Kang’ombe says he will not apologise for advocating for Zambians
By George Zulu
KAMFINSA Member of Parliament Christopher Kang’ombe says he will not apologise for advocating for Zambians to own gold mining rights in various parts of the country.
Kang’ombe said poverty, unemployment and lack of sustainable development would be history if Zambians were empowered through ownership of mines.
“I make no apology. Gold mining should be for Zambians, and only Zambians can development Zambia and end poverty and high unemployment levels through ownership of the mines,” he said.
Kang’ombe said he would not change his call for Zambians to own natural resources such as Gold.
Kang’ombe, one of the emerging young leaders in the country, said the government should embrace the idea of ownership.
“My view is that gold mining should be for Zambians only, and I will not change that position. The aggregator called the Zambia Gold Company ( ZGC ) is owned by the Zambian government, and my submission is that it should continue buying gold from all artisanal mining companies,” he said.
Kang’ombe said ZGC should be instructed not to resell the gold to anyone else but take it to the Bank of Zambia to ensure the country had more gold reserves.
“This gold should go to the Bank of Zambia to ensure that we have more reserves than the current 2.8 tonnes of gold, currently only worth US$300 million dollars. Am I suggesting nationalisation of the mining sector? Certainly not,” he said.
Kang’ombe said that at the moment, it was difficult for large-scale mining companies that have invested huge sums of money to allow Zambians to own them.
“The current large-scale mining companies have borrowed millions of dollars from where they are coming from, and I will not propose that we take over the ownership of the mines where they have already invested. I, however, hold the firm position that once the geological mapping is done by the government, the ownership of Zambians in the companies that will get the new mining licenses must be at a level where they are key partners and decision makers,” he said.
He challenged those in the financial space to raise money for local investment in new mining companies before thinking of foreign companies running all new mines.
