Africa-Press – Zambia. Trade unions at Indeni Oil Refinery in Ndola have expressed shock over the Government’s decision to place the plant under care and maintenance. Energy Minister Peter Kapala recently announced the Government’s decision to put Indeni under care and maintenance.
Power Generation and Allied Workers Union of Zambia (POGAWUZ) and the National Union of Transport and Allied Workers (NUTAW) representative Mutukelwa Lubita said unions expected the New Dawn Government to revive the plant.
Speaking at a joint media briefing in Ndola, Mr. Lubita, the POGAWUZ General Secretary, said closing Indeni will render over 300 workers redundant. He said currently the refinery has employed about 344 direct workers.
Mr. Lubita said unions are praying that the interest of workers will be prioritized as Indeni halts operations. He added that assertions that Indeni processes expensive fuel were not true because prices are determined by the Energy Regulation Board (ERB).
Mr. Lubita said the current problems at Indeni started over a year ago when the Government started procuring fuel directly thereby rendering the refinery useless.
“We thought the New Dawn Government was going to fix problems at Indeni when it came into power. To resolve the many challenges Indeni has had such as difficulties in procuring crude oil, which is done by the Ministry of Energy and the pricing which has been the major reason why the petroleum subsector has been recording losses,” he said.
“We got shocked when the Government began to talk about how Indeni was not profitable and that the fuel pump price was expensive because of Indeni.”
Mr. Lubita added:”We thought that they (Government) should have come down so that we look at alternatives to save jobs, alternatives that could have resulted in us having a profitable petroleum sub-sector. In our view it is unfortunate that the Government did not consider these ideas.”
He told journalists that the government’s decision to engage directly in fuel procurement was not sustainable as the state does not always have money to buy oil.
Mr. Lubita revealed that Indeni management and Government are yet to officially inform unions of the decision to put the plant under care and maintenance.
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