The dissolved Zambia Railways board has described governments to dismiss it as a relief.
Earlier yesterday, Transport Minister Chris Yaluma held a news briefing at his house at which he announced the dissolution of the Zambia Railways board with immediate effect.
Outgoing Board Vice Chairman Professor Oliver Saasa said the board members are happy to see the board dissolved because of the many problems they faced.
Professor Saasa said it is such a relief to leave the Zambia Railways board as it will give him and other board members time to concentrate on their private engagements.
He said working with Zambia Railways Managing Director Clive Chirwa was difficult as he continued undermining the authority of the board.
“We are so happy that this decision has been taken but we are even more resolved to see to it that investigative arms of government move in and investigate the corruption which is rife at Zambia Railways,” Professor Saasa said.
Professor Saasa was speaking in Lusaka yesterday afternoon when some board members held a news conference to clarify some issues surrounding corruption allegations at the railway firm.
“For us, it became apparent that Professor Chirwa was undermining our authority and we sought the intervention of the Transport Minister who assured us that we will see to it that Professor Chirwa is fired but only to hear today that we have been dismissed.”
“The man wanted to listen to no one, imagine you as the employer and your employee dictating terms to you. It’s like a tail waggling the dog,” Professor Saasa said.
He said, “Professor Chirwa’s demands were extravagant and as the board we had to put a stop to this in order to protect public funds.”
[pullquote]“For us, it became apparent that Professor Chirwa was undermining our authority and we sought the intervention of the Transport Minister who assured us that we will see to it that Professor Chirwa is fired but only to hear today that we have been dismissed.”[/pullquote]
And Mark Chona who was until now Board Chairman of the Zambia Railways Board said Professor Chirwa must be fired it the public resources are to be safeguarded.
“With Clive Chirwa at the helm, we are sorry Zambia Railways is not going anywhere.”
Mr. Chona said accused Prof Chirwa of gross management adding that he tried to undermine the authority of the board on several occasions.
He said the board rejected Prof Chirwa’s attempts to move the corporate head office from Kabwe to Lusaka.
Mr. Chona further revealed that the board objected to his continued stay at the K 72 million per month rental Fallsway apartments which it describes as obscene.
“The man made obscene demands from a company which is insolvent,” Mr. Chona said.
Mr. Chona also revealed that Prof Chirwa is receiving K140 million as monthly salary after the board negotiated downwards from the K 248 million per month he initially demanded.
Zambia Railways has been embroiled in a scandal over the past few weeks which saw accusations and counter accusations between Prof Chirwa and the board bordering on corruption and gross mismanagement.
Zambians don’t know how to stand together and work for a common good. This is Greed, vengeance, ignorance, barbarism and a primal need to stay undeveloped, uncouth, diseased and poor.
Stop this bickering you teenage girls. It’s like being at state house listening to monkeys chattering in the trees and peeing on RB.
Why let Clive take the job before listening to his demands?
Nubian talk sense for once we namayo iwe good. How are your teenage twins?
I agree 100%. Zambians are greedy, full of vengeance, punitive, ignorant, still in the border of barbarism want to stay stay undeveloped, uncouth, diseased and poor.
The reasons are very simple.
SELFISHNESS. One Zambian lives only for oneself. And it has come because of our intense wish to become like the ‘white world’. The result is a confusion and total lack of knowledge on anything and everything.
Technology has reached Zambia before the technocrats. So everything has been chewed up like termites do and indigestion has set root deep into the whole society.
Best wishes to come out of it. But you wont. Zambian men need wine and women. Zambian women need shoes, bags and wigs. That’s all. They don’t care for anything else. My heart pains for my country. But grateful to…
These chaps just wanted to frustrate Clive Chirwa`s work.They were not happy to see a man they considered as an outsider running things.The guy has got class and style.The government knew what it entailed by hiring a man of his standing.What he is actually earning at ZRL is nothing compared to his previous salaries.Having class is not cheap.It is a relief to me too that they are gone.Seleni tubombeko ma mafia imwe.
@zebige… you text book prof is useles.. let hime go back to UK!! That minister is also stupid!!! they all must goooo!!!
There is nothing that professor Chirwa is getting that was not in the contract he(his lawyers were present too) signed with the government.It is just selfishness on the part of the board.
Both Clive Chirwa and the board are theorists who cannot help this company. The problems ZRL faces are the common ones of lack of a leadership with an insight into the operations and newer innovations in the business, financial indiscipline, inefficiencies in systems and procures, bad appointments and incorrect staff placements, and none of these need professors coz they are not rocket science. Where are the people that have spent their whole life in engineering operations, maintenance and engineering management? We should dispell this primitive notion that any educated person can be effective in any job. Does this Chirwa not claim to be Zambian? So why should he get expatriate conditions?
How did the board allow someone get 140 +72 rentals. How???????????. the cake was being shared equally.
f********** you
Clive had asked for K248m and the Board managed to bring him down to K140m. On the rentals, this is why the Finance Director was put on leave. I think the Board did their best, the deserve to be applauded. Government is the one being irresponsible here.
Clive did not apply for this job.Your Ukwa poached him from UK.Do you expect him to live in Mandevu or Libala?You pay for what you get.Listening to Clive last night made me believe he has vision for ZR.The property where Clive stays charges residents on a daily basis.It does not matter whether you will spend one year or one day occupying that property,there is no lease agreement.Ask Michael Sata if there is a lease agreement for the accommodation Judge Chikopa is occupying.
