United Party for National Development (UPND) president Hakainde Hichilema has express disappointment at the decision by President Michael Sata to transfer the Road Development Agency (RDA) from the Ministry of Transport, Works, Supply and Communication to State House.
In a statement to Qfm new, Mr Hichilema says concentrating powers and responsibilities in the hands of the president is a recipe for bad governance and should not be allowed.
Mr. Hichilema explains that if President Sata is genuinely interested in strengthening the national capacity to effectively respond to the challenges of improving road networks, he should have strengthened capacity of RDA instead of centralizing the institution.
He fears that most road tenders will be given to those perceived to be politically correct and have access to the President at the expense of deserving contractors who may not have access to State House.
The UPND leader adds that this move is likely to breed corruption, nepotism and favoritism because the tender process is likely to be at the mercy of Presidential Decrees.
Mr. Hichilema has since demanded that the responsibilities and abilities of government service delivery agencies, be strengthened and later decentralized to Local Authorities with the necessary capacity building support as part of the devolution process.
He says Good Governance demands reposing of resources, powers and responsibilities in institutions that are closer to the people and can easily be held accountable.
Mr. Hichilema has since appealed to the Patriotic Front government not to continue paying lip service to the decentralization process but to demonstrate their willingness to devolve powers and resources to the lower organs of government.
Can the UPND this time around give us an Alternative Budget so that we see how it will be different from the PF one.Â
So that you can copy like u did our Manifesto? Aweh twakana. U jst follow the constitution & yo promises.
OK
Sata preaches decentralized and he is not practicing it, why would RDA be under state house? i smell a big rat here, Sata is a corrupt man and he is up to something.Â
Very soon Bank of Zambia will be under state house, anything is possible with Sata
This is what Chiluba did . He managed PHOENIX CONTRACTORS single handedly with Elias as the Phoenix relationhip Manager at Statehouse. The rest we all know …..Elias became rich and Chiluba had unaccounted for monies in Samtroop account.
Under five blames everything aslong there is a pf tag.Bet if he had to discover that tissue paper has pf on it he will stop using it en will instead use water or his fingers
To great degree I agree with HH. However, I’d rather not dwell on the negative, Sata claims to be a man of action well he just put his head on the chopping board “big time” again. Come 2016 we will see what sort of road network we have! Quality/improved roads are easy to audit by sight as the proof is physically there for all to see and judge.
So HH you should be happy Sata has just given himself too much rope to hang himself, if the road sector fails and is marred by corruption then it will be ALL on Sata and we can easily vote him out 2016 and jail him and his cohorts. But if he pulls it off Bwana HH you should still be happy for the development the Zambian people would have received!
Nice piece of thought.
HH, zonda uzalema. Get over it dude!! Viva Presdo.
KULIBE KUZO HH IS RIGHT IS JUST THAT PIPO ARE BENT ON JEOLOUS.
HH as usual is this disgruntled heartless stingy fella.Â
LEARN TO LISTEN AND DO NOT BE QUICK TO POST ANYTHING , YOUR ENGLISH IS BUT NOT SUBSTANCE.
Check your english as well arse stinker
absolutely right and spot HH – why should govt departments be transferred to statehouse? we have not forgotten the suitcases full of dosh or me metzaf scandals!!
Let’s be practical if all failed what do you do as chief executive of the company watch the company collapse?What HE has done is to promote accountability. It was free for all.People were paid money without doing the work. do you think Sata will sign blank cheques no chance.Do you think he will allow fake bonds to be used as collateral not at all
Opposition MPs should hammer Ministers in Parliament and oppsition party presidents should hammer Sata. Well done HH. This is objective and reasoned criticism and no trace of bitterness. If the Mentally Confused Satanist (MCS) is serious with advice from opposition, the appeal from HH is well timed and good for him. Sakeni, Great Bag of Maize (GBM) and that Sampa fool, should this time accept that their president is wrong and quietly advise him to reverse his under 3 plan. Sata should admit failing the Zambian people and stop listening to boot lickers who give him biased advice. Anyway, CNP is CNP
HH has stated it well and a good point for discussions, but you have messed it up with insults! Yhis is how its difficult to solve issues in a sincere manner. You have a lot of unprintables that even you, wouldn’t like them directed at you. You are in UK and have seen how politics are done but you choose to trade insults! Is that the teaching you can pass on to Zed. Help them, they belong to one ssame country. They all want to develop it!
