Former Zambian Ambassador to Ethiopia Mr. Emmanule Mwamba has said that the appearance of Minister of Education, Hon. Douglas Siakalima MP on ZNBC Sunday Interview with Grevazio Zulu cast doubt as to whether or not whether the Minister is equal to the task at the Ministry.
In a post on his Facebook page, Mr. Mwamba said that despite the fact that Mr Siakalima is one of the longest and experienced members of parliament serving the Siavonga Constituency and he is a qualified educationist, during the interview, the Minister appeared unprepared.
Mr. Mwamba said that the two key issues he felt the Minister has not understood or failed to explain are how the recruitment of 30,000 teachers would be done and how CDF will be used to support bursary schemes for learners at boarding schools and those pursuing tertiary education.
Mr. Mwamba said that although education services for Early Childhood, Primary and Secondary Schools have largely been free since 2011, the Minister was expected to explain the difference or changes that have occurred since his government came into office, adding that the Minister also missed the opportunity to explain how the new changes will be implemented.
MINISTERS MUST PREPARE BEFORE THEY MAKE PUBLIC OR MEDIA APPEARANCES
“How will the CDF deliver free education and bursary schemes?”
By Amb. Emmanuel Mwamba
The ZNBC Sunday Interview with Grevazio Zulu this week hosted the Minister of Education, Hon. Douglas Siakalima MP. The Ministry of Education is key among institutions tasked to implement pre-election campaign promises made by the UPND Government.
Because major policy changes have been pronounced including free Education for Early Childhood, Primary and Secondary Schools, and the way education services will be delivered to Zambians.
Although education services to this category of schools have largely been free since 2011, the Minister was expected to explain the difference or changes that have occurred since his government came into office. The Minister also missed the opportunity to explain how the new changes will be implemented.
Two key issues I felt the Minister has not understood or failed to explain are how the recruitment of 30,000 teachers would be done and how CDF will be used to support bursary schemes for learners at boarding schools and those pursuing tertiary education.
TEACHER RECRUITMENT
The Minister was clearly sailing at sea and failed to explain the recruitment process of teachers in the public service. Let me help him as his technocrats clearly failed him. The mandate of teacher recruitment is now deposited in the Teaching Service Commission(TSC) in accordance with Article 223 of the Republican Constitution as amended in 2016.
Further, the Service Commission Act no 10 of 2016 gives mandate to the Commission to delegate some of its Human Resources functions to the Human Resources Management Committees at the District level, whose composition of its membership is prescribed in the Act and one of the major functions was teacher recruitment.
THE ROLE OF CDF IN BURSARY SCHEMES
The Constituency Development Fund (CDF) is established by Article 162 of the Republican Constitution and is operationalised by the CDF Act No.11 of 2018. Government has since issued the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) guidelines on the management, disbursement, utilization and accountability of the Fund.
The CDF has a Secretariat at the Local Council. It must be emphasized that there are no developmental structures at the Constituency level although government is trying to include Ward Development Committees in the process.
The Fund is divided into four main components;
-
- Community-based projects- 60%
- Youth Empowerment-10%.
- Women Empowerment-10%.
- Secondary School and Tertiary Bursaries-20%( K6,425,000.00)
When asked how the CDF will pay for vulnerable children and the selection criteria especially that Schools may open by 10th January, 2022, the Minister just summarized that everything will be ready by then. He also failed to explain why parents have to pay fees of K1,000 for boarding schools. He also failed to explain how vulnerability will be determined or assessed for children eligible for free education especially for those located in rural areas.
CONCLUSION
Hon. Siakalima is one of the longest and experienced members of parliament serving Siavonga Constituency and he is a qualified educationist. He is expected to deliver the policies on quality education and implement the policy of free education.
His appearance on ZNBC Sunday Interview appeared unprepared and unfortunately cast doubt as to whether or not whether he is equal to the task.
Learners from early childhood, primary School, Secondary Schools, Colleges, and Universities want to understand how they will benefit from the bursary schemes.
Similarly, school managers also want to understand how this will be done and how the cost of running schools will be met. The Minister and his technocrats may be required to roll out extensive information on how all this will be done and achieved.
Further a close collaboration with the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development is required and is imperative, especially since 20% of CDF will fund the education needs and bursary schemes of eligible learners.
Further concerns are how equitable the 20% of CDF which is K6,425,000 will be shared as Constituencies are different by size, population, and distance.
Very incompetent government
I must agree with the assessment by Mr Mwamba. I watched the interview and the minister seem to to waffled around a lot and his answers were clearly shallow and and showed that he had clue especially around teacher recruitment. I mean his government announced that a long time ago and he should have been on top of it by now. It seemed like he is yet to be fully briefed how this works. For sure it is a concern
Felix Mutati and Musokotwane were solid when they featured on this Show. This one for sure is a missed call. I hope he just had a bad day at the office and hope he picks up soon
Those are MMD products. UPND kuwayawayafye
Under 5s hahahaha they thought governance is like milking a cow
2. The Chief GRZ Spokesperson & Minister of Information { Ms Chushi Kasanda} is the biggest mortification so far. HH we know her husband pumped a lot of campaign money and you might be repaying back the favour. However, she has become a barrier.
UPND Regime needs an Affective, Articulate and Savvy government spokesperson in this modern fast paced information age, who can sell UPND Memorandums, communicate and defend any falsehoods labelled against the Government.
#4Â Â Kaizar Zulu
Why have you got a gravater of KZ looking like he is constipated on the toliet ……..?
