Thursday, March 28, 2024

Minister of Commerce Margaret Mwanakatwe has defaulted on CEEC loan-Tayali

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Mrs Margret Mwanakatwe
Mrs Margret Mwanakatwe

Outspoken Zambian Voice Executive Director Chilufya Tayali has disclosed that Minister of Commerce, Trade and Industry Margaret Mwanakatwe has defaulted on repayment of the K1.5 million loan she got from the from CEEC using a company called Aluworks Industries which she co-owns with her husband Dr. Mupanga Mwanakatwe who is Managing Director for Zamtel.

Speaking at a press briefing held at Lusaka hotel, today, Mr Tayali said that according to the rationale under which CEEC was formed, his organisation didn’t expect people like the Mrs. Mwanakatwe to be part of the beneficiaries because people like her are affluent with all advantages to access money from institutions where our poor cannot go.

Mr Tayali threatened to spill the beans on some prominent figures who dragging their feet in paying back the loans obtained from the Citizens Economic Empowerment Commission (CEEC).

Below is his full Press Briefing

The Zambian Voice End of Month Press Statement:
26th July, 2015

HIGH COST OF LIVING

Ladies and Gentlemen we would like to express our concern over the ever raising cost of living in our Country at the moment. As you know the majority of our people are poor and they are the most affected by increase in the cost of living.

Though there is no recent survey which has been done to measure our poverty levels but it is common sense that poverty level must be on the increase judging from various economical trends.

While prices of goods and services are going up the income for our people is not increasing mostly because our Country is not benefiting from the global open trade. Inspite of having an advantage on our natural resources such as water, land, favorable climate, minerals, etc, Zambia is not producing much to offload on the local and international market which would give us liquidity as a nation and individuals.

TRADE DEFICIT AND THE KWACHA

Our trade deficit has shapely decreased to more than 200% in the first half of 2015 which is a clear sign that Zambia is not exporting much but importing heavily. This has affected the performance of our Kwacha on the foreign exchange. The Kwacha has depreciated over 30% within the last 2 years making cost of doing business expensive. Any cost on business is passed on to the consumers.

INFRASTRUCTURE AND BORROWING

Our government sings a chorus of infrastructure development which is perceived as the savior to our economic malaise. The Government is so passionate about this that they are borrowing insensately with an assurance that the debt is sustainable looking at growth rate and GDP.
Ladies and Gentlemen, we must caution our government that they are over ambitious and unreflective on these projects.

To start with, these projects are not benefiting Zambians through construction because almost 90% of the construction is being done by foreigners who are externalizing most of the income back to their home Countries. Our people are just employed as laborers and are being paid peanuts.

Ladies and Gentlemen the estimated returns on this infrastructure is exaggerated. For example we have so many high quality roads which were built during the First Republic but very little development have come out along the stretch of the roads or indeed their destination towns. Therefore we doubt some of these roads and buildings being built in haste will bring the expected returns to pay back for the loans.

INCOME COLLECTION AND RISKS

The other issue of serious concern is the unforeseeable circumstances on our projected economic growth. Our Minister of Finance makes pronouncements of expected income of our Country to justify the borrowing and repayment. Unfortunately he does not seem to appreciate the risk of the unforeseeable circumstances.

Currently we have been hit by long hours of load-shedding which has affected production in all sectors. Consequently our projected income will not be realized.

Unknown to the Minister of Finance policies on the Taxes had to be adjusted causing further cut on the expected income.

Such circumstance may come in and cripple our economy to upset the confidence of our government and fail to pay the debts.

Apart from policy inconsistency there is serious inefficiency in collecting Taxes. Collection of Taxes is infective and selective. There are so many companies in this Country which are not paying Taxes and they are not being followed by ZRA because they are either directly or indirectly, owned by politicians or their associates.

Tax collection has become a political venture to vanquish those perceived to be anti-government. Most of us witnessed how The Post Newspaper was harassed over Taxes but today as we speak companies, like Zambezi Portland owes ZRA about K300 million which they are not paying because they are friends to the ruling party through Former President Rupiah Banda.
This environment poses a serious rick on the loans we are contracting and we might find ourselves in more trouble than we are. Greece did not anticipate default on their loans but somehow it happened and the citizens are suffering for it.

