TRANSPORT Minister Kapembwa Simbao says all projects ventured into by Zambia Railways Limited (ZRL) using the 120 million Dollar Euro bond will be subjected to audit considering the manner in which the funds in form of a grant were utilised.
Dr Simbao has also assured the 871 workers that their separation packages from Railway System of Zambia (RSZ) would be paid in the first quarter of 2016.
“I want to take this opportunity to assure you that the Government through the Ministry of Finance is very committed to ensuring that all the 871 workers are paid their separation packagers in the first quarter of 2016”, Dr Simbao said.
Speaking in Kabwe when he addressed the workers at ZRL workshop Mr Simbao said management at the railway company should have ensured that the funds were properly utilised as it is unfortunate that the company is still struggling despite pumping in so much money.
Dr Simbao said there is a lot of work that still needs to be done at the railway company for it to be revitalised and operate effectively as railway companies are profitable if managed well anywhere in the world.
He added that the railway company still has to improve its traffic flow from 15-20Km per hour to at least 40Km per hour if more companies and individuals are to have confidence in moving their cargo by railway.
Dr Simbao said Government through his ministry is addressing the challenges that the railway company faces hence Ministry of Finance’s move of its shares to the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) where shareholders would be running the finance part of the organisation.
Meanwhile Railway Workers Union of Zambia (RWUZ) President Nathan Zulu said the workers are concerned that it has taken more than four for the Government to settle the separation packages for the workers.
Mr Zulu said the workers are committed to work hard and see to it that the railway company improves and attract more companies to move their cargo on ZRL.
It is very sad that the state companies performances are below margin. Even if $10 billon is injected in ZR the result would be same. The truth is this, it is a waste of the tax payers money and it is a waste of time and resources just mere dreaming about industrialization when the state has failed to run ZR, ZESCO, NCZ, ZAMTEL. And the state has failed to recruit right people, only recruits people with academic qualifications who are not qualified in terms of producing good results. The state pay them for having a “paper”, degree, masters, MBA, PHD etc, It is true that ZR, ZAMTEL etc are charity companies who keep getting donations from tax payers money to spend. Is the government set for success – industrialization, or are just empty words to facilitate jobs to friends and family who…
They should start with RDA. That is the biggest culprit of corruption activities. Then ZESCO and others including ZR. Just singling out ZR clearly shows that corruption is corruption only when someone joins the opposition. We know it is Atanga being targeted.
It is sad that a nation wastes it money and only to spend more on auditing. Dear minister sir, do you think it would have been prudent to invest in the proper governance structure of that firm in the first place. Now you have Chama as the board chairperson of that firm only to audit the firm in 2017, when the damage would have been completed.
MIKE. This has been the problem in Zambia since 1964.
We paid a huge price by employing the first 100 graduates in sensitive positions on merely having a degree paper. This trend of a disease continues.
During the ZIMCO, Indeco and Mindeco days, paper requirement was heightened with incentives of a motor vehicle, professional allowance and only in Z7 would be entitled to personal to holder car. What was the result. Mines were to run with paper holders from UK, Birmingham etc but result nothing but only production of under-performing *****s. We have failed to see that having a paper does not mean qualification for a job. It is what it takes to perform and produce results is what is a qualification for the job. Steve jobs, Bill Gates, did not have the papers but had what it takes to…
We have mistaken clerical permanent secretary jobs to mean same as highly technical jobs.
Yes you are right, Mike. the disease continues.
Good thing about online degree milling is that the ground has evened. A boy in kalingallinga is able to get an MBA in 6 months and compares well with a 1 year MBA in USA, UK, Italy , Malaysia, etc. This is the illustration that having a paper is not being qualified
Good points, @The Game, and @Michael Bwalya. What I see as being a big disservice to our country is the continued meddling by government in the livelihoods of the people using politics. Take for example the energy problems we are facing. This is an opportune juncture to empower local communities and households to take charge of their own basic energy sources by providing deliberate solar panel installations and other friendly energy backup measures. Alas, we are continuing to think that solar energy must still be a humongous project that a utility (or consortium of the well-connected or well oiled) must champion. There again we are losing the plot and thinking that wholesale control of a population is what keeps political elites safe. Mediocrity thrives in environments where…
Mediocrity thrives in environments where inclusiveness is ignored at the expense of expediency.
This Euro bond will be investigated (because the instruments for this are available). There will almost certainly be discrepancies unearthed (as it is likely from the way the outfit has been run). After that, it is anyone’s guess what we will do with these results. Depending on the state of the relationship between the champions and the culprits, we will see a dispensation of justice based on exactly that!
Atanga is in trouble …now they have eaten the money…they think of audits!!
Zambia Railways has also laid off workers?
….15-20km/h….???….to ‘improve’ to 40km/h…???….have we ever been serious as a people sure…??….’I will surprise Zambians with a modern state of art train soon’…announced ZR managing director Prof. Attanga…..some young guys who have never had a ride on a train wanted to have a feel of it and boarded one from Livingstone to Lusaka…they had to disembark in Kafue and got on a bus for the rest of the journey bcos it took almost 2 days for the ‘train’ to reach Lusaka from Livingstone….just as it would take to fly from New York to Tokyo and back…
cont’d…
…at times I wonder were we would have been had the western world not brought the technology….despite having us with the technology and the infrastructure we fail to maintain later on improve…our friends now are boosting of bullet trains attaining speeds of about 320km/h and we are still ‘rambling’ around 40km/h sure….awee…A famer is better off using his ox cart to ferry his produce from Neganega to Mazabuka than a goods train… shame….
I tell you, @Scrutinizerer it is not even funny what is happening in Zambia. You know we are lost when a country still insists that cars in the 21st Century must have stickers from Auto shops affixed to them in addition to retro-reflectors that they come built with. We have an MD called ‘prof’ pushing the arrogance of his ill-earned qualification to mismanage a company over which he was PS in the oversight ministry. You can see what the 21st Century is leaving behind…
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