By Prince Bill M. Kaping’a Political/Social Analyst
The other day, one of the most astute and capable cabinet ministers in the New Dawn Administration featured on a Prime TV programme anchored by Alexander Musokotwane. He painted a prolific mosaic of a litany of milestones achieved by the New Dawn Administration a few years of being in office.
To start with, the president has assembled a cabinet that represents a national character – for the first time in many years, all the 10 provinces are well represented! He further reiterated that over 40,000 jobs in the civil service sector have been created and still being created, while a further 1500 jobs at Indeni have been preserved with the timely re-opening of the oil refinery when doomsayers least expected such a thing would occur in their lifetime. In addition to this, free education from grade 1 to 12 has been reintroduced whilst the meal allowances for university students which were scrapped off by the reckless PF administration have been restored!
In years gone by, for one to secure a job in the civil service, they ought to have been PF cadres or indeed enjoyed strong connections with those in power. Fortunately, this is now a thing of the past; there’s no ‘nchekeleko’ anymore. In the same breath, council workers who in most cases would go 7 months without smelling a whiff of cash have since been remunerated while the retirees, our grand parents who would be ignored by the likes of Given Lubinda and therefore be condemned to endure cold nights at Kamwala Bus Terminals have equally been sorted out. In addition to this, those 258 000 peasant farmers who were robbed of their dues by a heartless government have since been cleared.
During the PF regime, opposition strongholds were notoriously ‘starved’ of constituency development funds ((CDF). Hichilema’s government has not only increased CDF allocation to record figures but has ensured that all the constituencies are accessing their fair share of the allocation at the same time. Isn’t this the same reason why folks like Kanchibiya Member of Parliament Sunday Chanda, once bitter critics of UPND have zipped their mouths and delivering to the satisfaction of their electorate quietly?
Most of us still remember The Post as it played a critical role in informing, educating and entertaining the public. What happened to it? Ruthlessly crushed by the PF regime! In the current regime, independent media outlets such as Camnet TV, News Diggers and Daily Nation are allowed ample space to bash or criticize government without any exuberances or existential threats of being shut down as was the case with Prime TV and The Post Newspaper during the PF regime.
“This president has done so much for this nation, maybe we aren’t just communicating effectively to the public as government,” the minister lamented.
He further went on to explain how the president has even forgiven those that made him escape the wrath of blood thirsty cadres through a rickety roof in Ndola or those that authorised firing of live ammunition at his convoy in Chingola.
“During PF, it was abominable for the opposition particularly UPND to put on their party regalia otherwise they would’ve been butchered!” Milupi recalled.
He went on to elaborate that the opposition, including the PF are now free to put on their regalia and visit any place including churches, markets and shanty compounds to galvanize support.
What do we make of such assertions?
The best language that PF surely understands is “cho, chise!” You can only treat the former ruling party with kid’s gloves and yet this is what this government has been doing by failing to resolutely fend-off relentless attacks while succinctly explaining the efforts government is undertaking to ameliorate the challenges of our people.
With due respect, Information Minister Chushi Kasanda and her PS, my good friend Kennedy Kalunga have lamentably failed to weather the storm from the rabble-rousers masquerading as opposition political parties! Clearly, they can’t withstand mounting pressure from the likes of Antonio Mwanza, Chilufya Tayali, Emmanuel Mwamba, Raphael Nakachinda or Nixon Chilangwa. They can do better at the Ministry of Religious Affairs if at all such a ministry was to be resurrected or better still in the diplomatic service.
Given the cantankerous and highly charged political atmosphere currently prevailing in the nation, government deserves indefatigable and fearlessness fellows ready to shoot from the hips such as a combined lethal team of Cornelius Mweetwa as Minister and Thabo Kawana as PS!
When have we seen Kasanda stepping out of her comfort zone to stand within firing range and get grilled by the likes of Costa Mwansa of Diamond TV or even the legendary Luchi at Radio Phoenix? Zero! The president is left with little option but to invite the Information Ministers for tea, tell her he has nothing against her but he has seen it fit to redeploy her to another functionality.
Well said, excellent article…. communication is key, let the people know what achievements the New Dawn as accomplished and also keep people informed with what you are doing these are key ways of gaining trust and another vote in 2026. A government should operate in the open and never in silence as did the former govts before.
I’m sure you saw these in your dream. Dream on Joseph son of Jacob.
We don’t know what that minister of information and broadcasting is doing at that post……….
