ZESCO buys luxury coach for it’s football club
Emmanuel Mwamba writes…
Snippets- the more things change, the more they remain the same
1. ZESCO buys the Scania Irizar i6S luxury coach for its premier football club.
My view; Both Government and ZESCO Management have spent countless time and effort explaining about the dire financial state of ZESCO and the need to introduce cost reflective prices for its services.
And just yesterday, we became aware of their action to jump upwards price of electricity connections from K750 to K6,930.00.
And in the middle of crying for help, they make a purchase that doesn’t demonstrate any austere measure….typical.
2. A newly sworn-in Permanent Secretary flaunts an expensive gift on social-media, a brand new car for his beloved spouse.
In 2021, Mr. Nicholas Phiri, Executive Director of Zithukile Consortium, went into hiding in Southern Province for a period of nine months.
On December 15th, he was sworn-in by President Hakainde Hichilema as Permanent Secretary for Special Duties at Cabinet Office.
My view; PF was in trouble because its cadres and those associated with it flaunted wealth or cash on social-media.
The PS was sworn-in on 15th December 2021 and only clocked two months on 15th February 2022.
He may not even qualify to access medical services under the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIMA) as the scheme requires one to contribute for minimum of four months.
In his own write-up the PS says until recently, his wife had to shoulder the financial burden and bills of the family.
Looking at how recent his employment is, he may not even qualify for a bank loan based on his new current status.
Further, the car has been bought from a dealership that appears to have “new purchase orders” from government…a thought for another day.
Some things are best kept away from social-media as they open a pandora’s box, especially for public officials.
3. President Hakainde Hichilema on a trip to Brussels for the African Union/European Union Summit and later an official visit to the Vatican.
This is the President’s 11th international trip in six months.
It is understood that the President needs to make foreign trips for the benefit of the country and because Zambia is part of Africa and the global community.
However, we would not be discussing this if President Hichilema did not spend remarkable time on incessant criticism and attacks of the foreign trips made by his predecessor.
I guess, we may have to make him account on a similar measure and standard he set.
Good night.
