By Isaac Mwanza
There is a temptation most Presidents have to deal with when they take over office: dealing with loyal colleagues.
LEVY MWANAWASA had a long time, a loyal, and very competent driver from the days of running a law firm. His name was a Mr. Phiri. The thought that he was going to State House and leave him behind kept haunting him. The good staff within the establishment had to find him a driving job to do within the State House pool vehicles although he couldn’t drive the President. We have very competent security men, specifically trained to do that task with utmost security consideration.
One day, Mwanawasa was traveling to London and his advance team had arrived in London days much earlier but what Mr Mwanawasa did not know was that Mr Phiri was in that advance party entourage until he met him in the corridors at a Hotel in London. He was shocked and just asked, “naimwe a Phiri mupezeka kuno?” When he returned he told his Private Secretary that he disapproved of putting people on the list just for the sake of it. No matter how much closer Mwanawasa was Mr. Phiri, he was clear that Mr. Phiri had no business to do on that presidential trip.
MICHAEL SATA had a very loyal bodyguard by the name of Judge Ngoma. Judge Ngoma was strong and looked out for every best interest of Sata. When Sata became President, most of us felt Judge Ngoma was going to continue being the loyal aide to President Sata. However, Sata knew that the State has specific people entrusted to protect the Presidency. Sata looked after Judge Ngoma well. Even when Judge Ngoma started working for ZESCO, he never complained and fitted very well at ZESCO.
The reason those who become Presidents make these decisions is basically to ensure that State operatives who have the requisite skills and training are allowed to do their job. Taking away loyal cadres from and entrusting state security officers to do their job actually helps to avoid the confusion in handling the most important office in the land.
The problem is the manner in which information flows. There are far too many conspiracy theories on very sensitive topics in Zambia. When MCS fail sick there was information black out from the State but rumors that he’d been poisoned through a pineapple were rife. To date only Guy Scott has stated in his book about the cause of death of his friend, he even reproduced a copy of the death certificate. So I understand why Bally is paranoid. FTJ only shifted to State House after assurances from the Brigadier General, so we were told. Our systems aren’t perfect
The problem we have is we let Presidents manipulate and politicise the Office of the President which only answers to the constitution….just look at how Edgar Lungu lost the elections if he had any respect for OP reports he would have known that people didn’t support him or want him. If I was HH as well I would want alot of assurances especially that the same State House has been used to jail and keep tabs on him.
This Isacc Mwanza is he that chap from YALU those PF proxy organisation….where are all those Poll organisations that were predicting landside win for Lazy Lungu
Finally a sober article from this f00l
MR. ISAAC MWANZA YOU HAD YOUR FIELD DAY DURING THE ONCE MIGHTY PF REGIME NOW ITS VANGUISHED, OR THE REST IS HISTORY. HH WAS TORTURED EMOTIONALLY AND PHYSICALLY AND HE WILL TAKE SOMETIME TO BE CONFIDENT WITH THE VERY SAME PEOPLE WHO TRIALED HIM RIGHT, LEFT AND CENTER UNTIL SUCH A TIME. THERE ARE GUYS OUT THERE WHO ARE TARINED TO OFFER PROTECTION TO A HEAD OF STATE. THE PRIVATE SECURITY MEN WHO ARE STILL WITH HH SHOULD NOT BE DOUBTED THEY HAVE BEEN VERY LOYAL AND THERE IS NEED TO FUSE THEM INTO THE SYSTEM. THE DEVIL YOU KNOW IS BETTER THAN ONE YOU DON’T KNOW. PROFESSIONALS WERE ABUSED BY THE LUNGU AND HIS FRIENDS SOME TO AN EXTENT OF EVEN DENYING ONE AIR SPACE, SOME EVEN BLOCKING ONE FROM ENTERING A CERTAIN PROVINCE OR PLACE AND HOW CAN ONE TRUST SUCH A SYSTEM. LETS GIVE THE STATE…
If HH wants let him travel on ox-cats without security if he wants he should rent American embassy and live there. We care less. All we need now are
1.descent jobs,
2. fuel at 7,
3.PAYE tax at 20%max
4. Enough drugs in hospitals.
5. Good salaries for civil servants.
Not ifyabupuba ifi batampa. Why are you diverting our attention from what they promised we should start questioning.