Is the the whole UPND that dull to not realise that minister is a no show ?????
And thabo is too busy looking at pleasing his wife with cars to mount any effective media campaign
The other day that dull minister of information was happy at seeing people draw down their retairment packages………..
Instead of acknowledging the fact that economic times are hard forcing people to dip into their retairments , hence the lines and issuing caution at spending while GRZ is working flat out to correct the economy…………
You talk about a balanced cabinet… that is no brainer to a fair minded person… Upnd has MPs almost in all provinces so it would be suicidal to ignore this. PF ( they had their problems) didn’t have that luxury. The president has a limited number he can appoint as MPs and he did that. He appointed ministers from among opposition MPs… these were expelled by their party.
Upnd has compensated its base by appointments to civil service and government departments in this order
1) Southern Province
2) Western province
3) Northwestern province
4) Central province
And rest have picked up the left over bones. What are you talking about?
Ati……”PF ( they had their problems) didn’t have that luxury. The president has a limited number he can appoint as MPs and he did that. He appointed ministers from among opposition MPs… these were expelled by their party…”
If lungu and PF were not a tribal party as you are trying to say based on MPs availability ………
How come 95 % of leading jobs in parastatals and the forigne service were from people from two regions ???
UPND is merely correcting this……
Down deep in your heart you know what I mean. Stop this nonsense of a tribally balanced cabinet as an achievement. HH has no choice and no way out of this. Get this in your numbskull.
UPND is correcting the 90% tribal imbalance…………
Which part of that don’t you understand ???
90% of what the UPND is doing is to counter the PF, 5% to rebuttal cantankerous lunatics like Nakachinda, Tayali & Saboi, 3% to justify that they aren’t a tribal party, 1% individual effort to cut deals so that they aren’t stranded should things not go well in 2026. Only 1% is left for uncoordinated haphazard service delivery. They’re disjointed.
“……..90% of what the UPND is doing is to counter the PF, 5%…….”
Yes……….90% of their effort is to counter PF corruption, tribalism and mismanagement of the country……….
We know we are doing well. We do not what to show PF that because we want them to keep on dreaming coming back.
You should be debating all the slient points raised in this write-upOf all the points presented,you chose tribalism only.Intellectual dwarfism by Deja Vu
He is a virulent tribal supremacist who is still bewildered that a tonga from bwengwa is the president of zambia.
Unfortunately his bewilderment will last until 2031……….
#Try as you want tribalism is real.
Kapinga has been trying to mask this nonsense for sometime.
Of late we have observed how swiftly our leaders move to answer to “insults” from citizens, violence from opposition political parties, and character defamation of president and his party members. Our leaders only respond to what threatens their survival. Real concerns mostly go unattended to. If they are only preoccupied with thwarting opposing views, how does that become effective links?
After being told we had enough maize, the figure given was too little (300,000T, including strategic reserves) needing replenishment, they ultimately contradicted themselves. We were then told Zambia should import mealie meal and maize meant for border towns to tackle illicit trade. It changed to: imports are meant for Zaire market and Zambia is only a transit country. Zambians can see lies in this food story. Why didn’t Zaire buy for themselves from source? Since when was Zambia a mediary or ambassador for Congo? What interest do we have to transact for a country not hit by external debt like Zambia is?
This is an example of fire fighting, ineffective communication, half truths, inconsistencies and misinformation.
All the salient points raised in this write-up are evidence of working government in exttremely difficult circumstances, but of course, detractors will always see the smoke as more important than the fire.Collateral damage and residuals are what they will concentrate on instead of the payload of all the meticulously designed social economic strategies, plans and programs initiated by the UPND government, Zambia is slowly albeit painfully crawling toward social economic take-off
I concur that Cornelius Mwetwa,Thabo Kawana,perhaps even Mark Simuuwe should take up the information department
#Muzambian…if a red car passes, do you have to shout out THAT CAR IS RED?
If what this so-called prince is saying is real, he doesn’t have to say it because we will have all seen it. But because he’s not sure of the situation he day in day out try to stuff this in our throats.
The recruiting was publicized for political mileage…..staff have always been recruited but without publicity… otherwise we wouldn’t have anyone in those institutions.
Deja Vu re-read the write-up once again and come back to me,Please dont come with your red cars.Save that for kids.Efforts and progress by this government need to be retold again and again and again for people like you who do not understand the depth of the and the meaning of the change happening around you.