NATIONAL Restoration Party leader Elias Chipimo says Chishimba Kambwili should tell the nation everything he knows about the Topstar deal because he was in charge when government embarked on the project.
And Chipimo says if the current government leaders are wise, they would open their eyes and ears to the open rebellion from the people who have had enough of the greed and manipulation of the nation’s resources.
The Lusaka lawyer has further said youths on the Copperbelt have once again been duped into believing a party that was desperate to hold on to power actually cares for them.
Briefing the press yesterday on a subject titled “A headless nation”, Chipimo said Kambwili, the Roan PF member of parliament and former information minister, was the best person to tell the nation what really transpired in the Topstar deal because he was privy to a lot of things.
“We have now entered the so-called digital migration era. This was supposed to be a time when our local media could flourish under new rules and regulations that would enable them to broadcast their content across the country at minimal cost and educate and inform the nation while making a sensible commercial return. Sadly, as with all things that the current administration has been able to lay their grubby hands on, this is slowly turning into a nightmare for the hard-working men and women in the private media sector. To date, we have had no explanation as to why ‘Phase One’ of the digital migration cost only $9.6 million and covered six provinces and yet ‘Phase Two’ somehow required a loan of $273 million to cover only four provinces,” Chipimo said.
“There can be no logic or justification for such an astounding difference and an explanation must be provided to the people of Zambia. We know that Mr. Chishimba Kambwili was privy to a lot of things and can easily provide the requisite data as to what really transpired in this matter. We are ready to work with him to bring the evidence to court in a civil action and will be engaging with him to see how we can bring this issue to the full attention of local and international audiences. We demand answers to some very troubling questions: who was the $273 million paid to? How was it utilised? Why was it acquired on behalf of a foreign company, which is 60 per cent owned by non-Zambians? Where were the payments made? What was the actual cost of ‘Phase Two Implementation’ of the digital migration if ‘Phase One’ cost only $9.6 million?”
He also said there was need for Zambians to know who signed the relevant documentation and on what basis.
Chipimo said Zambians also wanted to know how a digital signal carrier had now become a content provider as well as a pay TV channel at the expense of local media and production companies.
“We must demand an audit before we can be compelled to pay the ever increasing taxes being imposed on us. If our taxpayer monies are being spent in a reckless manner, why should we have to carry the cost of other people’s corruption and greed and mediocrity? Why should we be charged a tax to maintain health services when our ministries are authorised to spend $288,000 on individual ambulances that are worth less than a quarter of that price? Why should we squander our hard earned resources to pay over four times the value of fire tenders and then be made to pay for the cost of maintaining our roads? We demand our rights as citizens to a full audit of the monies that have been spent in our name as a nation,” he said.
Read this article from the original source: Kambwili Knows More About Topstar Deal – CHIPIMO.