Information and Media Minister Chushi Kasanda was on Thursday summoned to State House and accused of leaking information over some Cabinet Ministers planning to resign.
On Wednesday, Lusaka Times exclusively revealed that several Cabinet Ministers are unhappy with President Hichilema’s style of running government affairs and were planning to quit.
The Ministers who spoke on condition of anonymity revealed that President Hichilema is micromanaging all aspects of government including appointments to parastatal boards and foreign service even for junior roles such as Press Attaché.
The exposé infuriated State House prompting an investigation on who could have leaked the information.
The investigation narrowed down to Ms. Kasanda as the female Minister who was referred to in the article.
Ms. Kasanda was then summoned by President Hakainde Hichilema Principal Private Secretary Bradford Machila who expressed displeasure over the story.
Mr. Machila directed that Ms. Kasanda exculpates herself over the allegations that she is the Minister who leaked the story.
He also directed her to issue a statement refuting the story.
Highly placed sources within State House revealed that Ms. Kasanda arrived at State House on Thursday around 11:00 Hours and went to meet Mr. Machila in his office for over an hour.
The source have since challenged Mr. Machila to deny if he did not meet Ms. Kasanda on Thursday and publicly deny directing her to exculpate herself and refute the story.
“The story caused a lot of anxiety within here (State House) leading to Brad(Bradford Machila) summoning Chushi (Ms. Kasanda). They believe she is the one who spoke to Lusaka Times and she was really told off. Brad asked her to exculpate herself and told her to issue a statement refuting the story,” the source said.
“What made them believe it was Chushi is because of the link to her gender and the fact that the Ministers who complained mentioned the issue of Press Attaché especially that she has confronted Boss (President Hichilema) over those appointments, so it was easier for Brad to conclude that it was Chushi when Infact Cabinet has four female Ministers and most of them are not happy serving there,” the source added.
On Friday, Ms. Kasanda at a press briefing refuted the story that several Ministers are unhappy with President Hichilema and are planning to resign.
She stated that Cabinet is united and that there is noting wrong with a leader micromanaging affairs as long as results are showing.
LT ………….
Pushing more conspiracy hear say PF stories………..
All is well in the new dawn GRZ…………
There is no way ministers can give up their perks and resign, in the history of zambia it has only happened on account of alleged corruption on 1 or 2 occasions…………
Not on account of being managed……….
We call that being principled. It’s not about perks but about morality. Europe is advanced because among the reasons leaders resign when they fall into disgrace or they don’t agree with something. Perks should not be the motive.
Really laughable he is back already from his sabatical!!
Tarino Orange
I said I would be on sabbatical not that I was already there. If you must know I am going to the farm to harvest, shell and park my maize and while there I don’t want to be distracted by the likes of you.
De ja vu
“We call that being principled. It’s not about perks but about morality…”
Hehehehe………….
Where have you seen morality and principles in zambian politics ???
Spaka .. there’s always a first time
What happened to the chorus you kept singing while in opposition: that there’s no smoke without fire????
Those ministers should be fired and replaced with people who ready to work.
My hand is up!
kkkkkkkk lele lelo lelo lelo lelo
Wanitwa mos …
Those serving in Government must realize that as long as they hold public office then whatever they do shall always be in the public domain. LT has published a follow-up story instead of retracting their earlier story as demanded by Chushi. Now they’ve included Bradford. The days when info was suppressed are long gone. So it might be true that there’s a revolt within Cabinet. However, I’m not surprised because that’s exactly how HH behaved when he was in opposition. There were no resolutions in the UPND, it was a one man show. We’ll see where that kind of leadership will take him and his flock
Thank you LT for fearless reporting. Is it not the same hh who was crying for media freedom and independence. Today he is now going after people for telling the truth.
Listen guys, I know that pf was not perfect but we were not this incompetent. Not especially in less than a year in power. Kasanda I knew deep down you weer not upnd. I have known this woman for many years on a personal level . Just leave that evil party. You are better than that
Also remember the saying ” THE TRUTH HURTS” ….
Now I will sit back and wait for the resident retarded upnd LT cadre, Tarino, to come and spill his fecal matter on here
LT you keep saying this and that spoke to you. Where? Via email which you take days to respond..why would State House suspect she contacted. There is more to this story, you people must be close to her…those State House chaps are not stup!d …what are you not telling us. Since when have done editorials you are practically automated hence the reason the UK based troll thrives on here.
As predicted, fecal matter
Look, if the President is micro managing all aspects of government function, lambasting the supposed informer will not erase the truth of the matter. The whole summoning to state house just reinforces the claim. And why would any sensible journalist even indicate the gender of the informer – that’s narrowing down suspects isn’t it? How will you get tidbits in future?
#plant a tree please.
I call bullshxt on this story. The earlier story about some ministers complaining anonymously made sense. Certainly, not every minister or MP is expected to agree with HH, it’s not China where parliament votes 100 percent on everything.
However, Lsk Times is making up things and, like Chilufya Tayali, says private sources have confirmed to them.
This is shallow in that it has not given any concrete evidence (compare with leaked audio or indeed the KCM saga which had undeniable evidence) and only goes off assumptions that suit a narrative.
