REASONS FOR HH FAILURE TO PUT GOOD PERFORMERS IN GOVT JOBS Good evening. All who have commented on the mediocrity represented in the team of advisers, ministers and permanent secretaries assembled by Outgoing Dictator Hakainde Hichilema, have praised Laura Miti for the points she has made. It is not to begrudge her the accolades that the Zambian Whistleblower joins this debate. Rather, it is to point out a very significant ommission, or to say that she, and all who have commented thus far, have feared to profer any explanations to help Zambians appreciate why their political saviour has turned out another "missed call". Laura Miti's very good points simply swam in the shallow waters of her own anguished opinions, in an article that has been a remarkable debate-starter. Nothing wrong with that. Unfortunately, none of the authors after her has dived any deeper, to propose reasons, right or wrong, for whatever disease afflicts Outgoing Dictator Hichilema, resulting in failure to cobble together a competent government team, over the four years he has been in power. The opening of an article by Dr Lawrence Mwelwa has summed it all up very well for us: "A king is known by his court. A leader is judged by those he appoints. And yet, in Zambia today, we are witnessing a presidency surrounded not by the sharpest minds, but by placeholders, political loyalists, and professional cheerleaders who add no value to the governance of the country." The Zambian Whistleblower now gives you reasons why Outgoing Dictator Hichilema has been a miserable failure in this regard. You may add your own. The major reason is so obvious, and has been starring us in our faces all this time. The ZWB would also have continued glossing over this factor, had one particularly perceptive colleague not asked this question: "So, you people say that Hakainde Huchilema is a rich businessman, what business has he really built up from scratch and grown into a multi-million entity. We can tell who started and grew Zambeef, and other big companies today. How come you cannot name one that Hichilema has started and grown big?" The truth is that there is no such visible business. Even his cattle ranching has not produced its own big nationwide beef processing company owned by him. Why is this important? It points to the fact that picking talent, remunerating it well and building a company over the long term has eluded him. Therefore, you cannot fault him for mistaking the loudest cheerleaders among his party loyalists, advisers and civil service appointees for competent performers. We are now left to speculate that whatever money he has comes from opportunistic stakes grabbed in businesses started and run by others, aided by the "insider" perspectives he gathered while doing work for an accounting/ audit firm, which later morphed, together with others, into financial advisory services. Therefore, sorry Laura Miti and all you other followers, your faith in the said corporate experience of Outgoing Dictator Hichilema, was seriously misplaced. From the corporate world, Outgoing Dictator Hichilema did not acquire the tools for choosing performers to help him run Zambia effectively. The other two major factors, which have crippled him when searching for cabinet and other public service help, have to do with his own misguided practices as Republican President. Number one is the apparent tribalism and regionalism in the manner appointments have been made to government, civil service, state commissions, defence and security services and state-owned enterprises. In the last four years, these have been skewered in favour of individuals from what constitutes Zambia's Zambezi region provinces- Southern, Western, North-Western and political allies from parts of Central and Lusaka provinces. Outgoing Dictator and his government have one response to allegations of tribalism- arrest of complainants. The very things Chishimba Kambwili warned about are now in full bloom. Tribal or regional considerations cannot be prioritised if the goal is competent performance. Failure to choose quality leadership colleagues by Outgoing Dictator Hichilema can be traced to this factor. He cannot demand superb performance from individuals he clearly knows are not in their positions because of their proven capacities. The second factor has been raised several times by the ZWB - the Cult of HH, promoted by his praise singers, which he has has done nothing to dissuade. To the ruling United Party for National Development (UPND), Outgoing Dictator Hichilema is a demigod. In performance of his work he carries himself as such, and since he is "the doer of every work", what would be the need to have government colleagues who are performers? Before you protest, answer this question for yourself: Who is responsible for crafting the Mopani Mine deal which gave majority shares to IRH of Abu Dhabi? Do you think Minister of Mines Paul Kabuswe was responsible? Not at all. If he was privy to its intricacies, he would not have so fumbled his answers to questions in parliament, that he had to be given time to go and memorise answers and present a second ministerial statement on the same subject. Even his repeat answers were unsatisfactory. Why was Kabuswe so much out of his depth on this one? It was his boss who was the real doer in this matter. Second piece of evidence comes by way of the equally incompetent but quarrelsome Sylvia Masebo. The damage she left to the drugs procurement system in the Ministry of Health will need decades to repair. In its place Masebo was the go-for, in brokering a deal for importarion of bulk medical supplies from Egypt. Although health experts warned about its dangers, and some of its consignments ended up being marooned at a Lusaka warehouse for six months, this deal of dubious value is receiving very little criticism from doctors, experts and even donors. Do you know why? It is because everyone knows Masebo was just used to consummate this deal "to end drugs shortages in Zambia's public health facilities". This has not happened. And the people know that the Outgoing Dictator Hichilema was instrumental in this government to government deal. Any kind of criticism of this deal would amount to talking ill of the Cult Leader. In this kind of scenario, therefore, it is wishful thinking to believe that Outgoing Dictator Hichilema can fire Sylvia Masebo for the negative outcomes she left at the Ministry of Health. Just take her to Ministry of Lands! What applies to Masebo applies to other cabinet ministers. They are simply figurehead whom Outgoing Dictator Hichilema maintains while he makes all the major decisions. Real performersnare not needed in this set up because he believes he is well able, by himself. The question that ZWB would like to pose to you Zambians is this: Why are you now pretending to be surprised that Outgoing Dictator has ended up being the most disappointing (Laura Miti's words) when it comes to assembling a team of capable people to help him govern? Outgoing Dictator Hichilema is a big talker, caught in many lies before. What he sold Zambians as being "Methodical" was just to mask the fact that he is a dawdler, who took too long to appoint people because his government was putting tribal and regional considerations ahead of capacity and proven competence of individuals. This has cost Zambia in terms of potential progress foregone over the last four years. And that, dear Zambians, is not hate speech. The ZWB rests its case, as it awaits Laura's predictable next move of steering this discussion in the direction of the intended "but looking at the current political field, there is no one who can do better than HH." Get in touch with us on WhatsApp +263786654620 John 8:32 "And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Goodnight #zambianwhistleblower #zwb ©️ Zambian Whistleblower (ZWB).