Do you know how much MDs get in Zambia ? 148 is far to low. Get your facts right before showing your ignorance in public
If what has been put across is factual, then professor Clive Chirwa must be fired as well. We have educated local talent that can do the job. We should not undermine our capabilities. We should also be on the look out for those that are just interested in milking money from our government. So far job well done to dissolve the board.
He was on both Muvi TV and ZNBC last night and confirmed what the Board said. Ofcourse he was trying to twist facts, but the man is a big lair, Gold-digger, egocentric and he must go
@develop..
i think so too.. clive must fire or suspended, that PF minister is also silly, he must be fired.. he first misinforms the public that he is on top of things and everything is ok at zambia railways… then now he turns around and fires the board,,, whats happening????
How does Chirwa get fired when your president Sata has given him green light to do all the insane stuff at ZRL. This my friend is the cost of having retards in government, and Chirwa is taking advantage.
Is he British or Zambian?
how surprising for the board to say it was a relief to be fired why didn’t they resign on their own if they were being undermined. Point of correction the employers of clive was government through the president en not the board so “The man wanted to listen to no one, imagine you as the employer and your employee dictating terms to you. It’s like a tail waggling the dog,” Professor Saasa said.”
Does not hold. From the statements above its clear the board’s intention was to frustrate clive by having him fired.
The Board was in communication with Govt and they assured them that Clive will go so no need to resign. Their coming out in the manner they did was as good as resigning because they new govt would react in the manner they did because govt did not want them to go to the press. Please lets protect our assets from looters. This Clive Chirwa is a wrong man for our Nation, he must go.
The Board is the one which is supposed to employe a CEO so they were right to put their foot down.
Why do they feel that they were the employers of Chirwa?? Wasn’t he a government appointee ???
Government employee or not CEO reports to the board not to government or president
Strangely in the in the real World the CEO reports to the board. Your point that Clive Chirwa reported to Govt is absurd, who in Govt? Minister who was part of board. People lets think be sensible before posting comments.
“employers of clive was government” ?? Do u have any knowledge of corporate governance? This is the reason you have, in Zambia, parastatals behaving like they are minister/presidents’ personal companies. In ‘normal’ societies, senior managers for companies are employed by, and are accountable to the board. If you dont want the CEO to b accountable, y do u even bother to appoint a board?
Napoleon please speak from knowledge before you call others nonsense. The Minister is not part of the Board. The Board is in-charge of a Company to administer on behalf of the Zambians.
I agree, how does the board claim that it is a relief. They should have resigned and brought to the attention of the public their claims. Point of correction, it is not the board who are the employers of Clive. It is me as a tax payer. What about their demand for hefy sitting allowances. Has the board said anything? I rest my case.
@Kalikeka, what is the point of having a Board if the CEO does not report to it? Like someone has already pointed out, presidential appointee or not the CEO is answerable to the Board. It is only that Chirwa thinks he is special because the president pleaded to him to move to Zambia to run ZRL.
Why is it that only “some of the board members” were present at this press conference ?? Could it be that the rest of the board members did not want to be part of these lies?????
Does Clive have a contract of employment? What does it say regarding his salary amd accommodation/rent? Shouldn’t this have been negotiated for at point of engagement and not afterwards?
good question… you what clive will never come up this that electric train or do any god to zambia railways!!!, and which ever way you look, clive is too expense for zambia, i can promise here it will be cheaper to use the chinese
I am really disappointed in this board of directors about its inability to come to an agreement with Clive. It is like they wanted him to submit to their every wish and command. That is not the way an employer should treat their employee. You should let your employees to contribute their ideas towards the organisation’s achievement of goals. In this case, Chirwa is extremely talented in this area, and the board should have been more supportive. Instead of putting the country first, these people are only looking at their own personal bottom-lines so that they can go and buy their beach houses in Sea Point, Cape Town South Africa !!!
@ iwe kalikeka.. think! the board is not the problem here, clive is a political appointee therefore he feel too big to respect anyone other than the president. Number two.. clive is a text book prof, meaning that he not a practical man,, he will get 100 percent theory but am not use he would get the same in practicals.. that electric train wont come… and zambia railways would die in his hands
In what area is Clive talented…consultancy? yes, CEO of a big firm, we are yet to see.
wow this sounds like something serious is going wrong at zambiarailways, considering what Pro chirwa is getting plus his rentals if its true, could this be the reason also this same board had been demanding huge amounts of sitting allowances? Zambia is not going anywhere i bet the $120 million located to Zambiarailways is almost finished just on salaries, rentals and allowances.
Chirwa is a good friend to president Sata i dont see him geting fired. He has never run a big company before SATA just appointed him from nowhere. HE couldnt even deny demanding the money he is just there to benefit himself and his friends from pf from the $120000000.
Indeed Zambia is a country of jokers..Real jokers! Clive was hired with specific conditions of service. The Board of Directors was constitued after he was hired. To start mentioning how much he earns now is unprofessional. What is Kr142,000.00 mwebantu for a person hired as a an “Engineering Consultant” ? I am so disappointed with the greedy board of Directors..We will never get anywhere in Zambia. The educated people are too petty and ignorant.
My friend where do you live? In Zambia? I don’t think so. You can say Clive Chirwa’s remunerations are justified in a Country like Zambia. You must be out of the reality of our Countries economic status. My heart bleeds to hear people like support such expenditures.
