The recent headmaster sort of antics exhibited by Lusaka Province Minister, Bowman Lusambo has propelled the self confessed boot-licker to the most talked about Zambian politician at the moment.
Lusambo has been recently busy exposing illegal roadblocks, checking on late comers at ZESCO, ZRA and other Lusaka based quasi government institutions. This has won him lots of praise with some even suggesting that he is the kind of president Zambia needs.
Its talks like this that actually frightens the wits out of me. Its scares me because the problem with Zambia is not the quality of its leaders, but the character of voters that inhabit this nation.
Zambian voters have proven that they are swayed by politics of populism, tribalism and egoism. They have scant regard for leaders with a clearly spelt out agenda. Instead, they wont hesitate to vote for someone who hails from their region, someone who employs high school prefect antics, .
They will vote a president who barefacedly pronounces that he has absolutely no idea of what he will do if voted into the highest office of the land. A disheartening case of a blind man leading the masses to the promised land.
Bowman has understood the Zambian electorate very well. He comprehensively knows how gullible the Zambian voter is. He knows that a few pieces of party regalia coupled with a few bottles of cheap junta can usher you into political office.
He understands this very well because he personally graduated from being an MMD stone thrower to being a PF Minister. He has advanced from being the used to being the user.
One thing about him that you cannot ignore is that Lusambo is a highly ambitious individual. He has his eyes set on the bigger prize. He knows his prefect like antics will not bring any meaningful development but he knows his actions are galvanising and hoodwinking the naive Zambian voters.
Its no surprise that since his appointment as Lusaka province Minister, Bowman has somewhat dwarfed the Kampyongos and other PF loyalists. He has all of them eating out of his palm. Bowman knows very well that he doesn’t need to have a plan resuscitate the Zambian economy. All he needs to do is stroke the naivety of the Zambian electorate. He knows it has happened before and it can happen again.
This is what makes me afraid. Zambian voters are a danger to themselves. Unless we start making well thought out decisions before casting our votes then we must brace ourselves. A Bowman presidency is not a far fetched idea. Until Zambians wake up from this political slumber, the Bowman threat lingers on.
By Brad Lay
Surely Zambians shock me. Is that how you determine qualities of a leader. There is nothing that Bowman is doing that makes him show he is a good leader. What Bowman is doing shows lack of professionalism in civil service, which even require reforms rather than these single incident acts.
Moreover, there is no value addition in what he is doing. Even if you abolished the position of Provincial Minister in Zambia, it will not affect service delivery. In the UK there are no Provincial Ministers. Everything is managed by Mayors. We are good at wasting resources. We have mayors, District Commissioners, Provincial Ministers trying to do similar work.
Great article and nice to see at least some commentary.
Bownman’s prefect like antics are indeed pointless, but the ignorant masses think he’s actually doing something. Just read the early comments in this thread as proof.
There is not one single PF politician who has a clue about how to actually DEVELOP Zambia, alleviate poverty and use resources efficiently. As the writer so rightly pointed out people voted for Lungu who TOLD them he had no vision of his own other than to pursue some ill-defined and worse yet articulated vision of Sata.
People vote by tribe, no matter the consequences of suffering, they continue like sheep to sit by passively and vote foolishly.
I have followed Lusambo’s impromptu visits to some public establishments, which is a good thing in itself. However, I wonder how the portfolio Ministers feel when Lusamba reveals a bad working culture in institutions under their responsibility, such as Police road blocks (under Home Affairs Minister Kampyongo), Level One Hospitals(under Health Minister Chilufya), ZESCO (under Energy Minister …. whatever his name is). Don’t these portfolio Ministers feel ashamed that it had to take Lusambo to expose the malaise in those institutions? In any case, those issues Hon. Lusamba discovered are the order of the day everywhere in this country. A lone fighter for mindset change will take us nowhere – it has to be the concern of every minister and DC and other leaders everywhere to help change the mindset.
Further, I am working in a public institution here in Lusaka, but the portfolio minister does not even know where it is, he has never been there. So I do not know how that minister will feel when he hears that Hon. Lusambo has visited and has exposed a, b, c, d issues, which the responsible minister has no idea about because he has not been.
Bravo Hon. Lusambo.
Just like they voted for ignorant Sata who had no business acumen to grow the economy,they still did the same with bum Lungu.Make small noise they morons votes for you.Tribe is everything for Zambians,very naive people.This is the reason why the country will remain poor for a very long time.
Just like they voted for ignorant Sata who had no business acumen to grow the economy,they can still do the same.Make small noise they morons votes for you.Tribe is everything for Zambians,very naive people.This is the reason why the country will remain poor for a very long time.
My brothers and Sisters bear this in your minds that what ever you do whether good or bad people will still talk
We get very little money,too much taxes flustrates a worker.Iam failing to understand did PF promised more taxes and less money in our pockets during their campains ? What is the role of a minister more especially LKS province minister. Go to America or any other country if you will find a minister working like precfect or magnum security.
If someone works hard you begin to think that he/she is eyeing an higher office, if someone doesn’t do his/her work properly, again you begin to say he/she doesn’t deserve the position. I don’t know about his presidency dreams but i know that even in that office he can perform wonders. please allow him to change our bad working culture. I didn’t like the man but now am in love with his activated working mode,he underscores always about good working culture.