By GIDEON NYENDWA
THE change of government has retarded the process to actualise the Grizzly Mining Limited’s $10 million pledge to procure mining equipment for the miners, the small-scale emeralds miners have complained.
Emeralds and Semi-Precious Stones Mining Association of Zambia (ESMAZ) president Victor Kalesha has said the coming in of the UPND Government has brought retrogression in the way things were done in some projects that had taken off in the PF regime.
Mr. Kalesha said they had made substantive progress with the former permanent secretary to the ministry toward attaining the conditions that Grizzly had demanded but the change of government seems to have slowed down the process.
He said Grizzly Mining Limited committed to spend $10 million to procure mining equipment for small-scale emerald miners but because of the change of Government, things were not promising.
Mr Kalesha said the mining firm was ready to procure the equipment on condition that the small-scale miners in Lufwanyama, numbering 600, form cooperatives and acquire a single mining licence.
He said the government should put up systems that could facilitate proper hand over of projects to the next in these ministries in when there is change of government.
“This could prevent the slowing down of projects that were already in the process before the change,” he said.
Mr. Kalesha said that they would have been at another level with the process of acquiring the said equipment if there was proper handover between the outgoing PS and the one who was supposed to take over but that was not the case.
He said their expectations were dwindling because they do not know what the national budget will have for the small-scale miners.
“We are not sure whether they are going to touch on issues concerning the small-scale miners,” he said.
Mr. Kalesha hopes that the new government will capture what progress has been made and take up the driving seat to facilitate the processes.
‘Change of Govt stalls project implementation’