A company that is dead,and is being resurrected on borrowed money from euro bond,and you think Chirwas remunerations are justified!!!!
kr2.5m or K2.5billion end of year bonus, K72m monthly rentals, six or whatever free annual tickets to the UK for the wife, 25% stake in ZRL after five years, this is alot Zambia is offering this man. He should have been more patriotic. ZRL is on its knees for crying out loud. No wonder the board also wanted K500m each for sitting. This country is doomed!
@mech engines.
But clive is more expense than the chinese, … besides we have better educated and experienced people that the text book prof chirwa
Exactly my point, which most people are missing.. Kr142,000 for the calibre of person hired shouldnt be an issue at all … What we should be more concerned with are the results.
Ndobo: Good Engineers dont come cheap my friend. I wouldnt take up such a post for the same amount..honestly. It is on the lower side comparatively.
but chirwa is a text book engineer!! he is not a practical man, tell me what big or major project on the global scale was he once involved.. not those theories am seeing on his CV.. so chirwa is a cheap text book engineer.. i know what am talking about
These so called “Prof. fimo fimos”, “DR. I am too Educated”, “H.E. Kantwas”, “Hon. Snooz”, etc. have been a very big disappointment to Zambia. It seems “WANTON SELFISHNESS” was part of the curriculum in colleges they attended.
Say what you may about “uneducated” leaders we have had to run Zambia. Given, they also made their share of mistakes, but HEAVY DUTY SCHEMING TO STEAL PUBLIC FUNDS was never always part of the calculus in how they ran the affairs of this country. No wonder most of them retired/left as very poor souls. Of course RB learnt his lesson and came back with a vengeance!
Compare that era to the one we have had since the “Dr. this”, “PhD that”, “Prof….,” etc., burst onto the scene. Zambia then built things and educated its children. Now, it is “wako ni wako”!
hahahaha.. i like your comment
My conclusion is that Clive wanted to have good milile alone. No one is talking about differences about the the projects but money !!!
Jokers pa Zed
Shameless adults, all of you. You should have ironed this amicably.
Board is jst frustrated because Chirwa stopped their illicit activities of stealing money through fake meetings held after every 4 days where they were getting allowances. Remember, Chirwa has state protection because the appointment was political and the firing may not be easy….watch that space.
Saasa said it’s a relief…how come? Why didn’t they quit but they had to wait for that doom’s day, bamvela chabe nsoni….
Problem is Chirwa has no evidence for what he is accusing the board of. It is just an accusation. The board has paper evidence for Chirwa’s financial impropriety. By the way do you understand English? Did you miss the part were the board reported the ZRL issues to the Minister? It is not the Board that started talking to the Press it was your hero Chirwa. Adults usually want issues to be tackled and if there’s no agreement you then follow it up with resignation. You don’t resign if you have not given the other person your concerns and what needs to be done. Unfortunately Yaluma acted to fire the Board before discussing their concerns with him. PF is trying to hide something here!
What has Chirwa achieved? What is his track record?
I think Government had considered the caliba of person they were bringing so paying him that salary should not be an issue
Exactly my point, which most people are missing.. Kr142,000 for the calibre of person hired shouldnt be an issue at all … What we should be more concerned with are the results.
Since Prof Chriwa sacrificed to build Zambia Railways to the point of giving up his citizenship it would only be right if he worked voluntarily and then be paid a performance allowance at the end based upon the successful implementation of the Project which he could donate to a local Zambian charity or to people who are struggling to meet basic needs. A lesson for diasporans ensure you make money abroad and when you offer to build Zambia do it voluntarily, those salary expenses and allowances are really exhorbitant above the board for an economy like Zambia. Even majority of employed Americans do not make that amount of money. Based on the Internal Revenue Service’s 2010 database below, here’s how much the top Americans make annually: Top 1%: $380,354, Top 5%: $159,619, Top 10%: $113,799,…
prof chirwa has not sacrified anything.. he was educated by zambian tax payer´s money fee of charge!!!!
No. 15 Strategy I dont know where you get your statistics but those salaries are nowhere near the top earners. The $600million dollar men: Meet the USA’s ten highest paid bosses (whose combined incomes could pay the salaries of over 18,300 Americans). Forbes lists:
1.The top spot is held by John Hammergren, 52, the CEO of pharmaceutical company McKesson who earned a salary of $131.2million and a net total income, which includes bonuses and profits from stock earnings, of $1.2billion.
2. Designer Ralph Lauren came in second place with a salary of $66.7million
3. Michael Fascitelli of New Jersey-based real estate firm Vornado Realty gets the bronze with $64.4 million compensation
How much does our Zambia National Team Coach gets? Do you know what the leading scientists get in parastatals over the world? Do you know what it means to a leading scientist? Do you know what Prof has achieved in terms of aerodynamics? Do you know that he has already signed the contract already with KCM and many other contracts? What I have seen is that the Mind of an Engineer is completely different from Social scientists. Zambians talk too much but getting nowhere. Engineers do little talk and perform. Give Prof Chirwa a chance. Zambians need to change working culture as prof highlighted. He wants to bring a culture of hard work unlike want is obtained here in Zambia. He has done so much within 3 months. Given 1 more year the rail line will be renovated. Go prof go.
