Africa-Press – Zambia. UPND media team unhappy with appointment of Anthony Bwalya by President Hichilema Some members of the ruling United Party for National Development (UPND) have issues with the appointment of Anthony Bwalya as Special Assistant to the President for Press and Public Relations, by President Hakainde Hichilema.
A source in UPND has told The Candidates that the UPND media team has not hidden their hatred for the appointment of Bwalya. According to the source, official announcements from State House which are firstly supposed to be made by a Special Assistant to the President for Press and Public Relations are being hijacked and are released by party media team members.
Earlier today, a Mr. Clayson Hamasaka who is part of the UPND media issued an official statement through Zambian Watchdog disputing a social media rumor that President Hakainde Hichilema would be appointing his cabinet tonight.
Hamasaka’s statement preempted the official State House statement of Special Assistant to the President for Press and Public Relations Anthony Bwalya which was released much later.
According to the UPND source, there have been many incidents where the party media team has done things to calculatedly aggravate Anthony Bwalya because some people are still sulking over his appointment.
“There is a problem in the media team. They do not like the young man Anthony whom they say is a hijacker. Those that do not like him are saying he came late in the party and shouldn’t be made to handle such a high position above those that have been with the President for some time. But even if it is like that, like the President has said that he will appoint based on competency, I think Anthony is the best guy for that position because he is competent, brilliant and assertive. It’s only that people have their own petty issues which is annoying if you ask me. If they are fair they must allow him to do his works. But from the look of things the entire media team is unhappy, they are against. They are doing things deliberately to frustrate him and to undermine his works. Imagine official statements about government from State House are made by people without any position in government. That is too indicative f their lack of support for the guy” the source told The Candidates.
-The Candidates