An important ministry in the hands of a blow-top. This reflects poorly on the appointing authority. Just because one once taught in our classrooms they become experts. See the P.S. in this ministry? Education evolves…skills adapt and people move on. Mr. President, you have Beyani waiting for this portfolio, check him out.
3. Ms Chushi Kasanda is a total novice who has been reduced to officiating the opening the ZNBC Car Park. That speaks for itself.
I spoke to one senior person at ZNBC who were embarrassed to appear in that photoshoot with the Minister. He put it that the minister did not need to come for that event, it cheapened her. HH needs to find her a position where she can be effective. If she cannot handle local staff, how can she represent Zambia to the international platform as the Chief Spokesperson.
Hon. Douglas Siyakalima! You guys get serious this is not jokes. You are managing a nation. If amongst yourselves, one cannot stand the heat in the kitchen, let that person get out the kitchen.
Umuntu chik0p0 fye ati awe he had a bad day at the office. This is how tribal cows think .
Spaka stop embarrassing yourself, i am one of the most handsome men in zambia. When your diasporan wives visit zambia without you they come to people like me.
Mwamba is the last person who should be assessing interviews by fellow politicians…I listened to his radio interview on Radio Phoenix and all he was doing is telling lies with a straight face, he had no respect for civil service code of conduct and happy to fly in to help PF media team whilst he was an Ambassador. This education minister may not be suited but you can not compare these guys to the likes of ministers in Lazy Lungu’s cabinet in 2016…people like Bowman, Stephen Kampyongo, Joyce Nonde Simukoko, Jean Kapata, Chomba Freedom “Smiling” Sikazwe, Matthew Nkhuwa etc. Given Lubinda was in charge of Justice Ministry and he had never been to law school he only holds a Agric Diploma and to add insult injury Lazy Lungu was going bring back David Mabumba after he sent a video call…
a video call to a young girl where he was buffing his fireman and this is a married General Education Minster .
They consumed alcohol and celebrated for weeks at his Kalundu home after UPND won. What do you expect?
How many missed calls has kalusa put in key positions?
Too many political fossils in play.
I miss the interviews but Mwamba brought me up to speed. Youtube highlights will do though.
INDEPENDENT OBSERVER – On the topic of donations…Please call off your little bootlickers, worshipers and loyal drumbeaters so I can post comments unrestricted on LT without switching on my VPN as my main IP is blocked…its a new year now they seem not to understand.
This Thorn in the a$$ – You are still name-calling without shame…I remember the names you used to call him before the elections. Anyway you small boys have no shame at all even when someone is cleaning up the poop you left on the floor. Surely what can you learn from Mwamba interview? Really laughable even his articles are plagiarised.
Truth be told, Douglas Siakalima failed the nation. I watched the whole interviewe and lamented greatly at the caliber of our policy makers. HH should think of moving him to a less demanding ministry, like which one? Kaya!!!
Emmanuel Mwamba should know that talking and doing are two different things. Leave the Education Minister alone to do his job. Judge him properly one year from now. Some people who don’t talk much are great doers mind you! Isn’t this the same Emmanuel Mwamba who was publicly castigated by the late Sata in a Cabinet meeting? He thinks we have forgotten
You say Minister of Education, Hon. Douglas Siakalima who has served for just over a 100 days is not up to the Task,
What about your relative PROF NKANDU LUO who was at the helm for so many years?….A TOTAL FAILURE.
Just keep quiet if you don’t have anything to talk about
This dude Mwamba all of a sudden is a self appointed expert in everything, in every govt policy issue. Please shut the funk up already and sit down. What’s he trying to achieve? If you mean well, why can’t you pick up the phone and talk to the guy in private.
Isn’t this the same dude who was FTJ’s chola boy ar one time?
Mate the more you continue yupping like a vuvuzela, the less progressive people will respect you (if they ever respected you in the first place). Stop listening to your friends ly!ng to your ego that you are the best thing ever since slice bread.
Expect minister movements at the reshuffling…….
We have notice that those reshuffles will be performance based, with some dropped……
Mwamba since when did you become examinations council of Zambia director specialized in examining ministers performances.
Mwamba is time to stand down. He still thinks is an ambassador in SA where he used to do all sorts of nuisance things as PF front.
We’re no listening to any PF words whatsoever.
This is Mwamba who wanted to profit from Holograms on CDs when he was PS for Information …the man has no respect for guidelines, this is the selfsame Mwamba who was issuing PS level statements when he was a mere ambassador in Joburg. The man thinks he is a spin doctor but just a two-bit crook …he is lucky HH7 can not shut these chaps up with savvy media PR even when PAC heard that an unknown company in Dubai was awarded an $85 million fertilizer contract by the Lazy Lungu….that’s a lot of money but HH7 govt hasn’t got a clue how to handle such information.
Can you imagine PF had people appointed as ministers in 2011 and 2016 who had no G12 certificates …people like SG Mwila, and Matthew Nkhuwa etc…these are guys who were chairing meetings with technocrats
Fuseke this former Chiluba guard
Shut up
Fuseke this former Chiluba guard
Chipante pante Government….they all seem confused….because of the upcoming elections they’ve started their lying games…and they can’t clearly explain things….blah blah blah blah bwi bwi bwi bwi…kikikikikiki they thought running a country is easy
Ka Mwamba owe wants, we are coming for you for having struggled Chiluba! You were the last person to see him before his family went into the room and found him dead! You chap must be incarcerated and struggled by your stupid cormical head.
Why is it that the battle is between the North and the South in these postings some people are not focused when arguing the case instead of using intelligence they use partisan and tribal lines to argue. When are we going to grow past these petty, immature, tribal, partisan arguments, it is a pity no wonder we will never develop in Zambia in particular and Africa in general.