Secretary to Cabinet Joshua Kanganja has warned permanent secretaries and other senior government officers against resisting to release relevant and important information to stakeholders on the country’s governance.
Dr Kanganja said he has received reports from various stakeholders on the failure by senior government officers to respond to stakeholders when they are in need of information on the country’s economic, social, corporate, political, and democratic development.
Dr Kanganja charged that government officers must ensure that relevant and adequate information is provided to stakeholders who have genuine reasons to have access to the various types of information.
He said this in Lusaka today when he officiated at a seminar for senior government officials on the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM).
Dr Kanganja explained that the challenges that Zambia as a country faces in realizing good governance should be brought to the fore so as to enable all stakeholders in society to propose remedies to addressing the challenges.
“I do not want to receive any more reports that a permanent secretary or any other senior government official does not want to release information to genuine stakeholders”
“Those offices you are occupying public offices, hence you must be accountable and attend to stakeholders when they are in need of information,” Dr Kanganja.
Dr Kanganja said government officials should not view the APRM as a blame apportioning exercise but rather as a genuine opportunity to show case Zambia’s determined efforts to release and actualize good governance principles.
“WE should equally ensure our co-operation with the APRM secretariat by providing all the information which is critical in producing the country’s self assessment report,” Dr Kanganje said.
Dr Kanganja said the Zambian government’s contribution to the APRM process should continue to demonstrate the good efforts being sewn to enhance good governance in the country.
He explained that the APRM process to which the Zambian government has committed itself is meant to assist African countries and its leadership in developing credible and satisfactory governance systems.
Dr Kanganje added that countries accredited to the APRM process are accountable for the governance situation in their respective countries through a self country assessment report and the peer review of the president.
ZANIS/YK/AM/ENDS.
Most of these perm secs or senior gov’t officials are political appointees with little if any knowledge of the positions they hold apart from loyalty to the appointing authority therefore it is understandable they get jittery about giving information lest they expose their ignorance or worse still upset the appointing authority.
walasa #1 i agree with you
am better these perm sec.they are not picked on merit except the common “wako ni wako” thing.so the sec to da cabinet should not be surprised after all he knows the system
I think the Secretary to the Cabinet is indirectly refering to Cabinet Ministers with the way they are handling LPM`s case and the public. There is probably more to this warning than meets the eye.
As for permsecs, I too agree with #1.
I think Kanjala found opportunity to express that Mulongoti and Mpombo have hijacked some of his responsibilities. He is the most silent Secretary to Cabinet we have ever had. We used to have Ba Bula, you could even mistake him to vice-president. But not this Kanjala… is he a Lenje or what? Umwenso!!
#5, Dr. Kanganja is Lunda.
Anonymous with your collegues, stop hiding and come back to Zambia so that you can implement those ideas. You sound educated but on the other hand you are a coward. Come and sell yourself to the people. This blog is for cowards who dont want to expose their real identity.
Dr K is a proffessional civil servant and a man of integrity. He has brought alot of sanity to the way cabinet functions
Let the PermaSec ministry of health release adequate and indeed very relevant information about the health status of LPM.
Kanganja, tell the health PS that Zedians are important stakeholders who deserve to know about their president!
There are so many important circulars that are gathering dust in govt offices instead of reaching the intended civil servants in order for them to be equiped. The so called Executive officers when asked they are ignorant or they are outdated. Please let the circulars reach the lowest civil servant.The points #1 alluded to above are very genuine, hence they have to please their master who appointed them to those positions. They have to find out from their master before any information is released when it has nothing to do the security of the nation.
Yes there are many circulars in govt. The recent one is the most foolish on the use of energy savers in all govt institutions when these can not be acessed in most parts of the country
#5 What has someone’s tribe got to do with his competence or lack of it? No wonder someone said in order for Africa to develope the tribe must die! Castigate people based on their abilities not on tribes PLEASE!!!!!