HH has stated it well and a good point for discussions, but you have messed it up with insults! This is how its difficult to solve issues in a sincere manner. You have a lot of unprintables that even you, wouldn’t like them directed at you. You are in UK and have seen how politics are done but you choose to trade insults! Is that the teaching you can pass on to Zed. Help them, they belong to one same country. They all want to develop it!
There you go again. That is why you are receiving a beating from some section of the society. Your head has nothing apart from opposing everything as long as it is Sata doing it. Get over it, Sata is President and you are yet to bwana. wait for your time to come rather than hallucinating hevery time.
You know very well that RDA has been source of most problems in the past and at the same time you expect Sata to use the same system that has failed in the past. Give Sata space to implement govt programmes. He is the president and not you.Â
iNTERESTING; anything can be condemned. twanaka naimwe ba HH.
“What Africa needs are strong institutions not strong men”. Obama , Accra Ghana 2009. Anyone who supports what Sata has done with RDA is nothing but part of the morons who are littered all over the continent who are undermining transparency and progress of the African continent. Sata cannot be trusted. His reputation precedes him. In 1993 he deposited gov’t money in his personal account to “earn interest for the ministry”. He has never accounted for the K2 bn he illegally withdrew from a National Assembly account in 2001 for the so called MMD conference to usher in Chiluba’s third term. Sata is not trustworthy!
If the this means that the roads will be done, then well and good.
HH: has he any experience or theoretical underpinning in the areas he is talking about? None!
If you look at the message, and ignore the source of it, you will agree 110%. This was one of my first observations when there was an annoucement that state house will manage RDA. Unfortunately in public life what matters is not what you think about yourself; rather what others think about you. They will not tell you; but they will tell others. What they perceive you to be will be the measurement yardstick for their rating about your capacity. I love President Sata; I have great respect and i have no doubt he will deliver. But on this one, he is using a “black box theory”; already he is being accused of corruption; he may never recover from it. Apply a “glass box theory”; transparency and let others manage RDA in a transparent manner. Not state house.
#4, HH KNOWS THAT EVERYTHING WILL BE UNDER CONTROL BY SATA. THAT’S WHY HE IS WORRIED AS THIS LEAVES HIM WITH NO OPPORTUNITY FOR BLAME. YOU THINK SATA CAN JUST EASILY AND SIMPLY PUT RDA UNDER IS SURVEILLANCE FOR JUST KIDS PLAY? IT’S SIMPLY DISCIPLINE TIME.
#11, STRONG INSTRUCTIONS CAN ONLY COME FROM STRONG MEN. WEAK ONES CAN’T ISSUE STRONG INSTRUCTIONS FOR FEAR OF LOSING, EG A BALLOT. DON’T USE OBAMA’S PHRASES WITHOUT GRASPING WHAT HE MEANS AND IN WHAT CONTEXT.
This pig condemns everything the PF govt does, Â i wonder how a she pig and his piglets cope at home, honestly I can’t stand people who always condenm everything…..Â
Well spoken HH. Very valid comment.Â
hiha or ist haha, people ve different manament styles thats this is called the sata administration and not banda administration. If you want things to be your way win elections.
This idea of you critising everthing is a very poor strategy. Hiha or ist haha has no idea what it is to in politics, he is just a filler now.
As usual I find Zambians’ comments full of amnesia. Here is the thing: I drive into your country. At the border you make me pay 40 USD for your road safety (your authority will not explain EXACTLY what this means). I am also informed that some other payment is for carbon emissions… not sure how that relates to modern engine technology anyway. I pay 3 months of insurance when I am only staying for 4 days in your country. A small town takes away a few more dollars for a levy whose use the collector does not even know… I come across auditors’ reports that explain fraud in road management… surely if a President decides to take matters into his hands, can you really blame him???
tell these morons,they think its southern province
HH could be right as the Office of the President is usually associated with secrecy and those that are politically neutral or seen to belong to the opposition could be denied work.
That is creative thinking, HH. Absolutely constructive well focused observation based on all senses, HH. What is it that will follow from state interventions in matters which require expert knowledge not political approaches? It is a question of 6 blind men, each one of them, only made to feel a small section of an elephant and then asked to give an account of the entire shape of an elephant. All the six men could not agree about the exact shape of the elephant because they were unable to coordinate their limited experiences. They needed to a person could see everything as a possible suggestion. The person in the RDA saga is an expert not the PF. Viva HH, UNPD. Peace to all Zambians.
