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Zambians for Unity, Peace and Development (ZUPED) has urged government to quickly sign shareholders and implementation agreement for Konkola Copper Mines (KCM), so that documents can be registered in the court of arbitration.
Organization president, Ronnie Jere, said this would result in Vedanta Resources taking over KCM so that government can start getting the necessary foreign exchange and stabilize the kwacha which has been depreciating.
Jere told the media in Lusaka on Monday that there was no need to politicize these issues by the opposition or government officials.
He said the statement attributed to Finance and National Planning Minister, Situmbeko Musokotwane, saying the performance of the dollar would have been worse if Patriotic Front (PF) was still in government was unnecessary.
“The Minister was politicizing the issue of the dollar. But we all know that the foreign exchange problem is as a result of having less exports and importing more. We need to use a lot of forex to import and if we can’t have forex in form or dollar there is no way our kwacha can appreciate,” Jere said.
He implored the Minister to quickly help matters by ensuring that the kwacha was stabilized through unlocking mines such as KCM and Mopani Copper Mines.
Jere also wondered why the transition process seemed to be moving at a snail speed when the government indicated that this would take three months.
He said there was only one month remaining before the period given by Minister of Mines and Minerals, Paul Kabuswe, elapsed.
“As the coalition, we have been waiting for the Minister’s response to our press briefing which we held last month. We have been requesting the minister of Mines and Minerals Development and his colleagues to expedite the process of signing the shareholders agreement and also the implementation agreement so that those agreements could be registered in the court of arbitration,” Jere said.
He said his organization was aware that the two agreements have not yet been signed and this was a source of worry.
Jere said ZUPED was worried because the people on the Copperbelt, the suppliers and contractors had been eager since the Minister announced the takeover of KCM by Vedanta to have what was promised fulfilled.
“Vedanta is also saying that they are waiting for the shareholders agreement and the implementation agreement to be signed before they register those documents in the courts of arbitration,” he said.
He hoped that the Minister would be able to expedite this process so that those documents can quickly be registered in the court of arbitration.
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