(right) and his Deputy George Zulu (centre) inspect the Lusaka fuel
storage depot with Lusaka Province Minister Obvious Mwaliteta before
commissioning of the plant
MINISTER of Mines, Energy and Water Development Christopher Yaluma says dialogue between Government and mining firms on the tax system has so far been satisfactory.
Mr Yaluma said the government is committed to ensuring that the tax system is not burdensome but conducive to tax compliance and beneficial to the country.
He was speaking at the re-launch of the book ‘Zambia Shall Be Free’ written by former President Dr Kenneth Kaunda. The re-launch of the book was sponsored by Kagem Mine.
Mr Yaluma said Government heavily depends on the proceedings of the mines and would not want to see any mine fold.
“The government does not want to see any miner or Zambian lose a job because of mines closing. Our dialogue with mining companies will soon conclude and agreement on mineral royalties reached,” he said.
Mr Yaluma urged mining firms to be free in the dialogue process, adding that together they will move forward.
Government has doubled the mineral royalty rate from three to six percent.
And Kagem board chairman William Nyirenda said last year it paid US$31 million in mineral royalties and corporate tax to the treasury.
Mr Nyirenda said Kagem, the world’s largest open pit gems mine, will soon open new pits in their licentiate areas which will create more jobs for the people in the communities they operate from.
Yes,dialogue is good but you need to fix time frame within which negotiations have to end so that people can have an idea of when the atmosphere will settle down and restore confidence in the mining sector and the economy.And then,we want to hear clear policy directions on the gemstone sector.How much are other emerald miners like Grizzly Mining paying? What controls do we have to ensure Zambia is getting maximum benefit?Then,how are going with diversifying our mining sector?What is the latest with gas and petroleum exploration?What about the rare earth metals we have heard about in Northern and Eastern provinces? All these and many more should communicated to Zambians.
Thats a good move but conclude as soon as posible
As long as we continue to violate our own systems, hotwire them for expedience and personal gains, corruption will always be with us.
TAXES ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE NEGOTIATED BY THE EXECUTIVE
Taxes are a part of the law. How much a business should pay in taxes must be determined by the Parliament. Soon we will have these cabinet yoyos floating on air because of how much they have received in kickbacks.
Dialogue about what? One party doesn’t want to pay and will shut shop and the other party is a group of dull corrupt politicians whom would tempted for a hefty sum deposited their in the party’s bank account for the General elections campaign in a year’s time.
This group of politicians will be outsmarted by these guys once again …imagine this Yaluma negotiating with saavy guys who use whatever up to date loopholes, transfer pricing and tax schemes the are on the world market to get the maximum profit for their shareholders.
GOOD WORK AT ZESCO though we expect more to be retired and new leaf brought in
But we expected Director of Finance Chisambi to be the first to be retired and Chris Mubemba taking over as Director from immature times café chicargo louge boys like Chisambi and Mudende
We expected Mubemba Director and Madam Luswili Finance and Kasumpa legal Mundende should also remove the other cartel in Finance led by his friends to ensure efficiency and cost saving
The rest should be retired as announced in malambo The list should actually be long to ensure a new focus and green attention