Top 25%: $67,280, Top 50%: >$33,048.The exception is only for Government positions and Parastatals. Private Companies can make as much profit as they can and they can pay as much as they can afford and Diasporans can work there and make money but for Public Service it can be done voluntarily with a back up plan of having your own self sustainable businesses and income.Maybe once Zambia Railways is very profitable the salary of the CEO can compete with the average salary of CEO’s in the USA,bonuses, allowances of CEO’s of profitable companies in the USA receive an average salary of $10 million per year with the exception of
Eric Schmidt, Google, Inc. $101 million (company market cap: $264 billion)
Larry Ellison, Oracle Corp. (Nasdaq: ORCL) $96.2 million (company market cap: $152.41…
Thank-you. Lets have this man back to UK, we can’t afford him honestly
let chirwa go back to UK.. will use the chinese for that electic train project.. its cheaper!!!!
For your further information, the average salary in the U.S. was $33,000 in 2012- and though that is the most recent data, it does not even account for the brunt of the recession. The earning inequalities between the America’s wealthiest and the so-called 99 per cent, who have found their voice in the Occupy protests, has grown substantially over the last generation, and not simply due to the recession.
There is no way a board of more than ten learned pipo can be against one individual. It means that the one person is not in conformity with the intrests of the rest. I feel chirwa has to be held accountable. Degrees , masters , phd and the rest does not min action no.
How Does the zambian Coach get monthly?
missing words pips 🙂 sorry
Clive Chirwa gets USD 30,000 dollars salary a month and Chipolopolo Coach Herve Renard gets USD 100, 000 a month.
says who?
For what? For losing the Africa cup and for getting draws only. Zambia has money to waste.
HH says he’s ready to serve zed even without a salary!Not these greedy men already building retirement mantions for themselves less than a year in office!
your mother stirred the pot drank the beer and found you in the sediments
Your HH must be a “Mother Theresa”! He is throwing away a lot o millions he has to just come and serve the zambians free of charge.
can some one Log in into the Lusaka apartment site, i checked all their apartments and the most expensive ones are at 4900GBP , i know it is still high but it doesnt come close to 72000Kwacha Rebased.
The board members were a group of bad eggs and a man of chirwas calibre cannot work with this bunch of crooks.How can you have 28 board meetings in on quarter meaning that each person went away with KR75400 (KR2600) x how many board members?Mind you others were at KR3000.This is rubbish.
Folks! That’s a company that’s coming out from slumber, insolvent. Some huge injection of public money has just been applied and the company must be allowed to be milked in such a way by one individual? We can’t afford him! This is third world corporate politics at its worst. The President appoints a CEO, then appoints the Board. Instead of the Board being appointed first and then tasked to ‘shop’ for a suitable individual as CEO. You can’t have all those people alleging one thing against one man and then getting sacked for it without seriously looking at their story. Or perhaps ZRL was about to be a conduit in which to siphon Euro bond money to certain cartels and the Board put their foot down and got fired for it?
This Clive guy is as good as Munkombwe,CEO’s report to the board for all ignorant quacks here.How do you entrust such collosal sums of money to a foreigner and you just say he will turn around the company fortunes when the man has no history or whatever for doing the same.Zambians you are just pathetic en cheap.Viva Board members for the checks!
Why are people complaining about Prof Chirwa’s pay? It is not like the man approves his remuneration. We should only take issue if what he is getting is outside his contract of service.
For the board, it is absurd to meet 28 times in one quarter. Most boards only meet once in that period!
And if we are going to complain about Chirwa’s salary, has anyone done a comparison with other parastatals? It seems his pay is commensurate with other companies
Let’s wait for the investigation reports. Our media should also learn to do investigative journalism before funnelling half baked stories to swing and divide public opinion. We need expatriates who have carried work of that magnitude for this project to succeed. Professor needs to understand limitations of our country when it comes to service delivery. Zambia’s work ethic need to change. He has every right to negotiate his contract and if the terms were agreed prior to him taking up the job, then why didn’t these board members object? Zambia needs this project and it’s success will revolutionise our approach to things.
Greediness is very dangerous to society.
Mmmmmm too much money. But as always such issues come out when they are fired which is kind of late because you lose your salt.
Milking the over milked cow!
Zambia’s story since independence. Look at all the deadbeat relatives who turn to their one family member lucky enough to have a job to support them.
not milking a over milked cow.. but milking a dying cow from its death bed!!!!
On top of all this the man will walk away with 25% share in ZR, something seriously wrong here!
Kapotwe, The shares are not for free. He has been given an option to BUY. He will have to spend his money to get those shares
We are messed up. How can GRZ employ a guy without experience of turning any company to profitibility and pay hin K140m. To make matters worse ZR has been bankrupt. Chirwa must be fired too. His cost to the company is just unbearable considering GRZ budget.
We are payin Zambian National Team coach over K100m what would you pay an expert?????? How much does Zesco CEO get per month, K140m is nothing compared to these guys and yet nobody talks. Give chirwa a time frame to see if he is a man of his words
Paradoxically when something is so far gone you need an “expensive” solution to bring it back. The same thing will happen with your so-called new airline. Watch the space. We told you in the 90s not to rush to privatize or pull down entities – THIS is what we were warning you about. You don’t even need TB Joshua to tell you that the malaise of old has brought itself and its chicks back home to roost. Good luck Zed!
