moving at a snail‘s pace when the government indicated that this will take three months.
He said there is only one month remaining before the period given by Minister of Mines and Minerals Development, Paul Kabuswe elapses.
“We have been waiting for the minister’s response to our press briefing which we held last month. We have been requesting the minister of Mines and Minerals Development and his colleagues to expedite the process of signing the shareholders agreement and also the implementation agreement so that those agreements could be registered in the court of arbitration.
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