Presidential advisors
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President Hakainde Hichilema
They say that a President or leader is as good as his advisors. This highlights the crucial role that advisors play in a leader’s success or his failure.
A leader’s effectiveness is significantly influenced by the quality of the advice they receive and the decisions they make based on that advice.
But in many cases presidential advisors have been known to be notorious for abandoning their role as advisors to the President and pursue personal and private interests overbearing public institutions or subverting the course of national interests, while pervading a lie that they are pushing the agenda of the President, thereby abusing his/her name.
Many have been fired or prosecuted for that very reason.
In light of recent public statements made by; State House Chief Communications Specialist, Clayson Hamasaka, Special Assistant for Policy and Implementation and National Security Advisor, Dr. Lawrence Mwananyanda and former State House Special Assistant for Press and Public Relations, Amos Chanda, I will offer my views more in a generic way than dwell on the individual cases commented by the trio.
PRESIDENTIAL ADVISORS
Presidential advisors, play a crucial role in providing the President with expert advice, analysis, and recommendations on a wide range and array of issues.
They serve as a vital link between the President and various parts of the government and the public, helping to shape policy and communication and helping their boss to deliver on his mandate and ambitious development goals set out by political party’s Manifesto.
The President runs government, a complex infrastructure that requires efficient co-ordination to keep in tune with the various stakeholders within and outside government as well as to ensure the coherence of government actions.
When attending the SDA Conference and Dorcas Rally recently, President Hakainde Hichilema confessed that leadership was a hard undertaking and leading people was not a simplistic process as many people view it.
This was probably a hint to the challenges he could be grappling with to lead the nation and his struggle to fulfil campaign promises and deliver on his mandate.
HYBRID SYSTEM
Zambia runs a hybrid sysyem drawn from both the Westminister and USA model.
The Westminster model and the US presidential model are two distinct types of governmenance systems.
The Westminster model, originating in the UK, is a parliamentary system, where the executive (Prime Minister) derives power from their ability to command the support of a majority in the legislature, and is directly accountable to the legislature.
The US presidential system, on the other hand, features a president who is elected directly, independently of the legislature and has a more direct relationship with the citizenry.
In our case, the President runs government through a Cabinet he heads. This is his first and primary line of advisors.
Cabinet decisions and policies are then implemented by the Secretary to Cabinet and his team of bureaucrats led by the Permanent Secretaries and ministerial, provincial professionals and experts.
Further at his disposal are heads of specialised state agencies such as national defence and security and Law Enforcement Agencies on issues of peace, security and order.
The President has an inhouse staff, presidential or special advisors to help him function, make informed decisions and govern.
The President governs with other wings of government( Judiciary, and Legislature) and he must interact with them while respecting their constitutional mandate and must also respect the sacred principle of seperation of powers.
BUREACRACY OR CORRUPTION?
Government is run through the above-mentioned bureaucracy. This is a system of administration and governance characterized by a hierarchical structure, specialized roles, and adherence to rules and procedures. It’s a way of organizing government and its agencies to ensure efficiency, service delivery and uniformity.
This bureacracy, if not understood, if mishandled, or if its power is not harnessed or if intentions to make public decisions has corrupt or nefarious intentions, immediately becomes a nightmare, and is viewed as a monster hindering speedy development or result oriented outcomes.
Bureaucracy and procedures, while sometimes criticized for inefficiencies, can help prevent corruption, build accountability, establish a culture of compliance, by introducing checks and balances, increasing transparency, and making it more difficult for individuals to engage in corrupt activities.
Therefore a need arises to balance the interest of service delivery or the need to cut the red tape associated with such a large infrastructure, so that coordination is improved and delivery of service and development does not suffer.
While the President’s advisors do not have formal decision-making authority, they can have a significant influence on the President’s decisions and direction of his rule.
They can shape the President’s understanding of issues, recommend policies, and influence the course of government action.
It is therefore important to set integrity standards for advisors, for instance
through codes of conduct and pro-active disclosure of private interests to prevent conflict of interest.
Further their job profiles, tasks and competencies must be clearly defined to prevent overreach, overlap and utter interference.
We see presidential advisors obsessed with roles outside their defined mandate and all becoming procurement specialists to clearly influence ministerial and public tenders.
Therefore clarifying the accountability structure in which advisors operate, and defining advisors’ tasks, delineating their functions as distinct from those of senior public servants such as Permanent Secretaries and setting the boundaries that the Advisos may not overstep their role, such as giving direct orders to public servants who under other official or constitutional hierachy.
Zambians may remember a public or media spat between State House Special Assistant for Projects and Implementation, Lucky Mulusa and Home Affairs Permanent Secretary, Dr. Chileshe Mulenga (MHSRIEP) over who had authority to denaliate the land in Chelstone Police Camp earmaked for construction of new police houses.
