Former Defence Minister in the MMD Government George Mpombo has said that President Hakainde Hichilema has appointed what he described as some “Tamanga” business guys as permanent secretaries.
Speaking in an interview after witnessing the court petition judgment for Masaiti PF member of parliament Michael Katambo, Mr. Mpombo said that also described UPND’s 90 days in power as a complete disaster.
“The 90 days of UPND in power is a complete disaster, it’s a shame actually. What is orderly about their performance? You can see, here is a party which in opposition said will do away with district commissioners. Now they assemble a group of political cadres,” he said.
“District commissioners perform critical functions in government. Now, where you take a guy doing tamanga business in Buteko or Lusaka, what are you doing? You are knifing progress in the back.”
He charged that the current Cabinet consists of people with dubious backgrounds.
Mpombo wondered what would happen in government if all permanent secretaries were party cadres.
“In this Cabinet you have people with dubious backgrounds, people with no political capacity. Permanent secretaries are the controlling officers in charge of resources. He is in charge of advising the minister, the government. Now, if you’ve got party cadres as PSs, forget about progress. Where is the party going to understand the performance of government?” Mpombo asked.
“If they are not going to change, they will end up like the Tonse Alliance in Malawi. People elect the government, so where the hell do they get some dubious Alliance member Mr [Thabo] Kawana or some other people to address the people of Zambia? Which mandate do they use? These are party cadres with no mandate to speak to the Zambian people. Zambians will be spoken to by the elected people, people that have the legitimacy and not people doing tamanga business and make them PS. It is a setback.”
He said the UPND government is almost at zero in terms of performance.
Mpombo also said President Hichilema should be humble enough and move into State House.
“This government is almost like zero. The state of the nation is moving directionless. The Head of State can’t move into State House, is HH telling us that the other presidents are a bunch of political nitwits?” he asked. “For HH to say State House is inhabitable is an insult. If he is humble enough, he should move in. That is the designated house. UPND by its conduct is launching rockets of disunity in the country.”
Meanwhile, Mpombo said Katambo’s victory is massive and would produce more fire in parliament. He said Zambians needed strong checks and balances in parliament.
“This is a colossal victory because Katambo is a ball of fire and very productive. The verdict by the High Court is a vivid manifestation of the trust people have in his activities. These kinds of decisions by the courts go a long way in deepening the tenants of democracy. It is important that the will of the people is upheld. This victory is far the viral if democracy is to develop,” said Mpombo.
“UPND, this party is a source of great concern. When in opposition, they were at the forefront of calling for democratic practices but having massive petitions all over the country! The intention here is to reduce or dilute the substance of opposition in Zambia, and there is no country that can develop with a weak democracy. You need strong checks and balances in parliament, somebody to rise. So, this idea of mushrooming petitions must be condemned and it is a serious indictment against the dismal performance of the UPND government.”
I can’t agree with you more , Mpombo. You have described hh and his trial and error government the way I perceive it. God! I didn’t know that it was already 90 days. 100 days of almost 0 performance, seeing that he is in the negative – taking the number line language into consideration, is square mammoth. Its huge.
There is absolutely no expectation of progress with cadres in government. I told my peers back home that we do have ragged cadres at bus stations and white collar cadres. You can’t entertain a cadre controlling officer. Results? chaos! The mole in power thinks state house is below his standards. The bunkers in his house are better that state House’s.
Dear George Mpombo, after being in government the expectation was that you would know that there is no law which stops any Tamanga from being appointed as permanent secretary, as long as the tamanga is Zambian and competent, so please stop misleading yourself as usual
George ” $2k to see PLM ” Mbombo is acting like a disgruntled PF cader who has not been given a job…….
Running Government is not like writing a fiction book. Lungu had no plans because he never planned to be president. But HH has been planning for twenty years. He’s expected to excel.
Facts Matter. LT please get a hand on the list of PSs, Post it here so that we review and assess if this Mpombo is right.
When President Mwanawas demoted George Mpombo from Energy Minister to deputy Minister Copperbelt, he saw that the man was a misplaced resource. While he is entitled to his opinion, he also has a duty to be accurate, but obviously his judgement is clouded due to several factors
Michael Sata told us that MMD was the worst government and this is where George Mpombo belonged
George Mpombo is right because guys like Kangwa Chileshe is seasoned Politician who stood on UPND ticket for Lusaka Mayor is now a CEO at a Ministry…you expect such a man to pass equitable and fair decisions. Here is how trouble will start; GRZ tenders will be advertised and these excited cadres in offices will want their friends in the party to benefit…contracts given to cadres…ACC tries to get involved a cover up is done..this will continue until its endemic. Lets see if HH7 will hold a Press conference soon as he needs to come clean on this
Dollar already moved from K23 to K17
Sanity in Bust stops and markets already
ZNBC and public media starting to be respected again
Police starting to show professionalism
No wastage in government expenditure any more
Constituency development fund improved and going direct to Constituencies
Presidential delegation reasonable for all international engagements
Proper tribal balancing in cabinet and other government agencies
International Donor support starting to flow in again, a lot of confidence
We are regaining our Zambia again, I have been PF but I will always give credit where due, Thanks HH and UPND
Tamangas are Zambians, stop insulting them, let them be appointed to any position. You do not possess the monopoly of wisdom, infact most Tamangas are sharper than the people condemning them, in this country anybody can wake up and say something without self censorship , myself I censored my thought first before posting this very useful guide
Well said Ba Mpombo. Only UPND cadres here will disagree with you. I wonder what the specialisation of Kangwa Chileshe is apart from what we know in terms of lifting weights in gyms, acting in Kabanana and being some pastor of some fictitious church. Thabo Kawana who now looks like he is on a slimming diet compared to the times when he was a PF praise singer cannot certainly be addressing us when he was never elected by anyone. These are the Tamanga boys with no known track record of performance anywhere that Ba Mpombo is talking about. The national airwaves are being unnecessarily choked by the songs of praise of UPND praise singers like Kawana plucked from obscurity.