Elyo kwaisa ba opposition in Zambia,this HH can not see logic in logical moves by big politicians like Sata…Ubuwelewele bwafula mumutwe,we need an opposition party that is constructive not just yapping anyhow.
Hakainde is correct and simply talking about modern leadership principles …where does State House’s supervision authority end; if one has powers to supervise projects; one will definitely have a say on who contracts are awarded to;all in the name of efficiency….this is a recipe for disaster and just breeds corruption the selfsame cancer Sata wants to eliminate in the first place.
 Moreover how do you expect to attract the best brains in the sector if all you are going to do is undermine their authority? Why not look to the construction industry for transparent and accountable contract administration solutions. How do we even quiz the president since he doesn’t hold press conferences? What is State house going to supervise next?
Wake up people.
one thing you should know is if the development wont be seen by the masses,people will vote out President Sata not those expats you are talking about…thats why the president wants to take things in his own hands
CONDEMNATION ALL THE TIME. THAT IS WHAT WE ALWAYS EXPECT FROM HH. WE ARE NOW USED. SO THIS IS NOT NEW.
Has HH experienced the theories he is preaching about? where?when?in which country?at what level? Politics in Africa is not what you read in books Mr HH. real politics can be felt and tested when you are in the system. Get to state house and you will see how hot that seat can be.
Ndelolesha fye!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am sure while we are busy debating some clever donor will come with support funding for corrupt-free disbursement of road funds and fleece the hell out of all ya arguing endlessly instead of addressing what particularly should be done about the endemic swindling of public funds amidst robust speeches and wonderful opposition points!
We are tired of your condemination so to you HH nothing is good .
Nice comment from someone with economics backgorund.There is nothing wrong with having RDA under OP.Look at your neighours in Botswana,HIV program is under OP and there is NO shortage of medicine and training for all concerned-why?its becoz human beings work better when they have someone in a very high office and critical programs like roads need the OP- please commend HEMCS.We want to drive next time we come home.we are scared of those migodi and not potholes!
The trouble is bcoz HH is seen to be out to criticize all the time, sometimes unnecessarily, it becomes difficult for people to take him seriously when he is making an important point. Learn to criticise when it is necessary.Â
MCP!!!!!!!!
Sata may mean well but HH is right. Its undemocratic if not unconstitutional to have the Presidentin charge of  everything Democracy values delegation
I have lived in 5 democratic countries and I have never come across an opposition leader who praises a ruling govt. They are called opposition leaders becoz it is their duty to oppose the govt so why should you expect HH to be a PF praise singer? Well done HH, keep up doing the lovely job! PF cadres simply hate HH because he is their biggest threat and he is too smart for them to try to bring him down. Mmembe, their mentor, has tried to finish him off for the past 5 years, he failed what chance do you stand in bringing down this smart politician? The guy is damn good! You can insult him as much as you want but he will remain firm with his principled stand. He is Zambia’s only hope at the moment.
Walasa boi. HH has just taken opposition politics to another level in Zambia. There is no opposition in the world which agrees with the ruling govt. Zambians are too dumb to understand that. Mmembe has managed to hold all Zambians by the balls, especially Bembas. It is not the duty of the opposition to work with the ruling govt and provide solutions.
Just so he can out-shine Chiluba. Chiluba is to plunder as Sata is to pillage. And he has chosen to do so in style and with impunity, in the comfort of his office at State House. And should one dare to challenge him in a court of law, he will just fire the judges and hire a Malawian tribunal to preside! It’s more money in his pockets.
While capacity building of institutions like RDA is important, the country is in a hurry to develop & move forward and waiting for RDA to evolve before road development programs can be implemented will be economical suicide.
RDA has not been scrapped and being reorganized & restructured
Sata will deliver and right now the backs stops at state house in road projects.
But you are missing the point. Sata will just supervise, not that he is taking away the functions of RDA. RDA will contract as usual but when its time to report they will report to Sata on what they have done and what they have not and why? No more useless excuses as it was happening during the MMD, where the RDA gave contracts and no road was built. This time they have to show Sata all the Roads built corresponding to each contract. This is good because they will never cheat now.Â
@ 35 zed patriot, if the likes of HH is what you call smart and damn good politician, then, there are no damn good and smart politicians but scumbags all over the place.
To be honest, a person who thinks Sata is the best we have in Zambia for president is what is called scumbag. I rest my case.
