Africa-Press – Zambia. Simon Miti persuaded former president Edgar Lungu to fire me because I was making the work of micro managing Zesco by bureaucrats very difficult, says Dr Mbita Chitala.
In his book Corporate Capture, the Political Economy of Electricity Management in Zambia 2014-2021, (How Not to Manage a State Enterprise), first obtained by Daily Revelation upon its publication, Dr Chitala stated that he frustrated efforts to asset strip Zesco after the Industrial Development Corporation (IDA) incorporated another company by the name of Infratel Limited and gave it the mandate to asset strip Zesco of the fibre network and pass over to a new company.
He argued that against that move, Zesco informed Infratel and IDC that Zesco had invested heavily on the infrastructure on the optic fibre network with aggregated total investment of US$110 million and that both interest and the principal amounts were still unsettled, saying based on that the company’s board resolved that Fibrecom proceed with a normal lease arrangement with Infratel as opposed to the indefensible Right of Use.
Dr Chitala stated that this would be on condition that Zesco determined where such requested capacity of fibre was available for use by Infratel as and when it suited both sides.
He stated that on behalf of Zesco he briefed the IDC about the matter and the resolution of the board at a meeting in December 20 in Livingstone, and that the meeting was attended by then Finance minister Dr Bwalya Ng’andu.
“This matter again was not well received by the IDC bureaucrats who thought that I was insolent to them. It was another of the reasons that they again resolved that I was too much of an influence and that I was making work of micro managing the subsidiaries difficult,” Dr Chitala stated. “They subsequently reported this to the Secretary to the Cabinet Dr. Miti… https://dailyrevelationzambia.com/simon-miti-persuaded-lungu-to-fire-me-says-dr-chitala-because-i-was-making-the-work-of-micromanaging-zesco-difficult/
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