Kudo’s to Chirwa. As Zambians let’s remove this mentality of thinking we are not worth getting decent salaries. Have noticed that most of my fellow Zambians would rather negotiate salaries that are not even enough to take them home, with they hope they will engage in deals and hope to get allowances.
Let’s go Chirwa, having watched you last night, I fill you have a clear direction of where you and your management team wants to take Zambian Railways. Let’s crosslink Zambia with SA, TZ, Namibia and Angola moving forward.
Check the post ads, Im sure they can rent a house for at least kr12,000 a month in Kabulonga or one of those posh places as compared to the ridiculous kr72,000 they paying now! Thats if these allegations by the board are true.
On the other hand sounds like the board wants the ceo to be one of them, another Zambian day at the office, greed written all over this. All we need is to get the Chinese to work with Mr. Chirwa for his expertise. Either way we need him. It was right to dissolve that greedy board. One statement says they wanted him fired and were surprised to be dismissed. Next thing they were happy to go??? really?
there are ministers also residing according to the prof. check the place out on You Tube.
Some of us saw this up front and where called or sorts of names. Chirwa was begging for a job. He may have been fed up with life abroad. If he really wanted to serve his country he would have sacrificed to show the difference. But to ask for that kind of money from a poor organisation he is supposed to resuscitate is absurd. If he thinks he is worth that money he should not have resigned from his UK position. The board also was not professional to ask for that kind of money for sitting in meetings. Again the board positions should have been advertised. I am glad the board is gone so should Chirwa. Bring in an expatriate who won’t even ask for that much. Let’s be serious for once people.
Bring me an expatriate who will accept peanuts, & I’LL SHOW YOU A FAKE!!!!!!!!
This is what we mean when we tell you that, under Sata Zambia is a failed State. Its only in a failed banana State where fake characters like Chirwa can make such insane demands.
I have always said this, if Chirwa is smart, why has he failed to run his own company. Smart people don’t fight for salary increments, they run their own businesses. Chirwa is simply a failure who has taken advantage of a government run by retards who give crooks 25% shares in insolvent government companies.
Well put…
Only in Zambia can a failed crook con the entire nation
there is jealous and qualification competition in this Choas. The board can not be trusted. Both parties are too educated hence the reason not to get along. there is hurtred among themselves.
Bwahahahaha! Let me get this right, we needed to re-nationalize ZRL because the other managers were incompetent? And now all the Zambian manager have done is to bicker over salaries and allowances. Who would have guessed?
Just watch, Chirwa’s rush to squander money (on himself!) and failure to work with the board is just the start! Wait until GRZ squanders even more on his mad vision of an electric railway, monorails, underground trains, high-speed TGV trains and other nonsense in a country with not enough electricity and not enough purchasing power to afford the cost/ticket price of these designer services.
And all without a feasibility study because Chirwa is on a “higher intellectual level”? What kind of management is that? Perhaps his “level” is cloud coo-coo land?
The problem with Zambians is that all they look at is someones pay. If the man earns his money as an expert in these things so be it. He deserves it. You instead allow real criminals who steal without any work get away with it. There are many that earn that kind of money in this country from even poorer organizations and NGOs. And there is nothing wrong about staying at fallsway villas but there is something wrong with corrupt board members trying to frustrate this important task.
@ Commentator, a manager who “earns his pay” as you say would never call for hundreds of millions (even billions!) of dollars of spending without doing a feasibility analysis first! That is management 101 and a sad comment on Zambia that people like you are willing to accept anything less. After all, Chirewa and his cohorts are spending YOUR money! Sure, railways are important, but this “plan” is about as well thought out as the one about 90-days…. and Santa Clause.
And in any case, your point about pay matching work would be a lot more credible if you didn’t somehow appear to believe that many NGOs and “poorer organizations” pay their directors KR248,000 + KR72,000 housing allowance per month. I repeat… Bwahahaha!!!
(Btw – I assume we are talking KR, LT doesn’t say!)
Why make a fuss about what he is paid, how much are you paying your zambia national soccer team coach, faz president and the like. which universities did these guys attend and yet for a highly learned man you want him to get peanuts……..
For once we have someone who wants to do things properly and of course he will be frustrated. im glad though that he can stand up against the bunch of corrupt fraudsters. We need a functional railway system and i support the only man that can do it. I bet you the truckers association is busy filling pockets with cash of anyone that will prevent the development of railways in this country. It not just about Chirwa or his hefty pay which he actually deserves but its a battle between the powerful truck owners and the new zambia railways. Did you know that in this country there is people that own 500 trucks. Do you know what that kind of money can do to anyone who is a threat.
I thought when Prof Chirwa was appointed he was given his condutions of service.How does he negotiate his salary after he has started work?
All sides are telling lies to the tax payer. If the Board was not happy they could have quit a long time. Ba Minister at first said everything was OK, how come these developments? Ba Chirwa nabo thinks he is very big to milk the Govt. That’s why he thought he could easily be taken to rule the nation. Of course he is educated and we understand he should live well but not beyond normal,that’s why his friends who are also educated are jealousy to see him get more than them.They much info hidden
There many other credible Zambians who can help run Zambia Railways effectively. Clive should know that having high qualifications is not a guarantee that one is a good Manager. He is just after making cash. Let him concentrate on his work at Bolton.
Chirwa wants a Board that is going to dance to his tune. I am afraid the new Board to be appointed, probably to be made up of PF cadres, will do just that and Chirwa will have a field day.
