By NATION REPORTER
TECHNOCRATS or heads of government agencies should never at any one moment publicly disagree, challenge or rebuttal the Presidency because such often creates communication confusion as has been the case with the Kariba Dam communications gaffes, Chibamba Kanyama has observed.
Mr Kanyama, the governance and communication expert says it was not correct for Zesco board chairman Vickson Ncube and the Zambezi River Authority (ZRA) to publicly challenge President Hakainde Hichilema over the state of Kariba Dam.
Mr Kanyama said all heads government agencies such as Zesco, Zambezi River Authority and other parastatals were advisors to President Hichilema and should never contradict the head of State’s statement in a manner it has been happening in the UPND government.
There has been a string of disconnected statements from both the Presidency and the technocrats on the status of Kariba Dam with President Hichilema warning that the dam was leaking with Zesco disputing that in fact there has never been a leakage at the facility.
He said it was against presidential advisory etiquette for technocrats from whom President Hichilema was getting information to openly disagree with the Head of State on a matter he had pronounced himself.
Mr Kanyama stated that President Hichilema recently advised that his office and that of technocrats and other agencies should at all times speak the same language on all matters of governance and development.
“Normally, when the President says something, the government agencies are not expected to disagree or challenge him in public. Even if President Hichilema was wrong or not correct about the status of Kariba Dam, those who are among his advisors should not have disputed what he said in public. The technocrats as advisors to the President should never at any one moment challenge what the Head of State says in public. Even if they felt that the President was wrong, they should have retreated and investigated the President’s statement and challenge it in private on one to one,” Mr Kanyama said.
He stated that with the communication confusion that has since ensued over the state of Kariba Dam, President Hichilema would have the right to take action against his advisors and remedy the communication gaffes the presidency has been subjected to.
Mr Kanyama explained that President Hichilema was basing his information on what he was being briefed by those tasked to do so and that it was up to the head of State to verify the information through many of his informers.
“The information President Hichilema receives is not only from other sources he has appointed but from an array of technocrats and that the head of State often verified the information he received before making pronouncements. So when President Hichilema talked about the Kariba Dam leaking, he must have been briefed and had sufficient information and for those who are expected to advise him to choose to challenge him publicly is unacceptable, President Hichilema has all the rights to take action against such advisors,” Mr Kanyama said.