SOCIAL PROTECTION

We appreciate government and other stakeholders for initiatives such as social cash transfer which is cushioning on the eminent suffering of the most poor. Our full support is with the Minister of community development for rolling out the project in about 72 districts with due diligence.

CITIZEN EMPOWERMENT

We also happy with different citizen empowerment projects initiated by Government. However we have a serious concern with some of these initiatives because access to funding is marred in corruption and political patronage, especially youth empowerment fund.

Among the funding initiatives, we are very disappointed with Citizen Economic Empowerment Commission (CEEC) which is an act of parliament with a rationale to promote the empowerment of citizens that have been marginalized or disadvantaged and whose access to economic resources and development capacity has been constrained due to various factors such as race, sex, educational background, status and disability.

It has come to our attention that CEEC disbursed a lot of money to citizens who are in influential positions such as senior government officials and diplomats in foreign missions.

Among such people is Mrs Margret Mwanakatwe who is the Minister of Commerce Trade and Industry (MCTI).  Mrs. Mwanakatwe, benefitted from CEEC using a company called Aluworks Industries which she co-owns with her husband Mr. Mupanga Mwanakatwe who is Managing Director for Zamtel.

According to the rationale under which CEEC was formed we don’t expect people like the Mrs. Mwanakatwe being part of the beneficiaries because these people are affluent with all advantages to access money from institutions where our poor cannot go.

To make the matters worse, Mrs. Mwanakatwe has defaulted on repayment of the K1.5 million loan she got.

We also have other people on the list whom we are yet to contact before discuss them in public. For Mrs. Mwanakatwe we wrote to CEEC and copied the letter to her to explain how she got the money meant for the poor and fail to pay back, but to-date we have no explanation.

We would like to exhort all those people who owe these financial institutions meant to help other Zambians to pay back so that such institutions can continue to exist and benefit others. Failure to payback amounts to unfairness to others who are on the waiting list.

Mrs. Margret Mwanakatwe should be leading by example owing to her past position in a reputable Bank and being the line minister of these institutions like CEEC, otherwise it creates conflict of interest.

MALICE AND VILIFICATIONS

Under so many economic challenges, the Country needs to unite and engage on developmental issues instead of peddling malice, vilifications and persecution of other citizens simply because we differ in opinions.

Currently there is so much vilification of certain individuals in the eyes of the general public.

Unfortunately this seed was planted by Former republic Rupiah Banda. Other than arresting people or making them disappear, Mr. Banda has an art of creating malice and propaganda for his opponents in the eyes of the general public.

Mr. Banda launched a vicious campaign to vilify Fred M’membe and Mutembo Nchito over Development Bank of Zambia (DBZ) to portray them as criminals who got a loan from DBZ fraudulently. Today many people talk about the duo like criminals without any other reason but the DBZ loan.

But the hate of Fred M’membe and the fear of Mutembo Nchito’s effective prosecution of corrupt elements, by Mr. Banda sabotaged the survival of Zambian Airways and caused the loss of 250 jobs in the company. To-date the Zambian Airways workers are suffering after losing their jobs and they have not been paid. If Mr. Banda did not act maliciously, maybe these people would still have jobs today.

Unfortunately the hate for M’membe has extended to President Edgar Lungu, because the former did not support the latter. Fred M’membe is today in court for publishing the truth on the alleged corruption of President Lungu’s economic adviser Mr. Kaizer Zulu. It is also highly likely that Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Director General Ms. Rosewin Wandi might be targeted.

The same malice was unleashed on Dr. Rajan Mahtan whose bank was taken in very suspicious manner and selling it on a song. Criminal charges were brought in by conniving with foreigners to fix Mahtan by Mr. Banda. When President Sata came he investigated the cases and had the Ventriglias deported for externalization of huge sums of money to Italy.

Today Mr. Banda is back in power through President Edgar Lungu the Ventriglias are back and Mahtan is facing criminal charges again.

The problem with all this hate, malice and vilifications is that it distracts the nation from developmental issues.

It must also be noted that the people being maligned, vilified, victimized and persecuted are investors providing a livelihood through employment to a lot of people.