So they are excited to make this undignified exit! I knew these were shameless clowns interested only in what they could get out. If they couldn’t get it then Chirwa shouldn’t either, hence the mudslinging. Zero difference between these so-called educated professors and their kabova counterparts.
Poor you! In my language we call it ‘washing you hands off’ something or someone. Yes It is a relief ! The reason is simple: There’s a lot of mismanagement and corruption at ZRL been perpetrated by your little god Chirwa. Things are going wrong and they don’t want to be around when the whole thing collapses!
This Chirwa you are worshipping has no corporate managerial experience. Can you name a failing company that he turned around? He was a university teacher at a former polytechnic .ie. an upgraded University. If the government was seriously about turning around ZRL they should have recruited an experienced Railway man/woman from around the world. A guy who was bashing new cars for experiments has no business in the rail industry!
i was very happy when Pro Chirwa was appointed to take on this task but not any more. The professor cannot be trusted to safeguard public finances and right now he too should be laid off while the audit is done.
Evidently, this is the problem with having government involved in appointment of CEOs. Firstly, Chirwa is inexperienced as an executive and his knowledge is not practical or relevant for the objectives of ZRA. For example, in light of the economic situation, why was he proposing high speed trains when evidently the citizenry cannot afford to pay fares that will enable the company to break even? There are very qualified individuals in the country who can run the company better.
Chirwa
The entire country is full of morons. You can con your way around and make serious money. When all the money is finished am sure you will be on the first plane out
Tell them you can build them underground trains etc. No one understands anything..
Can you imagine a grade 7 Ukwa conned them about 90 days. What more you a professor? They will not even understand anything.. The board has seen through your lies but you are lucky Ukwa your friends has fired them because he too is a fraud.
lol
Only a F.O.O.L would have believe your story of underground train, fast trains in a country were people live on US$1 a day and can not even a void 3 meals.
I suspect that why you could not provide a business case to the board
can not even afford 3 meals..
The sooner you cage this man the better… you will remain paying the US$150m loan when he will long be gone..
time will tell
Mwanawasa was a clever man… he could see this con man coming
I doubt if you an engineer. You still bitter about 90 days? Well go and hang yourself. Leave the Prof alone. Why are u in Australia? Is not because you were not satisfied with what Zambia might have been paying you? You think K142m is a lot? We shall judge him after 3.6 years. As for now leave him alone. No complaint has ever come from where he has worked in Europe. You on the other hand is an economic refugee trying to earn or come closer to what Chirwa is getting. Lol
The engineer Australia – True, Chirwa is a fast con man and the entire civil society probably the appointing authority could not read between the lines. The devil is in the writing.
Sour grapes or what? Working for common good in the country calls for extreme sacrifice. When you say, you are happy to go, then you found yourself in the wrong place at the wrong time. What I expect from any ZRL Board member is to say, leaving is hard; but for the good of ZRL, time to part is now. I also expect members to wish in-coming ZRL Board the best in this great national development project. Ideally, Board Chairman shoulders a greater portion of the blame. Boards will come and go from now on, but ZRL will continue til eternity.
It is shocking that still some people are speaking to support maladministration, and activities bordering on corruption. Do they really know the implication of such spending in relation to the realization of the said dream?
The interview last night confirmed that most likely Clive will not achieve the dream with such luxurious values he is holding on to. He sounded more rhetorical than what is required of him as at now.
Such a high dream can only be achieved through hard work, sacrifice at the service of the nation and serious self denial. Ask the Chines what it means to attain such a dream.
He should have pity that it took his own mother land to desperately contract a loan in form of Euro-bond to see how it’s greatly needed railway system can be revived.
We have a good dream…
Prof Saasa….Prof Chirwa…..ni ma konfyused ma polofesa aba!!
Board fired but it doesn’t solve the fundamental problem of good coporate governance. Prof. Chirwa should have been given a mostly performance related pay. Anyway HE MCS has confidence in him otherwise he would have also been fired by now.
I said it, Chirwa had the the full blessings of Shikulu MCS and GRZ, its evident from the u-turn made by Christopher Yalume, fibi ifi. I salute Chirwa’s vision and as the saying goes nothing is impossible. Let the man drive his vision home. But he should reconsider his pay on moral grounds, ZRL is not in the capacity to afford his lifestle. Ba Chirwa just sucrifise a little bit
CHIRWA ZR IS YOURS NOW. YOU OWN IT. YOU GOT TWO MORE YEARS ACCORDING TO YOUR PLANS. WE ARE COUNTING.
IF THE $120 MIO EURO DOES NOT YIELD RESULTS YOU WILL BE IMPRISONED FOR EMBEZZLEMENT OF PUBLIC FUNDS.
PF DON’T BE FOOLISH TO APPOINT ANOTHER BOARD. WHAT FOR????????????
Any one who understands corparate governance would agree that Prof Chirwa’s conditions are not illicit. The problem in Zambia is that board members would always want to get more than a CEO. It does not work like that! The CEO must be handisomely remunerated, and his allowances should never be equated to those of board members. He is the busiest of all, and although the board influence decision making by way of advice and approval, much, if not all, of operational and strategic framework is the responsibility of the CEO. How then can board members receive the same pay as that of CEO? And those same board members sit on many other boards where they also get allowances. Greed.