DAY 4
I think sometimes they are the same people the so called security operatives who have been misguiding and misleading our presidents by blocking them to see the real situations on the ground in the of security. Thus they make Presidents detached from the electorates and in due course lose popularity.
HH should just get rid of that lazy man and follow what the intelligence wants
Mumba Francis – OP never lies to President its not in their interest…its the people around the President his advisers. OP provides you as Presidents reports what you choose to do with them is up to you. Lazy Lungu was never serious and was surrounded by greedy corrupt advisers…he knew all this and played along.
That’s because State House has fallen. It will just make him run out of his skin. Let him sober down. Let him take baby steps to state protocols.
He is on Job on training for half his tenure.
You can understand the confusion.
Last evening when watching the 19hrs news I freaked out to see Edgar Lungu’s State House staff still there! President HH please quickly get rid of those people from state House. You cannot trust them.
State police hv a duty to protect everyone but they don’t do it depending on who’s commander-in-chief. No trained police officer would discharge teargas in an enclosed property with humans inside it. Yet Zambia Police under the command of Kakoma Kanganja did it @UNZA resulting in the sad death of an asthmatic under-grad student. They also did it at HH’s home. It’s a pity our media aren’t up to scratch, otherwise they would ask questions.
HH is right..this is the time now to intrust security in the hands of loyal cadres…sensitive information won’t be licking to the press…the past presidents suffered in this area…every small thing will be out to the press…if the royal cadres start handling the affairs of the president, issues will be in safe hands
State security should be only ceremonial..it’s wasn’t right for a cadre to escort the president during gurad of honour though
The UK has a cadre of civil servants that are trained to work with every government that is formed after a general election. During the Blair years a particularly large number of non-professional civil servants moved into government as special advisers to ministers and the prime minister himself. Professional civil servants were seen as lethargic and could therefore not be trusted to implement New Labour’s “radical agenda to transform Britain”. Questions started being asked about who these people were and wht exactly they were doing and if it was beneficial to the country. HH is therefore not the first one to do it. The practice is American origin in origin and we haven’t seen the last of it.
Nemwine – That practice is always going to lead to confrontation just look at what happen to Trump where he was picking his family and friends only for them to mess up publicly because they thought they knew it all.
CHIPOLA KUYANDA – This moron Isaac Mwanza is also attempting to rebrand himself like those PF cadres who were choking the Bus stations and markets out of revenue who are coming back in red t-shirts. We should never forget these hypocrites as they will begin the whole cycle again as they have no shame no respect for ethics …these are the same people who advised Lazy Lungu
The problem is the politicisation of these supposedly independent state institutions, turning them into party cadres who spy on opponents.
In the USA, the secret service even provides security detail to leading opposition candidates during campaigns so when they finally win it is no strange. The secret service and the FBI are independent and they serve the presidency, the office and not the individual.
HH was abused by state security apparatus so he has every right to feel paranoid about them… he’s just human just like you. One moment someone is threatening your life, and the next they expect you to trust them.
If they had integrity, a lot of these security agencies heads would have resigned the moment Lungu lost the presidency
Keeping HH personal security is institutionalizing cadres in security service. A cadre is not only at intercity but they are in government offices as well.
WHY ARE YOU PEOPLE MAKING A BIG DEAL OUT OF THIS ONE PERSON WHO IS HH RIGHT HAND PERSON? HH HAS NOT REPLACED THE SECURITY, HE IS SURROUNDED BY STATE SECURITY, AND HAS ONE CHOLA BOY, SO WHAT? AND THIS PERSON, IS JUST HANDLING ALL THINGS THAT HH NEEDS TO TOUCH, AND THAT SHOULD BE FINE, ITS HIS CHOICE. JUST RE-WATCH THE VIDEO, WHEN HH AND LUNGU MET AT RB HOUSE, BEFORE THEY COULD SHAKE/BUMP HANDS, SOME BETWEEN THE TWO DIPPED INTO HIS INSIDE POCKET OF HIS JACKET, AND WANTED TO USE THAT SAME HAND FOR SHAKING WITH HH. THERE WAS NO DEBATE ABOUT THAT SCENARIO, AND YOU ARE SURPRISED WHY HH IS PARANOIA. PF SAID THEY WILL NEVER LET HH GET INTO PLOT1, WHO KNOWS WHAT THEY MEARNT. MAYBE BLACK JUJU, WHO KNOWS?
