FINANCE and National Planning Minister Dr Situmbeko Musokotwane has assured Indeni workers that government will settle all the financial obligations to them as soon as transition arrangements have been completed.

Addressing Indeni workers, Tuesday, Dr Musokotwane said all workers would be paid.

“As government, we have heard statements of how Indeni is going to go forward with this environment where fuel will be imported. I am here sent by the President on his behalf, on my behalf, on behalf of Cabinet to tell you that we will settle all the financial obligations to you before we change to the new systems. So you will be paid! Everyone is going to be paid. Now you asked a question when? We are still making preparations so that we come to a state where we can probably say ‘yes now we are transcending to the new system’, at that point you will be paid without fail. That is the message of the President and from me. The question of being put on the street without any payment that does not arise at all,” he said.

“No one is going to be out on the street and [will be told that your] ‘job is finished, there is no money. No money will be given to you’. As to the specific roles, that is now a technical issue which the Minister of Energy and the management will work out, to say that ‘by this day now we are ready, therefore we are transiting from what we were to something that now is dependent on getting the fuel’. So I can assure you I have come here to give you assurance that you will be paid. You will be paid as soon as transitional arrangements have been completed. I will wait for management and the Minister of Energy to come and say ‘the arrangements are completed, where is the money?’ ‘Just give me two or three days and it will be organized and given to you’.”

He said the UPND government did not believe in telling lies.

“This is a government where we don’t have to tell you lies. I am here in front of the media to make this assurance that you will be paid, you will be paid. We said when schools open, you don’t pay tuition fees anymore. Yesterday the Ministry of Finance released the money to all the schools in the country so that at the time your children start school, those of you who were paying 600, the amount that will be paid this time is zero. By the middle of this month those children who are going to go to boarding schools but did not have money, by the mid of the month the treasury will release money to you the communities so that you can give bursaries to the children. So that they go and sit in dormitories in secondary schools, that is what we promised and this is what we are doing. So when I come and say you will be paid, this is serious stuff,” said Musokotwane.

And Kapala said the Ministry would soon avail the board of directors for Indeni.

“The major technical issues now lie with the Minister of Energy to work out the modalities on how we are going to transit from where we are now to another mode of operation. To start with right now there is no board of directors for Indeni, we have constituted a team, what is remaining is just to clear the names from the security agencies and other government institutions. We should be announcing the board quite soon. There were some developments that had to be looked at so that we set a team that will help Indeni move to where we want it to go. So having said that, we should be announcing the board soon, maybe in the next two weeks. Then the board will sit with management so that the board will guide management when the process actually kicks in. This thing is going to happen quite soon,” he said.

Kapala said government wanted Indeni to operate like an oil marketing company in a bid to cut costs on the importation of fuel.

“There will be a complete change if I may use that word. So when there is a complete change according to your conditions of service, you will be regarded as redundant and then you will sign new contracts with the new Indeni. So before you sign a new contract we will ensure, I think you heard the Minister of Finance that we will approach the Minister of Finance that ‘everybody is on redundancy now, can you release the money’. He has promised you that within three days he is going to pay everybody. So where do we go from there? The new contract there is about 327 employees. Indeni will take a different fall in the sense that we want Indeni to be like an OMC Oil Marketing Company,” said Kapala.

“We want Indeni to do the blending because government wants to cut down on the importation of fuel. The new Indeni will be required to operate all government deposits so that they can do the blending as well as check the quality of petroleum that is coming into the country. Indeni will also be asked to be the off-taker for those small scale ethanol producing companies. So it is the new dawn that has come.”