PRESIDENTIAL DISCRETION
By Amb. Emmanuel Mwamba
The news of Anthony Bwalya being removed from State House and re-assigned to become Deputy High Commissioner at the Zambian Mission in Tanzania, was received with shock and has attracted various comments and interpretations.
We must admit that the battles regarding Anthony are long-standing as we saw during the transition period in August 2021 where various spokespersons for the President emerged.
However, Anthony won the initial battle and was appointed as Special Assistant for Press and Public Relations.
This was not for long!
We heard a new tussle had energed with Clayson Hamasaka, a long-standing media associate with the UPND and President Hakainde Hichilema.
Soon a special-purpose position was created for Hamasaka as Director Media at State House.
Anthony was soon being refered to as “Presidential Spokesperson”, as an official title, a position that doesn’t exist at State House.
Anthony’s earlier position of State House Special Assitant, is a senior position equivalent to the Deputy Secretary to Cabinet in ranking and in establishment.
A debate emerged whether Bwalya was demoted and therefore the action was out of a disciplinary case or he was being victimised.
These appointments, transfers and reshuffles are at the discretion of the President.
I have therefore chosen to discuss the President’s discretionary powers.
Discretion is at the core of Executive Powers of the President.
This discretion, which gives the President freedom to decide how to implement policy initiatives, shapes policy from choosing infrastructure development, direction of trade and investment , to the shift in foreign policy, to education and public health policies.
The President also appoints various constitutional and other officers and chooses who to pardon from the convicted prisoners.
IS PRESIDENT ABUSING HIS DISCRETIONARY POWERS?
It is this discretion that attracts concerns and calls to either rein in or expand the Presidents’ discretionary powers.
Is the President using these discretionary powers to promote national unity? To promote inclusion and reducing the gap of the marginalised or reduces social inequalities?
Is he using these power to foster policies that reduce poverty, promote the well-being of people and the development of the country?
OR
Does the President use these powers to increase nepotistic or tribal or regional hegemony? Does he use these powers to exclude others? Is he sowing seeds of discord and disunity in the exercise of his powers?
The Constitution intended for these powers to be used to unite the country, to be used to the benefit of the country, to the benefit of the largest number of people while protecting the minority, and to the development and advancement of our country.
We need to interrogate and establish if the President has abused these powers in the exercise of his discretion, in the policies he is fostering and in the appointments he makes.
CONCLUSION
So is Anthony Bwalya’s apparent demotion out of failure to work, incompetence or a case of disciplinary?
If so what has the President done to resolve other similar cases? What has the President done to the crisis at Ministry of Health, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Labour, and Ministry of Health? ZESCO?
What has he done with the continued failure in the implementation of his flagship projects and policies such as the Constituency Development Fund ( CDF) and Free Education?
Why has he not acted? With reported large-scale cases of corruption at Ministry of Health, ZESCO, Ministry of Agriculture?
So if he appears to quickly cane only one official out of the many corrupt and incompetent officals surrounding him, then he is abusing his discretionary powers.