A bad culture in Zambia that has cripled and damned the nation to progress and lack of development. Prof. Chirwa was appointed by the president (employer) even before the board was constituted. When the board was put in place (they, members of the board) soon take opportunity of being employers to Chirwa (bad culture of being boss,powerful and untouchable status) quite popular in Zambia a sign of being somebody. Of course corporate governance is at the core of every successful company. These board members assumed the situation (old culture) that they are now bosses to provide checks and balances in ZRL at the same time to rape ZRL. They knew Chirwa was given a blank cheque appointment by Sata for populist agenda. They should have advised appointing boss over this mistake.Do they care?
WHERE IS HH, MUMBA, MIYANDA, CHIPIMO ETC TO COMMENT ON THIS SERIOUS MATTER OF NATIONAL INTEREST ($120 MIO EURO BOND PLUS INTEREST). PEOPLE OPEN YOU EYES THERE IS WAY MORE AT STAKE HERE THAN WHAT RB & CHILUBA STOLE.
WAKE UP PIPO. CHIRWAS SO CALLED VISION IS TOTALLY UNREALISTIC, AT BEST AN ACADEMIC EXERCISE IN HIGH SCHOOL, WITHOUT ANY ROOTS IN ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT PRACTICE AND/OR CORPORATE GOVERNANCE.
HOW DO YOU EMPOWER ONE ACADEMICIAN WITH NO EXPERIENCE TO UNDERTAKE SUCH A HUGE NATIONAL PROJECT WITHOUT CHECKS AND BALANCES.
US ENGINEER
I never thot i wl thnk MMD n my lyf, bt 2da i thnk thm 4 refusng Chiwa n their party coz we cld ve margagd Zambia. this man z purely afta money. i thot he cam 2 offer a service 2 hs contry, bt on de contrary it wz vice versa. & hw dd PF gvt accpt such condtns frm s1 wh hd evn never managed a big inst lyk ZRL?????? am begnng 2 Q ths gvt
Clive is a fraudster. Zambia has a long way to find another vibrant President like MCS. Clive Chirwa cannot deliver Zambia from it’s problems but he can surely deliver his problems using Zambian resources. The chap is now finished.
Imagine if this big headed Clive Chirwa had landed in State House as presido!!
Imagine further, if this rat eating muntu had passed through an ivy league school instead of the tuntemba colleges he went to!!
The man is finished, totally finished, only retards can worship this glorified automotive mechanic/panel beater who calls himself a professor!
Cassava Republic: You sound bitter..I wonder why. Please stick to the point. The man is educated, and being a Mechanical Engineer myself, I fully appreciate his level of education. You are being too personal boss
i now understand when the chap said that 120 million $ was not enough. he meant that it was not enough to steal a lot from. These chaps in Diaspora, i have no faith in them. No wonder Mwanawasa had equally no faith in this chap. mwanawasa was a visionary leader indeed.
Sick pigs coming out of Ernst & Young!
Privatize, privatize, privatize!
Stinks of greed and corruption from all sides.
Saasa should step down from all state owned boards or he will forcibly be embarrassed. He is an impostor and pseudo economist. You don’t fight presidential appointee.
I respect Saasa’s contribution on this issue. The chap came with a plan drawn from the back door and was asking Zamians to finance it. I was not comfortable with such an approach. A country like Zambia spending 120 Million $ without a proper plan is pure robbery or banditry am not sure which of the two is stronger. Clearly, from inception the chap had a hidden agenda to siphon money out of Zambia. I come from Kabwe and i happen to know someone doing part time work for ZRL. What the board is saying is true. The chap deliberately opened up things, no procurement plan to make a loophole for stealing. Please deliver us from this evil by the name of Chirwa.
if anyone is in doubt of the claims of the board members, get down to Kabwe and asking anyone on how Chirwa has managed affairs. There are no qoutations, all he does is to demand and all procedures are overlooked in the name of efficiency but efficiency to steal. Chirwa is a white collar robber.
Zambians are petty, jealous, vindictive, name it all in search of personal glory. We are not getting anywhere with this sort of mentality. Who is going to cure this disease in our motherland? Learned people are the worst enemies to our prosperity: CRY MY BELOVED ZAMBIA…..everybody is trying to milk an impoverished decimated cow, shame.
This is frustrating. You spend your life lecturing students, examining, marking and graduating them. Some even become Ministers. What do you get $US 1000- 2000/Month. What a mess while a footballer failure coach gets $US 100,000/months. CEO 250 Millions . Since we have heard please Unionist we need more money. equal pay for equal work niga.
Plus bamonk are very dangerous to teach. Kuli na bonuses 2.6 Billion. MPs 2.fimofimo after 5 years, Chiefs kwena Zambia is rich!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ma guys aba. We need a revolution for a massive change in these nations.
it a strugle for independence, Multiparty democracy, now will struggle for economic change.
Change for better opportunity and equal distribution of wealth. With one power from many power from each person we can achieve that.
Tricky situation! But personally I think the board needed money more than a service to us Zambians. A board has rules and when engaging someone for employment, I expect mutual agreement. Prof Chirwa must have agreed with the govt over that. Prof Saasa and the board know the number of meetings they are supposed have. The chairman must have been brief about the CEO conditions of service.Its amazing that 3 months down the line that’s when the chair should know the conditions of service of their employee. There’s a missing link here. Someone need to tell us what is going on or else shall we assume it the usual Don’t kubeba tactics?
bet chirwa is not the only one living at fourways. how do other parastatal directors compare salary wise? may well informed bloggers give us more info starting with zesco,zsic,znbc..
