Government rejects corruption report

The ruling party in Zambia has rejected a report by a parliamentary committee which was highly critical of the privatisation of the country’s major copper mines, the BBC reported on Wednesday. The industry has traditionally been the bedrock of Zambia’s economy, but ministers were accused of being negligent during the mines sell-off earlier this year. One opposition member of parliament noted that some assets had dissappeared into thin air.

But the Zambian government said the report was misleading, inaccurate, malicious and full of contradictions. A BBC correspondent in Lusaka said that with the ruling party’s massive majority in parliament, there was no doubt the government would carry the day. The correspondent alleged that the government’s refusal to adopt the report was a strong signal that any proper investigation into the affair is firmly off-limits.