Fred M’membe has employs more than 1000 people under his investment. The Post pays in excess of K5 million per months in Taxes which pays the people in Government including President Lungu and Rupiah Banda.

Mahtan is also one of the largest employers in the Country paying a lot of Taxes to the government.

Our appeal to government and all stakeholders, especially Mr. Rupiah Banda is to focus on issues that will help many suffering Zambians instead of destroying what citizens have worked so hard for.

60 COMMENTS

  1. Stop appointing people without background checks! How is she supposed to hold that office ne nkongole, she will still to pay back!

    • It takes good review and satisfaction of risk assessment for a nation to deserve this. Zambia presents hope as such, support appreciated.

      President Barack Obama on Saturday announced that “the United States will set up three entrepreneurship centers in Kenya, Mali and Zambia to support women entrepreneurs”. Speaking during the Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) at the UN headquarters in Nairobi’s Gigiri, Obama said the Kenyan centre will be launched later in the year.

      “We are launching three women’s entrepreneurial centers one in Zambia, one I will bring later this year in Nairobi and I am proud to announce that the third centre will be located in Mali,” he announced amidst cheers and claps.

      He said “the US had contributed $1 billion to support the three centers”.

    • @Senior Citizen, as a matter of fact it only takes the identification of the most needy! You are trying to make this about PF or Lungu we know but obviously you, unless you are well & truly, daft well know Obama/USA policy to help Africans has nothing to do with any of these failed leaders in Africa. On the contrary these initiatives are aimed at helping citizens who have so terribly been failed by corrupt & self serving african leaders, the likes of Edgar Lungu! You know this & everyone knows this, so stop insulting our intelligence please!

    • It is just criminal that people like Margaret Mwanakatwe and her husband should deny poor people access to loans just because of their connections. The Mwanakatwes were drive by greedy when obtaining this loan. For crying out loud Margaret was MD at Barclays and they would easily have gotten a loan from there, but because of greed they opted for a loan from CEEC. If Margaret and her husband have any clout, they should immediately resign. And we need an audit at CEEC, they should explain why ineligible people are getting loans

    • Zambia deserves this, let the people of this komboni called Zambia continue having unemployment, over flowing sewers, uncollected garbage, criminals raping and robbing, assaulting them, police abusing them, no constitution in 90 days, highest fuel price in Africa, highest internet price in Africa, highest air tickets in Africa, loadshedding is a thing of the past (90 days), zmk will be low, fuel ika chepa, kaili infintu ni ……. I feel so good when people reap what they sow. Enjoy money in your pockets. Pabwato!!!!!!! Pamaka!!!!!!!! Let Zambia bleed maybe in your pain you will learn to stop voting *****ically

    • Zambians are never proactive,they leave everything to govt while they just watch and grumble on the sidelines.

      Govt in return gives its citizens trash.

      Zambians must wake up from this comatose state and make govt wake. By virtue of you voting, there’s a contract entered into with govt based on their promises.

      They fail to fulfill their promises, they have broken their part of contracting the contract must be terminated by voting them out.

      Unfortunately our opposition is in disarray. MMD is gone. UPNDis stuck in the south and has a very polarizing and unsellable leader. With the inclusion of GBM, it’s become clear, upnd is elitist party seeking power for self interest and not service to people.

      Where Zambians turn to is anyone’s guess

    • Let Tayali keep up exposing the injustices! We may have individual opinions about him but where credit is due let us afford it to him. Someone has to initiate discussion of what is being kept under wraps and it seems for now it is Tayali! Let him keep hammering and we’ll see how people start washing their hands off the injustices.

    • There are no principles in Tayali. He is a gun for hire against enemies of the Cartel. It is amazing to read a diatribe against RB as if he is still in State House. So what is the substantive President doing if he is not responsible for almost the malice and victimisation going around? This is the typical PFoolish Zambian preference to blame the advisors instead of the substantive office holder, Lungu, who is sleeping on duty.

    • TAYALI: “Our trade deficit has shapely (sic) decreased to more than 200% in the first half of 2015 which is a clear sign that Zambia is not exporting much but importing heavily”. This is a nonsensical statement. If the trade deficit is decreasing, whether shapely or not (!),then the economy is doing better by trading more than it is consuming. Tayali should save us from hearsay economic analysis and just comment on what he knows best – who said what to Tayali.

