Swearing in Mulambo Haimbe
By Mthoniswa Banda[i]
Dear Mr President,
When I saw you surrounded in pomp and splendour during the swearing-in of Justice Minister Mulambo Haimbe as State Counsel, by over 30 suited civil servants and State House officials, amidst back ground cries of the peacocks and peahens, I wondered what time these top officials actually do their work.
You see Mr President, this scene is similar to the various scenes I see whenever you, Mr President, is travelling out of town from our airports. I see you being seen off by bosses of the Army, Air Force, national service and police force among other notables. And not to forget the thousands of police men and women that would have route-lined the road from where your journey started to the airport. This scene repeats itself in every town where your plane will be touching down.
Mr President, as a former chair and former member of various boards and a businessman and investor of repute, such scenes of workers leaving their posts to go and say bye to their CEO at the airport or join him in the contract signing of new employees must have been a boardroom query. The board would definitely have enquired if this was value for money for a CEO to carry his entire staff to the airport for the sole purpose of them saying bye to him and or shaking his hand so he looks like a boss. Such a boss would definitely be reprimanded by the board!
Mr President, as CEO and chief marketing officer of Zambia you are doing the same. You are allowing the entire Zambia defence force and police, the entire Cabinet office and entire State House to line up for you at these ceremonial events and airport take-offs and landings, at the expense of them working. In fact, it seems only these work only when they are surrounding you in your duties and seem not to have any work of their own. When then does the acting man at Cabinet Office work to ensure that the civil service that was severely abused in the last 10 years does what it ought to do or sign approval documents that drive the engine of the civil service? When does the head of the police force find time to appoint his provincial commissioners and undertake meaningful legal and policy reforms that will make Zambia Police operate efficiently and effectively in maintaining law and order if all the time his daily schedule comprises route lining for your motorcade and shaking hands with you at the airport?
According to numerous Zambia annual budget reports, over 60 per cent of Zambia’s budgets go into the payment of salaries and allowances of running the civil service, including running your office; leaving a paltry budget for moving Zambia forward through education, health, manufacturing, research and development.
Mr President, looking at the number of civil servants that hang around your ceremonies and airport departure lounges, I am compelled to think that most of these workers do not have any work to do (job description) except “to serve at the pleasure and leisure of the President” and therefore are being a drain to the treasury and country.
Mr President, you were elected not as a politician but because you were an acclaimed investor who poured millions of your money into this country, a successful businessman who managed to start businesses that now employ Zambians and finally as a manager who manages profitably all the businesses that you have been associated with. The voters and indeed Zambians at large expect you to manage Zambia as its CEO in the same thrifty and prudent manner you managed your businesses and the companies of other investors on whose boards you served.
Zambians do not want you to be a politician, boss or chief like some of the many former presidents that we have had. They have seen the damage that politics and politicians have done to Zambia’s prospects of being a developed country. Zambians want Zambia to return to the global stage of being like Singapore and other Asian Tigers that started like Zambia but now are regarded as successful countries. Zambians want a manager to manage their resources well and a manager to ensure all sectors of the economy are allocated their necessary support so they meet their key performance indicators (KPIs).
Mr President, let your civil servants work. Cut the un necessary drama at airports and at State House events. Allow your people to work and be found in their offices. Let those employed to think and find solutions to Zambia’s problems be seen to be doing just that. Let those that are employed to manage our resources be in the offices and fields doing just that. Just like we follow your speeches and orders on TV and social media, let those two-second instructions that you issue during airport handshake ceremonies be issued via the same technology, and if they contain secrete message utilise emails and WhatsApp! As our CEO, allow for effective and prudent utilisation of Zambia’s time and resources under your care and watch.
Zambians do not want Zambia to continue being a country that continues to pay government workers for keeping up appearances and for them to be seen around the President without them doing any tangible work in their job descriptions.
Wish you well in your work.
Send feedback to: mthoniswa@yahoo.co.uk. See less