Home

Trim Ministerial Positions, Please

Politics in Zambia The recent massive reshuffles of Permanent Secretaries and government Ministers are a clear indication of President Rupiah Banda’s utmost insensitivity to the expectations of the Zambian people. Instead of trimming his government to make it smaller and more efficient, he seems to be more obsessed with lining up the pockets of his friends, political supporters and sympathizers. It is both irresponsible and inexcusable for Banda to continue to maintain sinecures at public expense while the country drifts further into socio-economic decay and backwardness. In fact, his failure to abolish the positions of Deputy Minister and District Commissioner, and to reduce the size of his Cabinet, defies his own sentiments and the sentiments of the late President Levy Mwanawasa. In his speech in June 2009, for example, he decried the fact 50% of government’s domestic revenues are spent on 1% of the population, including Ministers, and wondered how provision for roads, hospitals, schools, energy, and defence and security could be met. The late...