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OPPOSITION Forum for Democracy and Development (FDD) president Edith Nawakwi says President Edgar Lungu should not have constituted a committee on mines without the minister of mines and energy because these two ministries are critical in any negotiation of the mining sector.
Ms Nawakwi said the committee should have included minister of mines, minister of energy as well as the ministers of finance and his counterpart from labour, adding that they were critical office bearers who must have been in place before anybody could dream of putting up a committee on mining.
“I wonder what the contributions from other people on the committee will be because truly this committee seems to be a committee which will come up with no solutions,” she said.
Ms Nawakwi said that was why it was so important for the minister of finance Alexandra Chikwanda to say that mining tax was a cut in a concrete.
She said Mr Chikwanda’s statement rendered completely useless President Lungu’s effort to create a committee to supervise the ministry of mining.
“The action of the minister lives me wondering as to who really is in charge of our republic, is it the Minister of finance or indeed the President Mr. Edgar Chagwa Lungu? I think that these issues are very critical in as far inspiring confidence is concerned,” she said.
Ms Nawakwi said it seemed that there were certain people who had a final say and rendered the office of the president completely inept and irrelevant.
She said there was no need for the country to continue to proceed on such a graph and demanded answers to who was truly in charge of the country.
Ms Nawakwi said President Lungu had gone on a mission impossible to try and create an image for a government which did not exist.
“Government does not mean the people who surround the president, government means a cabinet yet so many days after the election we still don’t have a minister of mines when really there are so many pending issues in the sector,” she said.
Radio Mano
