Friday, March 29, 2024

Most Technocrats in my ministry are too Academic-Dr Phiri

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Dr JOHN PHIRI
Dr JOHN PHIRI

MINISTER of Local Government and Housing John Phiri has urged technocrats in his ministry to be practical in addressing Zambia’s housing shortage, especially in rural areas.

Dr Phiri told 20 chiefs in Lusaka yesterday that most technocrats are too academic and that they have failed to ensure that houses are built in rural areas.

“Being a minister is temporary. In fact 2016 is around the corner and we [politicians] will soon start asking and begging for your votes. But being a chief is divine. Chieftaincy comes from God and this is why technocrats must ensure that our chiefs live in good houses,” Dr Phiri said.

The Ministry of Local Government and Housing has organised a meeting for the chiefs to disseminate the national housing policy.

He said it is embarrassing that most chiefs live in deplorable huts when their subjects in towns live in mansions.

“As a civil servant, reflect on what you have done in your village. Let us not abandon our villages. Love your villages. As technocrats, you have the ability to modernise villages,” Dr Phiri said.

He urged Zambians to emulate Batswana or Nigerians, who usually have a house in town as well as in the village.

Dr Phiri said government is aware of Zambia’s housing deficit and urged planning officers to prioritise developing rural areas.

And speaking on behalf of other chiefs, Chief Chipepo appealed to Government to build houses for traditional leaders.

9 COMMENTS

  1. We need to reverse the urban drift. One way is to have semi-processing and processing plants located in rural areas. Manufacturing plants and Economic Zones deliberately located away from Lusaka.
    People need to appreciate Government development plans and not lip service.

  2. Capacity building is necessary for performance to attain the required levels. It starts from recruitment where any corruption must be stamped out. It also involves continuous training through short courses. These include workshops, seminars, conferences, colloquiums, etc. It also includes evaluations and incentives. The technocrat is not an island. The technocrat needs appreciation, gratification, respect, understanding, etc. The government could revise the existing procedures to empower technocrats instead of political interference.

  3. Dr Phiri, you are a disgrace to Academia. Is chieftaincy from God or just a social, human construct justified by invoking God? How can an accident of birth be a basis for leadership and extraction of people’s hard earned taxes? If chiefs want mansions like their town folk, they must work for it. This culture of entitlement must stop. people must learn to work for their due and it must start with the so called chiefs.

  4. The challenge of developing the rural areas has to start with the strategic policy on how to extend power from the grid or make each rural area energy sufficient through localised hydro-power stations, solar/wind or other renewable sources of energy. From this point, industries can grow and expand, the income they generate also results in more businesses ranging from agriculture, construction, fuel and so and so forth. This leads to better environment for both the villagers including their chiefs, as well as civil servants that despise working in these rural parts of the country. Communication in terms mobile phones and roads are essential but should naturally follow the development described above and not the other way round

  5. Academic qualifications and skills/competence are not the same. It is experience that converts academic knowledge into skills/competence.

  6. The irony of the situation is that it takes quite a feat in Zambia to leave the village and make it in the urban setting. Once this is achieved, there is so much to do to set oneself up in the new setting that the least one can do is urge the remaining villagers to try their luck, too. Looking back can only happen with reasonable incentive and it is not the emigre from the village who will do that, but the government of the day. Infrastructure development must not be seen as a charitable cause. Chiefs are institutionalised in the House of Chiefs with a Ministry to boot and the question is what is that for?

  7. Look who is talking! And how practical or workable was your policy of compulsory teaching in local languages in schools? Ati kupuusa!

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