In any business deal, rest assured that there will be winners and losers.
The losers will always be those who blink during negotiations; those
who fail to adequately prepare and squarely look into the eyes of those they
negotiate with. Zambia has always lost out on many deals: we sold Chingola Mine
for $25 million. The new owners recouped the $25 million merely by selling mine
scrap. Within a year the new owner realised $600 million: He had all the tax
holidays in place. It’s strongly rumoured that that’s the business which
catapulted him into the billionaire’s league. The sole loser was Zambia because
those tasked to negotiate were ignorant or were compromised to play dumb; at a
fee of course! This deal smacked corruption!
The hallmark of most of Zambian negotiators is to personally gain at
whatever cost! They don’t care a hoot about the well-being and interest of the
country. Even under the so-called Patriotic Front government, negotiators were
not patriotic to the country but to their stomachs! Remember the Nonkola/
Milingo Lungu deal which was only favourable to Milingo and the Patriotic Front
heavy weights. Such are the kinds of Zambian government corruption signature
deals.
Recently, social media doubled up with a story about a Zambia-Kenya
land deal. Zambia is to give Kenya 20,000 hectares for the latter to grow
maize. Zambia would also sell to Kenya the strategic maize reserves. The social
media story has since died for all we know is that government didn’t help by
not giving the citizenry enough details. A story like this will naturally
generate interest in the minds of Zambians who can support or shoot down the
deal. Isn’t it only proper for government to explain to the suspicious Zambians
in detail what’s involved? This helps calm down the hotheads who are always
suspicious of every government move. It forestalls fears and negative
perception of government delinquency. This is the more reason government can’t
afford to be economical with the truth. Keeping quiet and thinking that with
the passage of time, Zambians will forget, this is attributed to warped
thinking; it’s not a viable option! In the absence of information and facts,
citizens will be left to guess work and eventually spread false rumours. UPND
has been in government for nearly two years now, we should have settled in well
to be able to do the right thing. Voters will not see the difference between
UPND and PF.
In the absence of facts on the Zambia-Kenya land deal, let’s be
hypothetical. We tried contacting the Farmers Union to weigh in on the deal.
The union felt that the matter was politically untouchable and referred us to
the Ministry of Agriculture. Unfortunately, people at the ministry developed
political diarrhoea and failed to respond to the request. Given that all is
done in good faith and above board, what’s there to fear? One school of thought
is saying why not contract Zambian farmers to grow the maize through their
union members? Why not contract ZNS to increase their maize hectarage? Selling
maize has so many attendant advantages - employment of our youths. It will also
bring in much sought hard currency. I would also like to challenge the powers
that be to enumerate the advantages Zambia would drive from this deal in its
current form. Unless Zambians are privy to such deals, they will be critical.
Lest we forget, freedom of information is enshrined in our Constitution. We
don’t run a mafia government whose motto is: “not everything must be discussed,
but all must be understood!’’ This is a constitutional government which is run
on a set of laws.
How can Zambia export maize to Kenya whilst locals are going hungry?
How can Zambia give Kenya 20,000 hectares on which to grow maize when Zambians
are hungry for land? Planning is very critical, so is sharing of information
with Zambians. All issues must be done above board; there’s no room for error.
No room for under the table deals. It’s disheartening to learn that the
minister is allowing importation of mealie meal. When we occupy public offices
we must do our best to excel, not to be a liability and laughing stock we are
turning ourselves into. This only helps arm the opposition.
- Alfred Chioza,
send feedback to: alfredchioza@yahoo.com
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