Africa-Press – Zambia. Having finished watching the special interview of Hon. Cornelius Mweetwa on Muvi TV, held on 23.12.2021, my inference is that the appointment of ministers with an eye for “provincial/regional” balancing is somehow affecting good service delivery. While I don’t fully agree with Hon. Mweetwa’s arguments surrounding the “subsidies removal” topic, I am very impressed with how he defended his government’s performance in their few days in office so far.
Why then was this person, the national spokesperson for the ruling party, “relegated” to the position of minister for Southern Province? I deliberately wrote “relegated” because traditionally in Zambia, provincial ministers have been considered lower ranking compared to cabinet ministers. I am not sure what changes that have been made to our constitution lately, entail regarding this thought. I stand to be corrected… Even in an event that provincial ministers are on the same level as “cabinet ministers” in our new constitution, a minister for a province is definitely not equivalent to a minister of information.
The previous government of President Edgar Chagwa Lungu was on several occasions accused of tribalism, stemming from their appointments on ministerial and civil service levels. Cabinet, DC, and Permanent Secretary Positions were dominated by appointments of people who hailed from Luapula, Muchinga, Northern and Eastern Provinces. I feel that this argument, shouldn’t be contended especially that it is coming from me, someone who hails from Luapula province.
So now back to the topic, Hon. Cornelius Mweetwa has done what the current ‘minister of information’ plus ‘presidential spokesperson’ have failed to do in just one Muvi TV appearance. I am sure that President Hichilema is and has always been aware of Hon Mweetwa’s capabilities regarding articulating party positions because he has worked with him for a very long time. However, the pressure created by the “tribalistic” appointments of the previous regime and the need to correct this, is definitely affecting a minister from Southern Province to bail her out? The presidential spokesperson has tried to an extent but hasn’t been as factual as Hon. Mweetwa.
My thinking is delivery. How then can one explain the reasoning behind the appointment of a minister for information who can’t even defend government’s position and has to wait for that, the president had once considered appointing Hon. Mweetwa as minister for information and then thought to himself, “I had promised a balanced cabinet”… Hon. Mweetwa is Tonga and I will be seen as favoring my tribemates seeing that I have already appointed a few. You see… this is actually the dilemma we find ourselves in as a country. We are now so sensitive to names more than we are to qualifications.
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