  2. Typical of Zambian killing the goose that lays the golden eggs! So many useless people who contributed nothing to the nation like Lungu but show up to enjoy while persecuting the people generating the resources! It is shameful that we have people like Lungu and Banda, all from the east as well if I might add! Throw in Chirwa and by God what picture starts to emerge. You have the wonderful people of the Lozi tribe talking about secession, I say the people who need to secede are Easterners, Zambia would be a much better place without these backward lot!

    • I know, I shouldn’t have done & I apologise! But really folks, can we show more commitment to the common good please? Collective success is the best way for us all to take care of our personal selfish interests!

    • @Mobile Phone Gindwe: I am not sure why you are apologising. You pointed out the sly money-grabbers in Zambia, who do not do any work at all but claim the prizes at the last minute. As you correctly concluded, they all come from the East. This is not tribal. It is very perceptive of you and you should take credit. I fail to see the brilliance in your comment if there’s no suitable conclusion to it. Well done!

    • What is this press statement about? Is Tayali here to protect Mmembe and Mutembo Nchinto? Please Tayali you opened your statement well only to destroy it when you started glorifying the evil cartel. Do not think we are blind who can not read between the lines.

  3. This is the other part of the rot to the core of the Zambian System that is sickening. Why did Mrs & Dr Mwanakatwe queue up for CEEC loans. These guys can easily get loans from their respective jobs to fund their private companies. Besides wasn’t Mrs a banker, does she still not have friends at banks to give her and her husband loans.

    This is sickening to the core if it turns out to be true. You would think being educated they both would resign, but I guess they can’t , I guess they wont and that is why the country is out of line.

    No wonder Dr, Prof titles, since FTJ brought them on the scene, in Zambia are sickening and always smell of failures trying to rip off the system

    • these people we call educated are nothing but western propaganda regurgitators. they just spew out the same nonsense taught them in western education institutions and we call them learned. I ask, what is education? Is a saan or khoi khoi educated in the ways to survive in the most hostile of environments or is he merely a primitive native? Is a professor from UNZA spewing out the history of Christian Huygens and his contributions to science, in Lundazi educated or is he merely a native taught to do some tricks like an elephant would in a circus show? what is education?

    • Point of correction, having friends in high places should not be guarantee for getting loans. Other DBZ, ZRA scenario s can result from such arrangements. The idea of surety is standard, hey. Another observation is that your LT profile name might need to be reconsidered YOU seem to have stopped licking MMD boots if at all there is any MMD left.

    • @Zagaze: you raise a valid point. The problem in Zambia is that people do not apply what they have learned. And when there’s an opportunity to apply, what gets implemented are wholesale text book solutions without fine tuning the solution to the local situation. KK did the same with socialism (uncontrolled parastatals) , FTJ did the same with free market capitalism (mafia economic) etc. Zambia’s biggest problem is cultural.

  4. Until the average Zambian begins to pay attention to these atrocities, it will be life as usual. Mr Tayali, it may be good for you to spell out these issues to the masses in plain language, otherwise your whistle blowing goes unheard and the very people who commit these crimes go unpunished. we need more men and women like Tayali who are willing to take on these people head on.

    • She is addicted to borrowing and cant get enough. These are the people taking advantage of Zambia. How do a CEO of a bank (mrs) and a CEO of ZAMTEL (and property invetsor: see properties in mass media, block of apartments) apply to CEEC which is for start ups and get their applications approved and then have the audacity to NOT pay. Whoever was president then is very corrupt. Is this the same president that waived Mmembe ZRA debt ala that man was very corrupt. This is how Zambia is being F’d and some ***** will shout pabwato, 90 days, seleni tubombe, you are bitter, you are triba.l, etc.

  5. Mr Tayali’s stories about the Evil Cartel of Mmembe, Mahtani and Mutombo Nchito and his hate of Rupiah Banda are repeated so many times that it is tedious and boring to read. These matters are being dealt with by the Judiciary of which Mr Tayali was freed of a sex act he committed. Mr RB was also acquitted. Can Mr Tayali leave RB to have his peace PLEASE. We all make mistakes that is why Heads of State are provided immunity in their course of presidential duties, otherwise only a saint would want to be elected Head of State if they had to pay for every decision they made while in power. Mr Tayali take your personal hatred of RB to your known hell.

