President Hakainde Hichilema has directed Secretary to the Cabinet Patrick Kangwa and the Ministry of Youth, Sport and Arts to help restructure the FAZ legacy debt to ensure a clean balance sheet before the close of 2024.
Speaking during the State Luncheon in honour of the under-17 Cosafa winning teams, CAF Women’s Footballer of the Year Barbra Banda and CAF Assistant Referee of the Year Diana Chikotesha at Pamodzi Hotel, Hichilema said he had been made aware of the FAZ historical debt anchored on Napsa remissions, ZRA and outstanding stadia use balances stemming from years ago.
“FAZ president in the room there, you talked about the balance sheet that needs to be restructured, I have already issued instructions, and we get to work,” the President said. “Next week we have a small team, I like to work in teams, secretary to the cabinet, the ministry, sit with FAZ. It is a small exercise, we restructure the balance sheet, so that we clean it up, so that we go into 2025 with a stronger FAZ balance sheet.”
Hichilema said he would be able to do the same for FAZ as he had done at a grand scale with the government debt that was famously restructured under the G20 restructuring framework. “You guys, you think HH is a joker in this country? We were able to restructure our debt under the G20 debt restructuring framework.
“We were not the first in the queue but when we came in, we converted that even when we were in opposition that we have to address this issue, and we achieved as the number one country to restructure the debt. No other country has done it, we are watching, so how can we fail to restructure a small balance sheet of FAZ,” he said.
The FAZ financials have suffered under the weight of debts that were passed on from successive administrations that the Kamanga administration has repeatedly sought ways to clear.
