Presidential appointments

The most serious problem facing Michael Sata's government today is not civil servants leaking information about his appointments. It is the quality of his appointments that is a problem.

And this is what Michael should focus his attention on and find ways to improve the quality of his appointments so that they are accepted by the great majority of our people.

There is dissension in the country over the appointments he is making. And this dissension is not coming from his political opponents because these would be very happy to see him weakened by poor appointments. His political opponents are happy with the poor appointments he is making because that aids their campaign against him.

POST Editorial 3^rd November 2011

We have to agree with the POST on this issue. It is insulting to the people of Zambia for the President to appoint characters what have been convicted of corruption in our courts of law or who are perceived to be architects of the MMD plunder of our resources. In a country of 13 Million souls, the President should be in a position to appoint competent Permanent Secretaries without having to rely on plunderers.

A number of people would be justified to start wondering if the PF had a plan to govern this country. It seems all eyes were solely focused on defeating the MMD and nobody thought about what to do if elected. Basic mistakes have been made. Over nominating MPs was unbelievable. Any half decent advisor to the President should have pointed this out before he went public. It is also inconceivable that appointing retired personalities from the KK era is a forward looking move. The PF are slowly turning the clock back. Alexander Chikwanda, Peter Kasanda and Frederick Hapunda among others have made valuable contributions to the country. However, it is time to look to the future and empower a new generation of young Zambian men and women to take the country forward in this information age. This is no time to reward sympathisers with jobs. The country is on its knees and we need the best candidates for these positions.

The President needs to learn to listen to his advisors and the general populace. The MMD lasted 20 years not because they had the mandate of the people but because of political trickery. PF could easily be voted out from government at the next election if they let the people of Zambia down.

The PANEL

A new dawn?

It is almost a month since the Micheal Sata led PF swept the MMD from power. I am one of the people who firmly believed that the MMD would do everything and anything to make sure they returned power. There were even pronouncements from the MMD leadership that “Sata will never rule this country”. In the end no rigging or RB branded lollipops were enough to stop PF winning the election.

This change of government is comparable to the 1991 revolution when KK was defeated after 27 years at State House. Zambians had high hopes and believed in a new era of democracy, accountability and rule of law. Their hopes were soon dashed by the corrupt and scandal ridden MMD rule.

There is now an urgent need to thoroughly investigate corruption and abuse of public resources under the MMD. This should be done openly and objectively. Lessons have been learned from the Chiluba plunder cases which should expedite this process. It should be relatively easy to find out where the MMD found the huge resources to bankroll their campaign. This is not a witch hunt but for the country to move forward lessons need to be learned from past mistakes.

We wish Mr. Sata well and hope that he will deliver.

The PANEL