  6. Tayali you have done a good job so far.
    When i was reading i felt like it was the President holding the press conference highilighting the nation, but the alas.
    You have also defaulted by not releasing just a list of valtures so we can punish them.
    Are you afraid of the MALICE & VILIFICATION of what u just talked about?
    Your job is to expose corruption so do it now. Are u afraid of Kambwili, is he a beneficiary?
    You need not to verify whether they have paid or not.

  7. This is what we are saying, there is no accountability in PF, no one will be brought to book incase they spill the beans, they are all thieves including lungu.
    The majority of Zambians have no chance with these PF thieves.

    • PF is the worst deception that has ever happened to Zambia. I personally still believe God is a God of second chances and will give Zambia another chance and cleanse us of this scourge. O’ God of Abraham and the I am who gave us the blood of Jesus please hear our pleah. Lord we are your children, don’t leave us orphaned under these criminals.

  8. The deception label of PF legacy is ‘Dont Kubeba’.
    Either you believe it or bury your head in sand, this is a reality which will keep rearing its ugly head up to the Zambian people that deception is at the core of PF government.

    • It all started with a devilish song and the father of lies, however at the end of the day, they will reap what they have sown. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction it is a law of physics these guys will eat the meal of the recipe they have been cooking

  9. Well sad to know this but this is the order of the day with our politicians and those in authority. This woman knows that there are less risks in obtaining the loan from CEEC than banks and hence she opted otherwise. Besides, a common man does not know how to go about these CEEC loans and hence they end up in the hands of those connected to those in the system. It is very sad that we as a nation we continue exploiting and disrespecting our own systems with impunity. Tayali should just inform the nation of all those unqualified people getting CEEC loans.

  10. This woman should give Sichinga his job back by mutual arrangement, forget about Lungu. He doesn’t know what he is doing.

    • @Analyser, some of believed Lungu when he publicly and repeatedly said he had no vision. I am just sad for the country. There is no hope and is getting from bad to worse. No vision to completely clueless. Edgar will not even have the guts to fire Margaret . She is connected to RB (Co-president or is it Senior president)

  11. Surely if these utterly shameless corrupt vampires can go after CEEC money meant for the poor via their proxy companies…what more the $1.25 billion borrowed at the whooping hefty 9.375 percent interest rate meant for so called “Infrastructure development”.

    • All the Eurobonds have been stolen. That’s why there’s no impact being felt in Zambia and the economy is going down.

  12. To you all who belong to the kachema party,stop involving president Edgar Lungu!!this Mwanakatwe got the loan from CEEC long before ECL won the presidency!!why do you hate president ECL so much?shame on you!!YES CHILUFYA TAYALI IS RIGHT ON THIS ONE.WHY SHOULD CEEC GIVE A LOAN TO CEOs?CEEC MUST GIVING LOANS TO START UPS!!but what do u expect when majority start up borrowers have no coratoral(spell it right)!!GOVT MUST CHANGE CONDITIONS ATTACHED TO SUCH LOANS IF POOR PEOPLE ARE TO BENEFIT!!

  13. There’s more of this kind of grafting in pathetic PF!This tells a lot of numerous diabolical thievings in euro-bond & project tender awardisation! Zambia under PF is surely a failed state-all issues articulated by Tayali are rational & vivid!We really have to vote these devils out of the system & set a task force on them!All of them are thieves & so corrupt to the core!I feel for the poorest of the poor who just shout pabwato,pabwato without analysing who Zambia has been grounded economically & debt wise under these devils!

  14. This girl looks like money, actually the old currency. And in recent times she’s times she’s been looking like the new currency. Ubupulumishi.

  15. …this revelation must not be treated with kid gloves…its a scandal of the highest order involving govt minister and chief of a parastatal organisation….as some one has already alluded to…its either they resign or get the boot…..I cant wait to see the list of other culprits…during the tenure of Mrs Mwanakatwe as Barclays Bank (Zambia) MD….the bank foolishly closed branches in various districts and sold off their infrastructures…. later they realised their blunder and shamelessly re-opened using make shift…containers as their outlets…what a shame..
    I’m an MD of a powerful organisation and my wife is heading a reputable international bank…why would I even require a loan to sustain our private company..?..our resources would be enough….greedy greedy..