Take this with a pinch of salt please.
ABOUT LUSAKA TIMES
LT is an electronic news platform that allows all types of users to have an open discussion on the day to day current issues in Zambia. The idea that is powering Lusakatimes today was birthed in 1998 as a casual conversation between friends. In 1999, the idea was made manifest with the launch of Lusaka Information Dispatch. The project was funded by the Dutch IICD who provided seed capital for the equipment and operational costs for a limited duration.
However, the operational model for Information Dispatch proved too difficult to sustain at the time. In 2002 Information Dispatch suspended its operation after key members quit the group.
In January 2007, the site was re-launched under the new URL address called lusakatimes.com and a new operational model.
Today Lusakatimes is run by a number of people distributed around the world, working in an open source type of structure, purely driven by hobby and ambition to provide Zambians around the world with current news content based on facts and not speculation. Our day to day news content comes from known Zambian sources like Zambia Daily-Mail, Times of Zambia, ZNBC and ZANIS. These are the giants whose shoulders we stand on.
Please LT tell us what has changed…there is more to this story!!
With all due respect to Kasanda, I do believe she is aware that the majority of Zambians including some people in her own party do not think she is right for that job.
Kasanda as chief government spokesperson can be equalled to Bowman Lusambo as provincial minister. They both have similar qualifications, one spoke on everything and the other speaks on nothing.
With that being said, she is the last person to go and complain about being micro managed, if anything, she is more than ready to be micromanaged.
Heck, she can’t even think about resigning, she may feel like she owes the President everything.
If you are looking for ways of sacking “Chuishi” whatever you call her…there is no need for this ..just get rid of her because she is ill-qualified if the President doesnt see this then he is also a problem. Just look at how she has handled this matter I would be laughing if it was untrue. I mean the Chief Govt Spokeperson being given a telling off by the State House Principal Secretary just shows you how weak she is..HH7 get rid of this empty suit Asap.
The confusion in upnd government is very embarrassing
When things go pear shaped we blame the President. When the President intervenes, we say that he is micromanaging. It is kindness to micromanage and direct errant ministers than to fire them. They are being given a chance.
Yesterday, Minister Chushi Kasanda, the GRZ Spokesperson issued a 24hrs threat, ultimatum or petition to Lusakatimes to withdraw the story. Today, Lusakatimes has even gone deeper to the extent of including the Principal Private Secretary Bradford Machila in the whole saga.
Why would Lusakatimes add fuel to the burning story; by amplifying a fight with GRZ Machinery or State House when they would have a bigger slice to forfeit/forego in this fight
Wishful thinking by the rejected PF regime, just spreading propaganda now. During the Ubomba Mwibala alya mwibala regime a simple shelter called a toll gate between Ndola and Kitwe was costing 80 million Kwacha, that is gone and gone for good. There is a formidable, coherent, cordinated, tribally balanced, competent and focused government now.
UPND government, please remain focused ,don’t get distracted by those people meant to destabilise you. You have a big job after ten years of damage to the economy by the rejected regime
On the other hand, the person to blame for all this hot air going on about our incompetent Government Spokesperson is the president.
The president’s methodical process he talked about when making appointments to his cabinet is proving to be an embarrassing outcome. This, particularly when HH appointed Ms Kasanda to one of the most powerful portfolios of being an interpreter of the government context and a voice of the government and the nation – in and out of Zambia.
Ms Chushi Kasanda was just thrown into this inferno and blaze without proper thoroughness and diligence. Therefore, the buck stops on HH. I personally apologise for being hush to Ms Chushi Kasanda in the past.
The president’s methodical process he talked about when making appointments to his cabinet is proving to be an embarrassing outcome. This, particularly when HH appointed Ms Kasanda to one of the most powerful portfolios of being an interpreter of the government context and a voice of the government and the nation – in and out of Zambia.
Ms Chushi Kasanda was just thrown into this inferno and blaze without proper thoroughness and diligence. Therefore, the buck stops on HH. I personally apologise for being hush to Ms Chushi Kasanda in t
The president’s methodical process he talked about when making appointments to his cabinet is proving to be an embarrassing outcome. This, particularly when HH appointed Ms Kasanda to one of the most powerful portfolios of being an interpreter of the government context and a voice of the government and the nation – in and out of Zambia.
Ms Chushi Kasanda was just thrown into this inferno and blaze without proper thoroughness and diligence. Therefore, the buck stops on HH. I personally apologise for being hush to Ms Chushi Kasanda in the past.
The holier than though Govt. would surely be hurt by such revelations and in-fact would use their feeble thinking to blame it on PF. The egocentric UPND will use all they can to blame all their self inflicted embarrassments on poor PF. Without giving an iota of credence to corruption sang daily by UPND, this scourge is happening right under their noses.
More lies to cover the initial lies. Now that chushi threatened to sue LT for publishing fake news about ministers so they have gone full out to discredit her knowing fully well they will never be found to be sued as they exist elsewhere with no physical offices just like some other online publications. LT taking full advantage of the created fake news to peddle more fake news to increase readership. We saw this before with other publications like ZWD.
What happened to the chorus you kept singing while in opposition: that there’s no smoke without fire????