Zambia’s Minister of Labour Fackson Shamenda
Lusaka, Zambia (PANA) – Dangote Industries Zambia Limited (DIZ), a Nigerian firm operating in Zambia, has denied allegations by Zambia’s Minister of Labour Fackson Shamenda that the company’s Human Resources Manager Bala Zango attempted to bribe him.
On Tuesday, the Minister had threatened to have Zango arrested on his return from Nigeria for attempting to bribe him.
Shamenda, who over the weekend met with the Dangote management in Ndola, northern Copperbelt province, disclosed that one of its managers offered him a bribe as a way of getting away with a number of labour concerns he addressed with the company.
“May I take this opportunity to warn Dangote and all other investors in the country to avoid enticing government officials with bribes because it hinders progress. Unfortunately your human resources manager is not here; he followed me to Lusaka to bribe me. He said he wanted to appreciate me, but for what?
”He said it was tradition that I be appreciated. In fact, he did well to leave for Nigeria, his country. And tell him never to return because I will have him arrested at the airport,” the Minister warned.
“This man wanted to buy me dinner at Hotel Intercontinental, which I declined, and he had a bundle of money on him. But I hate such things and so I just walked away from him and this is why I visited the company last weekend to warn them that such actions are illegal,” Shamenda disclosed.
But Dangote, in a statement made available Tuesday, categorically denied any claims of corruption and bribery, saying it reserves its rights on this matter.
“It is indeed surprising that Honourable Shamenda chose to have a ‘business meeting’ with a junior member of staff at Intercontinental Hotel after working hours. For the record, Mr. Zango Bala is an Assistant Manager at the Dangote Group head office in Nigeria. He was assigned to DIZ for 4 months to assist the local team with the set up of its human resource department and training for Zambian employees who are to work on DIZ’s highly automated plant.
“Our understanding of the meeting was that it was a purely social interaction. If indeed the Honourable Minister was offered an inducement then as a responsible Zambian and figure of authority he should have reported the matter to the Anti-Corruption Commission, which is the body legally empowered to deal with such issues,” the company said in a statement.
DIZ explained that during the construction phase of its project, the company had had numerous interactions with the government, including with the Ministry of Labour, and that Shamenda has in the last four months paid the DIZ Ndola plant ‘four surprise visits’ of which two of such visits were made at the weekend, when no Dangote senior management were available.
“All of Honourable Shamenda’s visits were conducted in full glare of the Zambian media, whom he brought to the plant without giving DIZ any notice. Thereafter, DIZ made a written complaint of Honourable Shamenda’s actions to its supervising ministry (Ministry of Commerce) as DIZ was beginning to feel that Honourable Shamenda was deliberately looking for wrong doing. DIZ was beginning to feel harassed and unwelcome in Zambia and immediately brought this to the attention of the Ministry of Commerce,” the company said.
DIZ has to date invested over US$400 million to build Zambia’s largest integrated cement plant in Ndola, which will be commissioned in November 2014.