  16. I was not duped by the heading of the article. I went straight into scanning it and lo and behold I got what I was looking for. That the objective of the article was to defend Mmembe, Nchito, Mahtani etc and attack RB, Lungu etc. Mrs Mwanakatwe is simply being used as a decoy, that is not to say she is guilty or not guilty, Mmembe has simply selectively released some not so good information for his own ends. The main issue here is actually Mmembe’s woos with ZRA. Unmistakably same style of the Post when Mmembe was trying to muddle the water to protect Nchito from focussed public attention when he was appearing before the tribunal.
    The DBZ and Zambian Airways saga is well known, can anyone in his right senses defend that? Mahtani cases are well known too. Don’t be duped by the evil…

  17. #MMD Chief Bootlicker, I used to respect your comments during RB days. On this one, I respect and agree with your comment too. This Mrs Mwanakatwe should be asked to resign if the revelation is true. Now you know why Changwa’s administration is borrowing without limits so that more money goes into the pockets of cadres like Mwanakatwe to pay off their debt.

  18. Well done LT BLOGGERS I can see Lungu holding a cabinet meeting using some notes made from the collection of ideas from some of your blogs then going for a drink of Jameson or a trip to Tanzania after. You guys have changed a life in ECL. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK. The guy has no clue and gets help from these blogs pathetic and visionless leader ZAMBIA has ever had.

  19. There’s more of this kind of grafting in pathetic PF!This tells a lot of numerous diabolical thievings in euro-bond & project tender awardisation! Zambia under PF is surely a failed state-all issues articulated by Tayali are rational & vivid!We really have to vote these devils out of the system & set a task force on them!All of them are thieves & so corrupt to the core!I feel for the poorest of the poor who just shout pabwato,pabwato with nothing to show & without analysing how Zambia has been grounded economically & debt wise under these devils!

  20. Let him spill the beans. What is waiting for? If he can reveal Mwanakatwe’s borrowing why not give us the rest of names involved.

  21. This woman is disappointing just like the others in PF who steal. Zambia will never develop as long as we have people like this in leadership. Borrowing money without paying back is the same as stealing. Sadly that is the trend with most Zambians. Now when a person like this is put in an influential position, it is like she has been given a key to open all doors and steal. These Mwanakatwes should be made to pay back the money. Is that how she built those substandard houses near Olympic Swimming Pool? You would think a person exposed as she is would be in the fore front of raising building standards? Selfish!

  22. on this one i support Tayali 100% let her just pay back the loan,the rich getting richer and poor get poorer it seems that the order of the day in Zambia.Too much selfish with these *****s politician.

  23. This is so infuriating. I fail to pay a ka 2 kwacha debt and I’m hounded like a criminal. This chi rich non performer gets awarded with a ministerial position for failing to pay back the poor Zambian’s money. Nsoni ebuntu.

  24. @Terrible on Tayali, that’s one way of looking at it…quite interesting and probably true. The cartel may be behind this.

  25. Good statement but you just had to go after Rupiah. Its really shallow even for you tayali to try and blame banda for the closure of Zambian Airways. It also stinks of corruption (on your part) to ignore serious allegations of abuse by mutembo nchito. On Meembe and Mathani you are saying they can do whatever they want because they employ a lot of people. Shame on you young man

  26. Was this article written by Tayali. Me don’t think so. I think the article was given to Tayali by mmembe on behalf of one criminal Indian. mmembe and Rajan curry powder are both going down.

  27. I have taken a close look and analysis of Hon. Mwnakatwe’s picture. It reveals so many things including deception and trickery. We are yet to see the best of her. Please ba Lungu ask this mama wamene anafela mwana Dr Mupanga to take a break.

  28. CEEC hounded me like a criminal for delayed completion of a K50,000 start-up loan repayment and set baillifs on me and to read that well to do people with billions in unpaid loans were left scot free makes me very angry indeed. We really live on an Animal Farm.

  29. this makes alot of sense except on Mutembo Nchito and, Mathani and especially MMembe.these are white collar criminals ….

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