Amb. Emmanuel Mwamba writes:
In My View Nothing will Change
Chushi Kasanda fired.
Cornelius Mweetwa comes in as Minister of Information and Media, and Chief Government Spokesperson.
Mweetwa’s name has always been proposed as suitable to be Chief Government Spokesperson since day 1!
There may be some marginal improvement because Mweetwa is forthcoming and media friendly but their communication strategy remains ineffective and wrong.
They have allowed too many Spokespersons and those holding critical positions can’t talk.
The guy for investments at State House poses as Spokesperson, the critical and powerful media persons at State House devote their time to running a rogue online media and issuing regular threats against personnel in public media.
Remember they had Anthony Bwalya who was articulate and media friendly but appeared to be a fish-out of water as he was clearly marginalized, never travelled with the President and over time, he became irrelevant and without authority.
Mweetwa may turned out to as powerless and blacked out as Chushi Kasanda or Anthony Bwalya were, despite their innovative and media availability.
Mweetwa may start by abolishing the position of Director-Spokesperson at the Ministry that has helped cause mass confusion, holds no job description and breaches civil service regulations!
But it’s irrelevant to propose the abolition of that position as it was a presidential creation offered to a specific person.
And because they are beaten at media battles, they resort to arrests, threats and intimidation, and draconian methods, a matter that has resulted in a shrinking democratic space.
But the biggest crisis is they have a President who speaks first and usually puts his own foot in the mouth..How do juniors clean up or correct the President or the mess?
Without a critical reflection and more changes, this may be a change of acog in the wheel.
Good luck to Mweetwa and Congratulations.
