Zambian government defends sale of Zamtel

THE Memorandum of Understanding between Zambia’s government, Zambia Development Agency and RP Capital Partners for consultancy services for Zambia Telecommunications Company (ZAMTEL) has become a contentious issue between the media and government.

While the media have suspected irregularities in the process, the Zambian cabinet has shot down such sentiment and insisted that proper procedures were followed.

Vice president George Kunda said there was nothing amiss about the MoU.

“The matter has been heavily politicised and it appears to us in Government, unfortunately, that media in this case has acted as an investigator, prosecutor, judge, jury and executioner. Thus, the comments being made in The Post newspapers are based on leaked documents, incomplete, selective, premature and illegal in their possession and do not portray a complete picture of the matters in dispute,” he told Zambian media.

He defended the statement which Minister of Communications and Transport Dora Siliya made in Parliament recently saying it was a true statement and was based on documents available to Government.

Kunda added, “The acting Principal Counsel on behalf of the Solicitor General on November 21, 2008, rendered his opinion on the MoU. The Solicitor General rendered a further opinion in November, on the same MoU.”

Last week, Zambia’s President Rupiah Banda refuted claims that the planned sale of a stake in the state-run ZAMTEL had been mishandled.

In December 2008, Siliya announced that Zamtel would be part-privatised, in a move intended to prevent the operator from financial and operational collapse.

Savious Kwinika