By ANDREW MUKOMA
ZAMBIA for Unity, Peace and Development (ZUPED) has raised concern over the limited number of women who have been appointed as ministers.
ZUPED president, Ronnie Jere, noted that expectations were that President Hakainde Hichilema would have appointed more women as cabinet ministers.
However, he congratulated the 24 member cabinet and provincial ministers and encouraged them to work the people of Zambia
“ZUPED wants to thank President Hakainde Hichilema for appointing a fairly good number of new cabinet ministers, those that have never saved in any previous government portfolios but have the necessary qualifications and skills, this is what we have been advocating for,” he said
He added that his organisation did not expect to see people who served nearly in all the previous government being appointed yet again as cabinet ministers.
“Our expectations still remain high his Excellency President Hakainde Hichilema in meeting our desires as citizens.
As ZUPED, we will continue to provide checks and balances to the new dawn government for the benefits of our people,” he said. Mr Jere also challenged the UPND Government to state clearly the roadmap on the integration of civil servants who worked in ministries that have been merged or scrapped completely.
He said this was so because of the many fears and anxiety civil servants who worked in such ministries have.
Mr Jere noted that from the appointments that took place on Tuesday, ministries such as National Guidance and Religious Affairs, Chiefs and Traditional Affairs, National Planning and Higher Education were either scrapped off or merged with another ministry.
