By Kapya Kaoma
When I saw the Times of Zambia front page story that “HH Feels Let Down; Says Appointment of Ministers and Permanent Secretaries in his “New Dawn” Government has so far not helped matters,” on February 10, 2022, I made sense of his February 8, 2022 tweet, “25.7 million is coming to your constituency. What will you do with that money? Please tell us.” If one didn’t know the sources of these statements, they could be misconstrued as misrepresentations of the President. Yet they came from HH.
I am not surprised HH publicly stripped naked his own administration. His Cabinet and Permanent Secretaries his worshipers praised as the most competent, but I termed Salaula. It is the worst team one can pick aside from the fact that they shouted, “Bally will fix it,” the loudest! If HH couldn’t come up with the right team to help him govern, why should Zambians trust his judgment on policy issues?
There’s only one way to explain his disappointment; a disheveled President fleeing from his own ugly shadow. That tweet said it all. He doesn’t have a comprehensive vision for the nation–every Zambian must come up with his or her plan; and “as the youth of Zambia say, Bally will pay.” The same with his administration; it is all about his lugubrious egoism; so he must find someone to blame for his failing ideological programs.
Bally worshipers are in sacred denial. Sympathy for their god, these strange beings lack as his Presidency hangs on the cliff. How would he dance forward without disappearing into the apocalyptic abyss from which no idol can escape? Is dancing the cursed dununa reverse his only way to save face from those of us who saw it coming as if diviners yet mortals? Alas. A solemn indictment of all merciless Bally worshipers with us–their disappointed god has gotten it; the New Dark Regime’s incompetence on PF blame not. Yet in the Baal Universe, Lungu to blame save that a self exculpatory confession a god finally made; “I am not fixing it.” But faithful worshipers proudly respond, “Baal you are fixing it!”
It is important to note that the issue of this Dark Regime is bigger than the Cabinet and Permanent Secretaries; the President himself is the problem. Upon taking office, HH declared bogus ideological programs such as CDF, free education, boarding bursaries, and employment creation for teachers, nurses, doctors, and unemployed youths among many others, when he had zero knowledge about the logistics of government under workings. As President, he has limitless funds for these programs, but not a single experienced personnel to implement them. This is because these programs affect various Government Ministries–that is they don’t necessarily fall under one department of government. The President’s pride and lack of consultations have created unnecessary bottlenecks and subjected these programs to delays, confusion, misuse and corruption. In the real world, for example, the Ministry of Education should have handled Secondary boarding Bursaries. Funds would have moved from the Treasury to the established and experienced education system. As arranged, however, the bursaries have to go from the Treasury to MPs, then to local authorities. People would then apply to local authorities, and once processed, the money will be sent to schools. Among local authorities, nobody is trained to process these transactions. In the end, HH created his own problem. A transaction that would have involved two Ministries ends up going through many different Ministries; duplicating the process unnecessarily. Nobody understands the system but HH’s complex brain.
The same with CDF. In his complex mind, Zambia’s underdevelopment is due to lack of money–the opposite is true. As Dambisa Moyo has shown, money alone does not grant development; strategic planning, project and market analysis, outcomes, and systems of project viability evaluation are engines of development. HH assumes that all Constituencies possess such skills, and that they have management experience and personnel to implement such projects. Moreover, needs differ from one community to the other; here the administration’s guidance on how all Constituencies projects will add to the National Development PLAN should have come first. Sadly, the President expects Zambians to tell him what they need–forgetting that in democratic nations, we speak through our MPs and Councilors. Parliament should have come up with exact guidelines on which activities and programs would be funded through CDF. Without guidelines, what would happen when people and elected officials disagree as to how this money should be used? And as with bursaries, which Ministry will have complete oversight of these Funds? The MPs would want to control the fund, but what is the role of local authorities? Will the Ministry of Community Development and Social Services, and the Ministry of Education have roles too? And what process would be used to ascertain which projects to fund? Nobody knows.
Moreover, how would this money be divorced from political corruption–that is MPs using these funds to ensure their own re-elections as opposed to serving all citizens. For instance, highly populated areas in one Constituency are likely to be developed over less populated ones for electoral reasons.
But the cost may prove deadly to all those involved. Whereas UPND MPs will be shielded from accusations of misuse of public funds, Opposition MPs are likely to be arrested one after another. If I were an Opposition MP, I wouldn’t be too excited. This is one route to Prison. But UPND MPs are only safe as long as HH is President. Thereafter, they will become devils of HH’s making–they will be arrested for misuse of Funds because Chimbwi had no plan. This is because most projects would fail due to lack of expertise and clear evaluation guidelines. More importantly, the money would pass through many hands before reaching intended audiences–making it easy to steal!
In short, the President own policies are buried in prideful ignorance engraved in his egoistic “one man kantemba syndrome.” The efficiency of every administration begins with the President’s vision planted in truth and reality. Unfortunately, HH does not understand that leadership means carrying others with you. Had he spent time thinking through his programs, consulting with community leaders, Civil Society leaders, Opposition leaders, community development experts and of course, political historians, he would have realized that Presidential ideological programs are always wasteful. They are also gold mines for corruption.
Fili uko tuya!
As Dambisa Moyo has shown, money alone does not grant development; strategic planning, project and market analysis, outcomes, and systems of project viability evaluation are engines of development. I LOVE THIS. I HAVE SEEN PEOPLE WITH VERY LITTLE RESOURCES BECOME VERY SUCCESSFUL BUSINESSMEN. I HAVE ALSO SEEN PEOPLE RETIRING WITH VERY HEFTY BENEFITS BECOME DESTITUTES.
Kapya Kaoma. An intelligent, articulate and flamboyant analyst.
