By Staff Reporter
Former Commerce minister Bob Sichinga says he agrees with Professor Patrick Lumumba’s assertion about the current crop of Africa leaders whom he described as puppets of the west and giving concessions to foreign multinationals, wondering how possible it is to give mining companies concessions but fail to subsidise fuel for the masses.
Speaking with Daily Revelation on the statement by Kenyan Pan-Africanist Professor Patrick Lumumba’s assertion that Africans have successfully elected village fools into office and such fools are busy auctioning their minerals to outsiders through all sorts of tax concessions, Sichinga said he totally agreed with the Kenyan Professor.
“Yes, in fact completely correct. In fact I made this point at the time of the budget. Why is it okay to give concessions to a mining company but not to subsidise fuel to the whole country…especially a company that does not even ever declare profits?” Sichinga asked. “So they are not contributing to the taxation burden on behalf of the country. So if you give a concession to such a company what you are doing is you are actually subsidising the shareholders.”
He questioned the insistence by some multinationals especially in the mining industry that they were making losses.
“How is it possible that such a company can continue in business if they are making losses. Why would they do that? Why would they continue in business if they are making losses? So clearly what they are doing is they are using what is called financial engineering to evade tax. They are usually using methods such as overloading the procurement, paying higher for expatriate employees and basically disguising it in terms of fees, in terms of charges of one kind or another so that at the end of the day they are going to make a loss,” Sichinga said. “The other thing they use is they use their own subsidiary companies to buy the copper at concessionary prices. And therefore the difference between the concession prices and the market prices is what they are taking as their own profits.”
He argued that it therefore followed that giving concessions to mining companies was more or less subsidising them.
“The other thing that was talked about on this is President Kagame. Why do you want to give concessions so that the companies make profit outside your system? And in the meantime you are going to the IMF and World Bank to borrow ? Why would you be doing that?” Sichinga asked. “And that it’s nonsensical to expect that you have a leader who is going to do that, or leadership that is going to do that. And that I totally agree with. Why would we want to do concessions for a specific mining company but not fuels or subsidy through the programmes like FISP, so that you run efficiently to help the people of the country?”
Sichinga wondered why concessions to the people should be deemed less favourable than concessions to a specific mining company, saying those in government must answer this question.
He questioned the focus on getting foreign mining firms when the former ZCCM managed all the mining companies and some of the brains who ran the corporation are still around.
“Nobody can tell me that they were inefficient. The prices at the time were at £1900 per metric tone of copper. It is now at over $10,000 per metric tone. How is it that a company can make a loss at those circumstances? And a company at £1800-1900 were able to break even?” Sichinga asked, saying the same Zambians who ran ZCCM could still run Mopani, KCM and the other mining companies in the country. “As far as I am concerned there is no reason whatsoever to go and ask for an investor outside to come and run mines here.”
He said he took it that KCM was not going back to Vedanta when President Hakainde Hichilema said during a press briefing that the government was not giving KCM back to Vedanta.
“So if these are not being handed back to, shall we say to the private sector, as opposed to government owning the companies that are going to run them like the ZCCM-IH, for me they have my full support. Why? Because Zambians are quite capable of running these companies,” Sichinga said. “The question of investment does not even arise. We worked in ZCCM. Honourable Hachipuka and I worked in ZCCM…honourable Charles Milupi worked in ZCCM. What you do is always you go to the market. You borrow. All these pension funds they want a place where they can put their money. Even the so-called private companies borrow. They don’t have money from their own pockets so that they can be able to use that money to make profit. Why wouldn’t we be able to do that for our own country?”
Asked if he would accept if he were called to run the mines, Sichinga said he would absolutely take the opportunity if that was what the country required, or any other person for that matter, arguing that the investors coming here were not better qualified that the local experts.
“And it doesn’t have to be Sichinga. It can be honourable Hachipuka, it can be honourable Milupi, whoever is thought to be capable of running that. How was it that it was possible to work for ZCCM and not to work for KCM?” he argued. “…I would certainly do that with my eyes closed.”
Sichinga said the government must state their policy position on the mines, particularly the management of the mines, saying the fact that another liquidator has been engaged implied that they were liquidating the mine
Prof Lumumba said it was extremely unfortunate that many people who are being elected into leadership in Africa are turning out to be sellouts and western puppets.
While delivering a speech in Uganda as monitored by the TheAfricana, Lumumba bemoaned the scarcity of people with high moral decorum adding that, the reason why Africa has continued to be poor is because there are people who are puppets and are serving the interest of those who have interest in minerals.
“I stand here as a sad person. When you look around Africa we have leaders who are sellouts. But a proper prescription of the problem reveals that it is not only the politicians who are a problem. The voters are a big part. Anyone who stand to give people proper programs and manifestos, voters will not listen. They want to listen when a someone is talking while such a person has cash to distribute to them,” said Prof Lumumba. “This is the reason why Africans have successfully elected village fools into office and such fools are busy auctioning their minerals to outsiders through all sorts of tax concessions. I dare say and am not guilty for holding this notion that, we have some corrupt African leaders among us who are puppets, and are busy handing over our minerals to imperialists.”
On the hoisting of the rainbow flags, is used to celebrate the LGBTQ gay movement at the Swedish and Finnish Embassies in Lusaka,and what some observed as colours which adorned the dais at the Mulungushi Conference Centre during the EU-Zambia conference, Sichinga said: “My view is very clear. We are Africans. We have our own norms. We have got our own systems. We have our own beliefs. We have got our own practices and what we find abhorrent. Nobody, Sweden or anybody else else in the world; USA, Europe, Britain if they want to practice that let them do it in their country.”
He said the “things of saying gay rights” should he looked at against the rights of those who were opposed to such practices, saying if that was what they wanted to practice they were at liberty to do so in their own countries but not here.
“That is nonsense. And also we should not be allowing them because it stands against all laws that we stand on at the moment that nobody of the same gender can engage in sexual relationship with another person of the same gender. Those are our laws,” said Sichinga.
Zambia’s former Ambassador to Ethiopia Emmanuel Mwamba said that on Tuesday May 17, 2022, the Swedish and Finish Embassies flew the flags, on their premises, of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBTQI), which is a symbol of LGBTQI, in support and commitment to LGBTQI rights.
“Under the 1961 Vienna Convention guiding Diplomatic Relations, Diplomats are mandated to respect the law of the receiving State and it is a serious breach of the Convention to break the law of the host country. Similarly their premises, although enjoying immunities and privileges, must not be used for other purposes other than the approved and agreed purposes as guided by the Convention and host country,” argued Amb Mwamba. “Article 41 of the Vienna Convention provides that; (1.) ‘Without prejudice to their privileges and immunities, it is the duty of all persons enjoying suchprivileges and immunities to respect the laws and regulations of the receiving State. They also have a
duty not to interfere in the internal affairs of that State.’ And (3) ‘The premises of the mission must not be used in any manner incompatible with the functions ofthe mission as laid down in the present Convention or by other rules of general international law or byany special agreements in force between the sending and the receiving State.’”
He demanded that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation must resolve this blatant disrespect of Zambian laws and the culture of its people and the utter disregard by these Embassies for the Convention regulating Diplomatic Relations between Zambia and their States.
