By Isaac Zulu
The revocation and cancellation of manganese mining licences by the UPND administration is justifiable if it is meant to bring sanity in sector, says Howard Kunda.
Recently minister of mines Paul Kabuswe announced the revocation and cancellation of manganese mining companies in Central Province, saying most of the mines did not follow the right procedures when acquiring their licences while others did not conduct some environmental impact assessments.
Comment on the development, Kunda, who served as chairperson for the Public Accounts Committee in Parliament, said that previously manganese mining activities in Central Province were marred with illegalities.
“This issue of manganese mining in Central Province had been characterised with a lot of of illegalities. In most instances you would find that the person who is mining manganese only has a license for exploration, but is engaging in mining of manganese without having a mining license. People were not following the law,” explained Kunda in an interview. “So, I think the revocation and cancellation of some of these mining licences is welcome, provided government is following the right procedure and wants to bring sanity in manganese mining. In short, the revocation and cancellation of mining licences by the UPND administration is justifiable if it is meant to bring sanity in the sector. Let them do the right thing at the right time.”
The former MMD Muchinga member of parliament urged the UPND government to formulate a deliberate policy that will ensure that Zambians benefit from mining activities in the country and avoid situations where revenue generated from the mining sector are externalised by foreign investors.
“I am not saying that foreign investors should not be allowed to engage in manganese mining, but I would like to see a situation where the local people have maximum benefit from the mining sector. You see, this country is endowed with abundant natural resources, but we are are failing to utilise our resources to benefit ourselves,” said Kunda. “We have allowed our minerals to go out of the country together with the money that foreign investors make from our mineral resources. Money is being externalised and our economy, as a country, remains the same – bad. I can only encourage government to deliberately encourage Zambians to acquire mining licences so that they can partner with foreign investors and engage in manganese mining. I am not against foreign investments in the mining sector, but I feel that we need to encourage the local people to engage in mining and other sectors of the economy.”