“HH feels let down”, what do you think the Zambian people think? Six months after the election and NOTHING has happened. The Kwacha CONTINUES to depreciate, now K18.73 to the dollar and going, the REAL inflation is 20.3% and going even faster, cooking oil more expensive than ever, police officers are back to openly demand bribes at roadblocks; WHAT HAS IMPROVED? NOTHING!
To be fair, the author begins by stating that the President’s asking people what they would do with the the CDF is misguided.
He seems to be of the idea that the President should tell all the constituencies what they should do with the money. Isn’t the idea of the CDF to be decentralized? Alas, the author always fails to be consistent with his initial statement and brings in irrelevant issues.
Which son of Zambia is this one, such an avid writer and analyst!
This Kaoma thing or whatever he calls himself is just a disgruntled thing which has no value in Zambia ‘ s Political dispensation. Such writing is trash. His analysis is Amateurish and carries no weight. How can he call the Republican President Ball, i wish it was in the PF he supports, he would have been swallowed alive by Cadres by now. You cant call all the people who voted for a President as Baal worshippers. Unkale na ulemu boyi, you will never become President yourself, so respect the Seat, Upase ulemu Mmpando.
Dont take for granted the freedom of speech
#6 is that a threat? PF lost partly due to threats to freedom of expression.
Kapya Kaoma’s writing doesn’t encourage a conversation with those whose behaviour he seeks to influence or persuade. So what is he looking for?
A bad carpenter always blames his tools…it the demagogue President forever to assemble a bunch of criminals surrounding him…just like Lungu was surrounded by criminals…just change of colors from green to red…..now it’s getting even worse…HH should just resign
Kapya Kaoma never cease to amaze me with his skillfully written, analytical articles. Does Bally read through them? If he doesn’t then its a surest and quickest way of becoming a political moribund earlier than we thought. Ministers, PSs and all political leaders at ward level, please be candid in advising the president on the way forward, Bally’s success is good for Zambia.
Permsecs aren’t supposed to advise the President. They should run their ministries. That is why they must not be political appointees. They are supposed to be civil servants who have been promoted or responded to Civil Service recruitment procedure. This filling of government positions with political cadres goes against the gist of democracy and is the reason for civil service failures.
@6 Chikonko
You shut your mouth and sit down…..if he can’t stand criticism then he shouldn’t have opted to go for public service….it’s that simple..otherwise he should have kept on just herding his cows in Gwembe Valley…HH the demagogue President
What rubbish……….
For consumption by the clique and their supporters………….
Not for forward working and forward looking Zambians…………
Repetition of UPND manifesto, with exception of derogatory narratives from Kapya Kaoma. Analysis contains some elements of truths that already exist within procedural methodology of executing UPND development plans. Given that, Kapya selects personal views and ignores truths to spice his lies to the public ear. As a listening government that takes views from all Zambians, any body, who is somebody, will be taken with keen interest.
I’m feeling for this President. However, he was in the opposition for many years – ample time to have studied the pitfalls & devised a “master stroke” to turn things round. Yet, judging by the Times newspaper headline, he is out of his depth; he needs support. This is why it’s imperative to any would be leader, to appoint high flyers; really skilled people who will “land running” – bringing in, their expertise, whatever tribe. Appointmenting friends, & on tribal lines, can be ineffective as people feel entitled & sit back on the job….as if, being friends or ‘tribesmen’ alone, will deliver on targets!
# plant a tree please!
Zennia @ 15, wht financial state is Zambia in right now? It’s hopelessly in debt and even lucky to be hanging on. Who piled up this debt high? Why do u ignore that? HH is trying to get our creditors to trust us again so that we can get some breathing space. Without this kindness of our creditors, we could start experiencing shortages of basic goods in shops and long queues of people trying to buy simple everyday products. The PF were spending money not even like a drunken sailor but something worse. A drunken sailor spends his own money after it has piled up while on a long voyage and not borrowed money. You know wht the PF did with borrowed money.
@ 16 – exactly my ‘feeling’ for him! He needs all the “brains” put together to get our country out of the mess. It’s not about working with friends and tribesmen only, it’s all our duty as Zambians.
#plant a tree please!
This criticism is very unfair… sounds like a hardcore PF cadre.Give Bally some time to change our country for the better.
There is absolutely no harm in the President expressing disappointment with certain members of his team….this takes courage and also shows that he is closely monitoring their performance.I myself feel that there are a few members of cabinet and some permanent secretaries that either ill qualified for their positions or simply not pulling their weight and these unfortunately must be shown the door for the good of our revolution of August 12th 2021.One area where I see great weakness is in the communication function.This is a crucial role and must be revisited urgently as it deals with the management of people’s expectations.Perceptions are everything !! I dont see…
This Kapya attacks too much. Why not give HH some time like two years and if he is not moving things then come up with this article. It is too early and we all know HH is an amateur at heading government. We knew this when we voted him into power but because Lungu was hopeless we had no choice. Even right now we have no choice because people like Kambwili are the front runners of opposition. What a country!
“HH Feels Let Down; Says Appointment of Ministers and Permanent Secretaries in his “New Dawn” Government has so far not helped matters,”
When we say please consider research in all you want to achieve then plan ati, iyo he will fix it. When we say this is lip service and talk is cheap, ati iyo natwishiba. When we say this one is u5 on national issues, ati iyo. When we say this is trial and error, at iyo. Now lies will catch up with him. They rushed a Manifesto through cut and paste in 2hours. Cimbwi no plan. No experience is costly. Thank you upnd Kapya. But we told you so.
Iwe uleti, Fili uko tuya
Ine ndeti, tulipano! Let’s roll.