While I agree with HH, I suppose Sata’s move on RDA is for expediency. The stakes are high with the big roads plan ahead. We the Zambians need to hold the President personally accountable for bad performance and corruption which may ensue from this move.
The Chaos in Zambia demands drastic measures but then this should be only for a specific and short time.Â
Ukwa’s ploy to syphone monies out of government coffers! He is capable and able.
As always, corrupt and tribalists will judge HH harshly without closely observing and analyzing the merits of his point. In broad daylight, Sata has just placed himself with impunity on a corrupt path. In his first year, he has managed to postured himself to plunger our limited national resources by moving RDA to his office. Great move Mr Prez!!. Clearly, this so corrupt and only people with foresight will smell a rat here and will know what this pathetic govt is up to. One thing is clear, they will steal while in office and as Ikandulwa has rightly pointed out, will hire judges who will rule in their favor. Yet, lessons must be learned, stolen money doesn’t enrich anybody, the Chiluba legacy is a mighty testament to that fact. Sooner than later, death will knock and it will be left.
Is it another Mezarff, or Zamtrop account replicated?
there is nothing wrong naiwe hh
With his great record of tribalism, nepotism and regionalism the moving of RDA to state house automatically means that only Northern, Muchinga, Luapula and Eastern provinces will benefit. The rest of the country, especially Southern, Western and North-Western should forget about having good roads under this corrupt and tribalistic regime.
some people can even condem their matuvi
Zonda uzalema! One thing I know is that Michael Sata is way ahead of everyone. You people don’t even know the next move he’s going to pull. Sata haters are way behind, every time he makes a move you are perplexed things you never expected, and that’s what he is doing Washala Walala. YOU WISH! Â
Sata does not own Zambia and it is the right of every Zambian to comment on anything they think is not being done right without being called names by i.dots like you. Sata is managing the country on our behalf and when we criticise him over issues pertaining to managing Zambia we do not hate him. If we criticised him for the way he is managing his bedroom affairs maybe you would have a point.
The Public Roads ACT No.12 of 2002 which established the RDA is very clear on the Legal Status (it is a corporate body), Functions, Powers, and Composition of the Agency. Section 6(5) the ACT is also abundantly clear that the Agency shall report to the Committee of Ministers on Road Maintenance Initiative. Accordingly, what Sata is attempting to do is in very simple terms ILLEGAL. He should henceforth rescind his ill-advised attempt to takeover RDA from the Ministry of Transport or the supervision of the Link Zambia 8000 project from the Ministry of Works and Supply. We all know his motives. Fortunately for us, the law will ensure that his motives are frustrated.
ba hh, pliz certain thngs even ur instincts cn b felt, we have seen misapropriation of government even at local levels, the presido simply doesnt want that to happen as when it happens hh wil be the 1st 1 2 open hs mouth dat sata and pf have faild, is that the way u want 2 cme and run ths country? There r stil roten pipo that r at the local levels, so pliz hh, u knw that n in the past u did the sme thng with the sale of most parastatals becoz power, resources and responsibility were in ur hands, lekeni ayonawile umwine an later judge hm 4 that at least it wil b due 2 hm. Put ur mouth where ur ass is based.
This africa bwana HH. To make a civil Servant work on time its not easy.In Botswana major projects are under the Vice presidents office no wonder our friends move faster in-terms of infrastructure development.If he allows these guys to work the way go about it. Five years will pass without a single road.
Hey..hey..hey, I thought I heard the President say he will PERSONALLY SUPERVISE the RDA?. I thought what he meant was that he was taking great interests in the projects so that funds do not get lost, not that he will personally give contracts. I find HH’s comments on decentralisation very funny because this is the same Guy who has been opposing the re-alignement of Districts like Chirundu and now when Sata wants to build a shorter route to Zimbabwe, he is busy again shooting down,there was a point where I admire HH, i thought he was intelligent but after what Panji told us about HH and after seeing him let loose dogs like that boy Kalusa to insult his Pact partner, my syphathy went to Sata’s side and I feel even now, the old Man is still being insulted and victimised by the inteligent HH
Am sure most of the people who don’t know CNP were still not born in the early 90s. When CNP was Local Government Minister had to put K2 billion in the treasury bills for selfish motivates. What can change him now. Mind you these monies are trillions-over 27 trillion. Just 10% of the cut means alot to CNP. Watch out Zambians. VIVA HHHHHHHHHHHHH.