CHISHIMBA Kambwili says the government should be ashamed that all construction contracts are being given to Chinese when there are Zambian companies that are capable of doing the works.

And Kambwili caused laughter in Parliament yesterday when he told his fellow lawmakers that he is opposition.

Speaking on the floor of Parliament, Kambwili, who is PF Roan member of parliament, said it would be difficult for the country to develop Small and Medium Scale Enterprises because Zambians were being sidelined.

“What we need is action. Leaders must ensure that Zambians are at the centre of business in this country. How can we develop Small and Medium Enterprises in Zambians when all the government contracts, even building toilets are being given to Chinese contractors? It’s a shame. Are we not ashamed that the people that have built Zambia are companies like Minestone, Apollo in Chingola? But today Madam Speaker, today even the building of police houses are given to one Chinese contractor in the name of AVIC and Zambians are relegated in those contracts. Then you come here and say ‘we are busy, we want to develop Small and Medium scale Enterprises,” Kambwili said.
“What kind of people are we? Are we not ashamed? As leaders we come here, listen to reports, we talk…that is why some of us don’t even participate in some of these debates because they don’t make sense at all. The thing is about being practical. It is this same government that decided [that] quarrying and block making should be left for the Zambians. It just had to take the Chinese ambassador to Zambia to go and complain ‘our people who were dong quarrying, where are they going?’ And everybody has gone quiet. We are wasting our time. How can we explain in the 70s, 80s and early 90s, 90 per cent of the suppliers to the mining industry were Zambians. We had the likes of BY (former defence minister Benjamin Mwila), honourable Kampamba Mulenga’s father…We had all these Zambians participating in business in the mines when it was ZCCM. There was a lot of money in circulation on the Copperbelt…there were a lot of jobs created.”

He said the moment mines were privatised, the new owners stopped dealing with Zambian contractors and suppliers.

Kambwili said most of the managers in the mines on the Coperbelt were Boers from South Africa.
He said it was clear that the Zambian government was failing to protect Zambian contractors and suppliers.
“You are failing to protect your own people. Chinese mines are even worse. Today if you go to a Chinese mine, you will not find any Zambians doing work there. Why should we have such a situation? First, we sell the mines, they are getting your copper, even the labour they are the ones providing…and all the contracts they have taken. Then we say ‘no, let’s go to government and give a report on SMEs…it’s a talk show. It won’t take us anywhere. What we need is for people to be practical. In the construction industry…everywhere you go is ‘yuag wing…yuang woa’ Chinese everywhere,” Kambwili said.
“What we need to do is to go back to the drawing board and come up with rules and regulations that will favour Zambians in these jobs if we want to develop our SMEs. There is no SME that can develop without your own people getting involved in issues of business. If you want to continue giving contracts to the Chinese, tell them 50 per cent will go to the Zambians. Even chicken rearing has gone to the Chinese…what is the Ministry of Animals…I don’t know if it’s animals or Livestock, doing? We have our people rearing chickens at the back of their houses but we also have Chinese who use whatever chemical to have their chickens look bigger than the Zambian chickens. Obviously if they take them to Shoprite, Shoprite will go for the Chinese chickens. Where will Zambians sell their chicken?”

He said most of the shops in Zambia today were being run by the Chinese.

Kambwili said even Zambians who used to go to China to buy things and bring them to Zambia were out of business because the Chinese were doing the same.

He said it did not make sense to build a shopping mall on any open space filled with goods coming from either South Africa or China.
“This thing of giving jobs to the Chinese, please, we are begging you, please, you are killing our people. The Chinese can be allowed to do certain jobs. What we are saying, Madam Speaker, is that we must begin to favour our own people. We cannot be giving the Chinese to construct houses. We have so many Zambian companies that can do the job. Even Mwamona [Engineering] can do it…we have built so many police houses, you can ask home affairs minister [Stephen Kampyongo] although we have not been paid. This thing of giving jobs to the Chinese will not make us meet our target of developing our SMEs,” Kambwili said.

And Kambwili caused laughter in Parliament when he told his fellow lawmakers that he was opposition.
He told Parliament that he was “in-between”.

“So, all we have to do is to work together, us in the opposition and you…” he said.

Kambwili was, however, told to restate which political grouping he belonged to by the first deputy speaker of the National Assembly Catherine Namugala.

“For the record, can you restate which political grouping you belong to…for the record. It is very important,” Namugala said.

Kambwili then told Parliament that he is PF but that he was also a consultant.

“I am PF but I am also a consultant. Outside, I am a consultant,” said Kambwili.