Tarino Orange @ 15, it really depends on who has been picked. It can work sometimes but it can also lead to embarrassing failures. I hv not read any academic inquiry into this issue. Perhaps it’s high time I did. I think social science scholars should hv some published works already.
The problem with us Zambians is that we think we know it all. Mulekeni umunthu ateke and choose who is going to assist him achieve this huge task. All I want is for my family and I to live a normal life and enjoy the fruits of our labour. I do not want any hand outs.
What is the back story of this “security cadre” LT, do you have anything?
It is amazing reading some of the comments here. Clearly certain people have missed the point Mwanza is making. Yes, HH can be forgiven if he chose to bring along to State House his longtime cook because he likes his food prepared a certain way. That’s understandable. But dragging his “cadre” bodyguards to State House to takeover State Security duties is simply out-of-bounds and dangerous. This sort of actions simply completes and compromises the job of trained OP officers tasked to protect him.
Zambia has people/sworn Officers trained for that job. We are specifically talking about the SECURITY OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF ZAMBIA here. Not UPND Party leader. Even with his craziness, Donald Trump people are referring to here did not try to compromise his security provided…
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….for by the SECRET SERVICE. An executive agency tasked with the responsibility of providing security to all U.S. Presidents. Doesn’t matter if the previous President was Republican or Democrat. So since you want to emulate Trump so much, Trump did not bring in his own untrained, unvetted, cadre of personal bodyguards and sidestepped the country’s Presidential Security apparatus. If something was to go down, I doubt those chaps would even know what to do or how to react. They would just freeze and piss in their pants. This is crucial to understand and appreciate.
Now, to those who want everyone at State House fired, isn’t that what you complained about President Lungu? Yes, every President should be allowed, and our Constitution provides for it, to pick a team of his…
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…..choosing to help him govern. But that’s at Cabinet and other Senior govt positions. But at State House staff level…, come on now!
As a side, Nelson Mandela’s secretary was a white lady who was working for De Clark when Mandela came in as President of S/Africa. And Mandela kept her in the same position. And we are talking about someone who previously worked for the Apartheid regime, yes? So why do we Zambians have this, almost pathological, Paranoia about everything? We believe too much “bwanga” ka.
Ignorance ba swine, mulikalafye ngatamukwete ubwali. Silly
Awaiting moderation bcoz….?????
Just wait HH will soon have a trained bodyguard on his side. He is just testing the waters and will soon have confidence in the system that is already there. Mind you he is just human and has his own doubts over state security. Its like someone or some people have told him to watch his back – atleast for now I suppose. We are coming for the “HH will never be president of Zambia” background. These were stories from former head of state – just imagine.
Disaster!!!
@Tarino. You asking about those fake pollsterists and political stooges. They have disappeared like morning dew!
@Tarino. those fake pollsterists and political stooges. They have disappeared like morning dew!
@Yambayamba and others
Obama never sweared that Trump will never enter White house, similarly De Clark never sweared that Mandela will never be in plot 1. The PF is on record, including Lungu, saying they will never allow TONGA to rule, and HH for that matter, will never be allowed into plot 1.
Now MIX the “never be allowed into plot 1” threat with “bwanga”then add on a number of times when HH was shot at or harrassed, the combition of these ingredients produced this cocktail. DONT BLAME HH !! AGAIN, give him time, until he is confortable. There is no state security that is being compromised, that is just in your dreams.
as usual moderating an innocent contribution….ba LT you are worse…
Why not train him to do the special duties?