Africa-Press – Zambia. A Member of the Central Committee in the former ruling party, the Patriotic Front (PF), Brian Mundubile, has challenged the United Party for National Development (UPND) government to come out in the open and explain the exact reasons, which were unknown to Zambians why it has taken the decision to place INDENI OIL Refinery under care and maintenance
Mr. Mundubile, who is also a Member of Parliament for Mporokoso Central in Northern Province and the leader of the opposition in Parliament said in Kasama shortly before departure for Lusaka yesterday that the decision government has taken lacks proper expert input.
Mr. Mundubile said that the New Dawn government of President Haakainde Hichilema did not conduct a Comprehensive Regulatory Impact Assessment before reaching the decision. Mr. Mundubile said there could be other reasons unknown that motivated the decision which he said, Zambians would also want to know.
Mr. Mundubile said that now that government wants to transport finished products the same way crude oil was transported, Zambians want to know what security measures they have put in place, adding that the CRUDE OIL being transported through the TAZAMA Oil Pipeline did not attract any thefts, saying that now that the government wants to transport a finished product through the same old, leaking pipeline, they should explain the measures they have put in place to protect the product.
Mr. Mundubile said he does not believe that the UPND government has put in enough security measures in place to protect the product and said technically, the system losses which resulted in throughput only accounted for leakages and not theft.
He advised that government to rethink their position and challenged the Minister responsible to tell the nation which middlemen government was removing in that value chain, how much are the savings and then what the costs of their decision would be.
”Government needed to consider the plight of the workers first before embarking on this mammoth project and I know there was no credible engagement with workers’ representatives that I believe would have resulted in making a better decision”, he said.
Mr. Mundubile said he was surprised that the UPND wanted to work with a defeatist attitude where it abandoned difficult situations to take the easy way out
“Zambians expected Bally to ” fix” things and not to do it in a way of abandoning”, he concluded.
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