Former North-Western Province Minister Dawson Kafwaya has demanded that PF should release its findings from investigations conducted into the Mwinilunga gold scam in which its North-Western Province chairman Jackson Kungo was implicated.
Mr Kafwaya has questioned PF’s special interest in gold mining, which is supposed to be a national strategic asset meant to benefit the masses.
He demanded that the ruling party released the outcome of its investigations into the Mwinilunga gold scam involving Kungo, dismissed North-Western Police Commissioner Hudson Namachila, among others.
“They said some team had been sent to Mwinilunga to go and investigate what happened at the mine in Mwinilunga. But up to now, the outcome of that investigation hasn’t been availed to the people. So, people are anxious! They want to know what the outcome was from those investigations because it’s like some people are sacred cows. When you look at the provincial chairman, Jackson Kungo, he looks like a sacrificial lamb. There are a lot of people, who are involved in that scam and they should be exposed so that they are known that they were also part of the same syndicate. So, for me, I think Mr Kungo has been sacrificed because we saw a lot of people going there and truly if it was a fact-finding mission about the illegal mining in Mwinilunga, a lot of names, even big names, should have been exposed,” Kafwaya said.
And Kafwaya questioned PF’s particular interest in gold mining.
“That mine is a public thing; it’s not for the party. It is a natural resource for the people of Zambia. So, if there is any investigation, which is done, it should be done publicly so that the people know. And when you compare, there is gold in Petauke, there is gold in Mumbwa and other places, and we have seen small-scale mining going on up to now, but there hasn’t been any serious thing done like the way it has happened in Mwinilunga. So, now, people are wondering that what is it which is in that mine? So, there are just lots of questions about that mine because the locals feel they are being deprived of their birth-right, they should also benefit! So, people are complaining that there is unfairness because if you look at the people, who have been mining gold from the time the local people were displaced, it has been people coming from other areas, not local people,” he observed.
Meanwhile, Kafwaya noted that Zambians could only benefit from the burgeoning gold mining industry if government and its officials did not involve themselves in conducting mining activities.
