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The ZCCM-IH board needs to have total autonomy, free from political interference while practicing high level of transparency in its operations to avoid chasing away investors who may feel their investments are not safe in the mining sector.
This is according to the Centre for Trade Policy and Development (CTPD) and Economist, Lubinda Haabazoka, who observed that lack of autonomy as well as transparency had potential to drive away investors in the mining sector.
The two believe that these factors had led to the suspension of ZCCM-IH from the London Stock Exchange this week.
The suspension of ZCCM-IH raises concerns in that is has implications on how the mining sector is perceived, says CTPD Researcher Elijah Mumba.
Mumba said this during a Twitter discussion on the Implications of ZCCM-IH’s suspension from the London Stock Exchange hosted by CTPD on Thursday.
“If you look at it from the investors point of view, if investors are looking to invest are the financial status. ZCCM-IH should put their house in order because it has bad implications especially now that we are trying to revitalise the mining sector
“They need to ensure autonomy of the board. There has to be that autonomy and also high level of transparency with regards to how these matters are dealt with. If political interference has existed, we need high level of independence without political interference,” he said.
Mumba said the suspension was not a good signal, especially to the would-be investors.
Also read: ZCCM-IH board Chairperson, Dolika Banda, resigns after 17 months in office
And Economist, Lubinda Haabazoka, said the board independence was important as international investors needed to protect their investments.
Haabazoka, who is former Economic Association of Zambia president, emphasised on the need for ZCCM-IH to be autonomy in its operations.
“We know that there is political interference in the running of these board, this political interference has not been brought by the new government, it has always been there,” he said.
Going forward, Haabazoka said, it might be difficult for ZCCM-IH to find investors in new projects as well as for Mopani.
“It might be a bit difficult to find those investors who put transparency at the core and for investors from Europe that [suspension] might be a red flag for them,” he said.
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