You have a point here, we need to know how much the other CEOs are getting including NAPSA,ERB, ZICTA the list goes on. From there we can calculate the avarage and am sure this will end our debate
there are ministers also residing according to the prof. check the place out on You Tube.
Why is the professor wasting his time here? Let him go and deal with space shuttles!
This is a sad development. The problem is that Govt hired a CEO who has no interest of ZR at heart. Before Clive took over as CEO, ZR was already in troubled waters. Govt borrowed money to revamp ZR by investing a big chunk of the funds in infrastructure and not the managerial payroll. Chirwa’s strategy of revamping ZR’s operations seems to be a disaster. He should not gamble with borrowed capital. ZR is in dire need of CEO who has not only unique managerial skills but also patriotism. Though Chirwa may be very qualified, he lacks patriotism. It had to take the Board to convince him to accept a lower package. To the out-going board members, I salute you for your effort in trying to stop the extravagance. Though you have been dismissed, you will be able to walk with your heads high.
How much does our Zambia National Team Coach gets? Do you know what the leading scientists get in parastatals over the world? Do you know what it means to a leading scientist? Do you know what Prof has achieved in terms of aerodynamics? Do you know that he has already signed the contract already with KCM and many other contracts? What I have seen is that the Mind of an Engineer is completely different from Social scientists. Zambians talk too much but getting nowhere. Engineers do little talk and perform. Give Prof Chirwa a chance. Zambians need to change working culture as prof highlighted. He wants to bring a culture of hard work unlike want is obtained here in Zambia. He has done so much within 3 months. Given 1 more year the rail line will be renovated. Go prof go.
You remind me of some guy. FTJ, even when doing something wrong, you’ll have people ready to go down with you. It’s called decipleship.
Those are interlectuals for you nothing will move, always at each others neck.They are pompus ,know it all, bonse aba shala niba ngwele…Very few interlectuals can accept advise.Give them authority you will be very disapointed,but theory awe kuti watasha aleni tubombe takuli.They like spending time on computers,researching and planning endlessly.This is very,very very disapointng to say the least.
Prof. Chirwa, knows his job, the Problem with our Zambians intecturals, they only need money, not work, Chirwa knows how people in UK works, without any job on the ground, you wont be paid, so why should they be paid for doing nothing?
wake up Zambia, leave him to do the job you fools. Chona has had a bad record
where money is involved, we do not miss him, let him go for Good
Where is the Man of Action and pro-poor President – Mr MC SATA ??? I expect him to come to the aid of Mother Zambia. Mr President I voted for you so you can protect us from such fraud. This Chirwa fraud is worse than all MMD thefts put together.
For the record:
(1) Prof Chirwa was busy in Manchester, teaching, lecturing, earning BIG TIME and contributing to the development of the UK.
(2) Somebody goes to Chirwa and says; I’ve got an assignment for you and it’s for the benefit of the country. Chirwa looks at the assignment ( the vision) agrees to take it up and the two parties agree on COMPENSATION.
(3) Chirwa abandons what he was doing and flies back home.
(3) A Board is constituted to HELP HIM IMPLEMENT THE VISION.
Chirwa had no business being dictated to by the Board. The Board was not there in the first place. The BOARD did not employ CHIRWA, at best needed guidance on the project implementation. But the Board was made up of old know it all failures (professors?) who had hijacked the system.It just had to go. GOOD…
To Prof Chirwa
There is need to attend the Railtex Exhibition in London where over 500 world famous Rail companies are showing off the latest! Such a trip will benefit Zambia. You might just meet someone, some company, that will be willing to help you in your efforts to assist your project. Projects are about ideas. Cross-pollinate your ideas. Zambia will be better off in the end. We cannot afford to take that EU money back un-used or with nothing to show for.
The Exhibition starts this month end and lasts up to 2 May. All the brains will be there! See you there.
Here is what i find confusing, in normal business practice, the shareholders appoint Board members who in turn appoint the CEO to do the day to day running of the company and the Board sits periodically(in most casses about 4 times a year)right? So that means the CEO is answerable to the Board and the Board is answerable to the Shareholders. I have noticed a few interesting things about this issue here and most parastals in Zambia.
1. The CEO is appointed by the Shareholders (Govt)and so is the board, now this is what is causing the problem, how do expect the CEO to respect the board if they did not appoint him.
2. The Board is not responsible for day to day running of the company but are there to ensure that the company’s stragies and policies are being implimented and to provide…
smokin and watchin the fall of babylon….
honestly if this thin of pull him down we hav in zambia continues,i can asure u ,zambia will remain one of the poorest countries despite all resources around us.we have alot of dull pipo around who claim to be learned and yet their contribution to this country is pathetic.look! this guy chirwa put his plans for zambia railways on table and for me hez plan was very promisin given that the money allocated to this plan is used accordingly.but then baffikala with other interests with other gp want to disturb him.MWAABA SHANI BAFIKKALA KANSHI!!
Chirwa is wrong; he wants 25% ZRL and is ready to fly back to UK?! Is he Zambian?
IS ALL GOVERMENTS, First befor the people? Or are they goverment of the people?
I read of only goverment in Zambia for IT’S SELF. we vote.them in .And they Take us out !
Check your local goverment .Count the Vote you cast.Or just give it away?
Lets get other engineers, afterall itys not just clive who can do it.