Lusaka: The Zambia Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) says it supports plans to reverse the sale of Zamtel to Lap Green Networks but has called for diplomacy in the manner the issue is tackled. ZCTU general secretary Roy Mwaba said the Government should not be confrontational but use diplomacy and convince Lap Green based on the findings of the Commission of Inquiry that the sale of Zamtel was not done in a transparent and credible way.
“We call on Government to move cautiously over the ZAMTEL issue so that the welfare of both the workers and the company are safeguarded,” he said.
Mr Mwaba said handling the matter in a diplomatic way would build international investor confidence for Zambia and that caution was paramount as the reversal was in the interest of the Zambian populace.
Meanwhile, ZCTU has described as pre-mature calls from the opposition to have President Michael Sata impeached for breaching the constitution for alleged abuse of office in the past four months he has presided over national affairs.
United Party for National Development (UPND) presidential adviser, Douglas Siakalima was on Thursday quoted as saying that Mr Sata abused his office when he urged the Director of Public Prosecutions to investigate former ruling party officials for alleged abuse of their offices.
But Mr Mwaba said those in opposition should exercise patience to avoid making statements based on emotions and instead do so after conducting thorough investigations.
“We appeal to the opposition to avoid emotional outbursts. Since independence, no president has been impeached because it is not that easy,” he said.
And ZCTU has supported calls for reforms in the Judiciary as it would help build public confidence in the judicial system.
Mr Mwaba said it was important to have a judiciary that was independent from the influence of appointing authorities because recent judgments by the current judicial system had been brought into question by the public.
On the lifting of former President Rupiah Banda’s immunity, Mr Mwaba said Zambians should wait for reports from all commissions of inquiry that have been set up by the Government to look into alleged reports of corruption in the previous Government.
He said the outcome of the commissions would be the benchmark for lifting of Mr Banda’s immunity.