We warned you about the under 5 government. You didn’t listen. Now you have to live with it until next election or if you lucky until this boy hh is impeached
Somebody you call under 5 whipped you clean in the elections, lick your wounds quietly
People forget very fast. What happened to ‘more money in your pocket within 90 days’? who blew a surplus inherited to indebtedness within the first term of office? who championed the so called tamaga boys and created a cadre led government? I think ba Mushombo has been on another planet.
PF government was incompetent to the core, that is why for 10 years none of their promises they promised the Zambian people was fulfilled but they now want their friend to fulfill his promises in 3 months
To be fair and neutral, the UPND Government did a tremendous job in removing cadres from;
1. BUS stations
2.levels of perceived corruption has gone down as well
3.But we can’t hide the fact that the economy is just as bad, quality of appointments is equally poor (experiments, no qualifications considered)
4.the slowness in implementation of promises, UPND will run out of time, for example they cry corruption every day but no arrest
5, the gap between the rich and poor gets worse everyday.
AS WE SAY IN ENGLISH IT IS ALL SMOKE AND MIRRORS!
MPOMBO’S PROBOSCIS EXHALES VERBOSITY DEVOID OF LOGICAL CONSISTENCE. GET PEN AND PAPER AND SCRIBBLE VALID EXHORTATION TO THE PRESIDENT NOT ENGAGING IN MERE SENSATIONALIZATION OF YOUR OWN MISPERCEPTIONS.
@1.1 edmond… A PS is supposed to be a civil servant.. someone with a civil serivce back ground…its not a political post but a civil servant one. Only DC can be a tamanga. Everything in this country is messed up. Presidents fo anything that comes in their mind.. we are not controlled by ethics
Who said Tamangas don’t have civil service back grounds? Appointments are just okay
The president is simply appointing people he can trust and work with, yes his decisions will be challenged every time. How do you expect the president people he does not trust. HH has been in the opposition long enough with the same people and he confident these people will be professional in the discharge of their duties. Can Mr Mpombo tell us who he wanted the president to appoint. This is all rhetoric to say the least, these old folks must be realistic and instead give direction and not just criticise for the sake of being relevant. Mr Mpombo given a chance to be the president he would equally appoint the people he trust and has confidence in, he knows how it works. Let us criticise when the need arises instead of bashing everything from the on set! Besides the president as the right…
i THINK ALL THESE ” OLD FARTS” MUST NOW RETIRE.
They are ancient and have pre historic opinions – probably the dinasaur era;;;; They have tasted FREEDOM OF SPEECH” but making themselves fools at the same time
Leave it to the next generation.
This Mpombo has done nothing in his political life but stealing money for lodging, think he was prosecuted for that if not mistaken. And reading useless books that make him even more crazier. All his ministerial portfolios he failed, nothing he can point at, ZERO!
ALL WHAT GEORGE MPOMBO KNOWS IS PRACT[CING AND CREATING FIGUURATIVE EXPRESSIONS IN HIS LAZYMAN’S CHAIR BOUHT FOR HIM BY LAZY LUNGU’ REMEMBER EVEN IN MMD HE WAS DOING NOTHING APART FROM RECITING CLOQUAL EXPRESSIONS. HH IS DIFFERENT AS MAN OF GREAT FOCUS ON , GOOD PLANNING , IMPLEMENTATIPLEMENTATIONS ETC
You were crying that all the workers in government reports to Lungu. He removes them to appoint those that will be reporting to him then you start complaining.
Mpombo you miscalculated and missed an opportunity by crossing over to PF during the election campaign. It is never too late you can still rejoin UPND.
Sata was right about this Man. He is really a Mpombwe in thinking.
Thanks Prof Mpombo – say something even tomorrow again and again. Everyone is now free to say something without threats from the Party cadres and Government.
I want to express my disappointment with our Minister of Health. Madam Minister tread well when it comes to human rights. You will go quicker than you came. What measures have you put for those that cant get the jabs due to underlining conditions? Aside that, which variant are you fighting with old guns? Lastly who closes a bedroom door and leave the main doors open hoping to protect themselves. Stop being cowards and do a partial close down of our borders if need be instead of accelerating out down fall as a country.