Africa-Press – Zambia. Mporokoso Member of Parliament Brian Mundubile says there is need for government to ensure that at least 40% of all business in the country’s mining sector is allocated to locals.
Mr Mundubile criticised the current structure where Zambians account for only about 5% of the mining value chain despite the sector generating billions of dollars annually.
He has urged Finance Minister Dr Situmbeko Musokotwane to reverse several tax concessions granted to foreign mining firms under the UPND government because they are not benefiting Zambians.
Hon Mundubile specifically called for the mineral royalty tax to be reinstated at 6% and made non-deductible in next year’s national budget.
He said it can be argued that the current incentives have allowed mining firms to retain more revenue while ordinary Zambians see little benefit.
He has also questioned the absence of performance benchmarks tied to the tax incentives,
“Can you please introduce measures that will ensure that 40% of all business in the mining sector will go to the Zambian people. At the moment, the Zambians are participating at 5%. We not even strict at protecting our local industry. We want to be told that out of four billion dollars of business in the Mining sector, 1.6 billion went to the Zambians,” he said.
Hon Mundubile also advised government to revise the 3million metric tonnes target to a more realistic goal of 1.5 million tonnes citing slow progress over the past five years.
Meanwhile, Hon Mundubile has criticized the government’s focus on Constituency Development Fund (CDF) projects arguing that they represent a small fraction of the national budget.
He noted that CDF accounts for just 2.5% of total government expenditure and questioned why it is often described as the hallmark of development under the UPND administration.
Hon Mundubile said the UPND have now resorted to the use of the term “Kwenyu”, a practice of exaggerating minor projects to appear more significant than they are.
He has urged Zambians to be wary of such portrayals because true measure of national development should go beyond small-scale community projects.
Hon Mundubile questioned why the UPND is heavily focused on celebrating projects funded by a small budget line instead of ensuring that the remaining 97% of the national budget delivers visible and impactful development.
He said the narrative must shift from praising minor achievements to demanding accountability and efficiency in the use of the full national budget.
“The PF government particularly under the Ministry of Home Affairs constructed over 5,000 buildings during the tenure of Ministers Stephen Kampyongo and Edgar Lungu. What happened in the Ministry of Home Affairs alone under PF could rival the impact of CDF in UPND in the last four years. Can we transfer the Kwenyu to the 97% of the budget not just the 2.5 % under CDF,” he said.
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