By Amb. Emmanuel Mwamba
The Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) owed mine houses a whopping $ 1 billion in Value Added Tax(VAT) arrears, it has paid the mines! ZESCO owed Copperbelt Energy Corporation PLC a reported amount of $200m, it has paid! Similar energy companies owed similar amounts have been paid.
However, Local Contractors and suppliers are owed billions. The government has instead subjected the outstanding arrears to audits, audits and ridicule. The suppliers and contractors have suffered humiliation as they have been accused of supplying “air” and are accused of belonging or affiliated to the former ruling party, the Patriotic Front.
To this effect, the Ministry of Finance and National Planning hired Grant Thornton, Ernest &Young Advisory Services, PwC, Client Focus Solutions Chartered Accountants, CYMA Chartered Public Accountants and Management Consultants, and Mark Daniels Chartered Accountants, to audit this debt.
The Minister said the firms were hired to ascertain the process related to the accumulation and audit of the public domestic arrears that its various institutions owe suppliers of goods and services.
The debt owed by ZRA or ZESCO was never subjected to similar scrutiny! Companies like Savenda Group of companies, Charisma Hotels and others have been subjected to oppressive criminal investigations that don’t separate Directors from their companies.
Suppliers and contractors have been forced into financial difficulties and others into outright bankruptcy. Companies have life and are separate legal personalities, independent from their owners!
While we pay certain foreign firms for money owed and neglect and starve our people of their money, my advice is to recall the great Taoist philosophy classic by Lao Tzu;
When the Palace is magnificent,
The fields are filled with weeds,
And the granaries are empty.
Some have lavish garments,
Carry sharp swords,
And feast on food and drink.
They possess more than they can spend.
This is called the vanity of robbers.
It is certainly not the Way.
The sage puts himself last and becomes the first,
Neglects himself and is preserved.
Is it not because he is unselfish that he fulfils himself?