THE CASE OF PRESIDENT HICHILEMA
As soon as he took over the reigns of power, President Hichilema set up to establish his government, appoint his Cabinet, advisors, constitutional office holders and heads of the Legislature, Judiciary and state agencies.
But it became apparent that there were unseen forces wielding levers of state power.
The Brenthurst Foundation and Tony Blair Institute for Global Change formed part of these advisory units.
The former Prime Minister Tony Blair is an interesting fellow.
To overcome the challenges associated with bureacracy, he set up the Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit ( 2001 – 2005).
The Delivery Unit was set up to monitor and accelerate the implementation of Blair’s public service reform priorities in health, education, transport, crime and asylum.
But it was abolished by a new coalition Government of 2010 for its duplicate role and hostility it created among senior government officials.
Blair now sells the idea of the delivery unit as a commercial venture to Governments in Africa to be implemented by his staff embedded at the Treasury and State House with appointed local staff….a story for another day.
There is no doubt that President Hichilema has been confounded by this bureacracy. He usually expresses frustration at the behemoth of the civil service and treats it, not as his delivery unit but an enemy of progress. He fears it stands in the way of his ambitious development path and agenda.
He therefore spent the first two years removing key staff from many ministries and departments to attempt to align the bureacracy.
He has also formed the Presidential Delivery Unit to acceletate policy fecision and development but nothing has really changed.
His time is almost over.
Looking at the state of the country, the poor state of the economy, prolonged loadshedding, corruption, and others crises swirling and spiralling out of control, it appears that his first term was a wasted mandate.
Now he seeks another mandate….as if he spent the last four tears attending a master class on how to run government!
CONCLUSION
We need to promulgate a code of conduct for presidential advisors like other jurisdictions have done, where their role is defined and is not predatory or doesn’t interfere with the work of professionals and civil servants and where corruption is not seen to be perpetrated by State House.
In my view, Presidential Advisors must stick to their lane…advise the usually wayward President, as he has tools, skills and capabilities through his Cabinet, Secretary to Cabinet and other constitutional officers to help him deliver on his mandate.
The role of the Presidential Delivery Unit is disruptive. Instead he must strengthen existing institutions, promote efficiency and enhance monitoring and evaluation mechanisms in each ministry, province, district and state agencies.
By Amb. Emmanuel Mwamba
Presidential advisors
President Hakainde Hichilema
They say that a President or leader is as good as his advisors. This highlights the crucial role that advisors play in a leader’s success or his failure.
A leader’s effectiveness is significantly influenced by the quality of the advice they receive and the decisions they make based on that advice.
But in many cases presidential advisors have been known to be notorious for abandoning their role as advisors to the President and pursue personal and private interests overbearing public institutions or subverting the course of national interests, while pervading a lie that they are pushing the agenda of the President, thereby abusing his/her name.
Many have been fired or prosecuted for that very reason.
In light of recent public statements made by; State House Chief Communications Specialist, Clayson Hamasaka, Special Assistant for Policy and Implementation and National Security Advisor, Dr. Lawrence Mwananyanda and former State House Special Assistant for Press and Public Relations, Amos Chanda, I will offer my views more in a generic way than dwell on the individual cases commented by the trio.
PRESIDENTIAL ADVISORS
Presidential advisors, play a crucial role in providing the President with expert advice, analysis, and recommendations on a wide range and array of issues.
They serve as a vital link between the President and various parts of the government and the public, helping to shape policy and communication and helping their boss to deliver on his mandate and ambitious development goals set out by political party’s Manifesto.
The President runs government, a complex infrastructure that requires efficient co-ordination to keep in tune with the various stakeholders within and outside government as well as to ensure the coherence of government actions.
When attending the SDA Conference and Dorcas Rally recently, President Hakainde Hichilema confessed that leadership was a hard undertaking and leading people was not a simplistic process as many people view it.
This was probably a hint to the challenges he could be grappling with to lead the nation and his struggle to fulfil campaign promises and deliver on his mandate.
HYBRID SYSTEM
Zambia runs a hybrid sysyem drawn from both the Westminister and USA model.
The Westminster model and the US presidential model are two distinct types of governmenance systems.
The Westminster model, originating in the UK, is a parliamentary system, where the executive (Prime Minister) derives power from their ability to command the support of a majority in the legislature, and is directly accountable to the legislature.
The US presidential system, on the other hand, features a president who is elected directly, independently of the legislature and has a more direct relationship with the citizenry.
In our case, the President runs government through a Cabinet he heads. This is his first and primary line of advisors.
Cabinet decisions and policies are then implemented by the Secretary to Cabinet and his team of bureaucrats led by the Permanent Secretaries and ministerial, provincial professionals and experts.
Further at his disposal are heads of specialised state agencies such as national defence and security and Law Enforcement Agencies on issues of peace, security and order.
The President has an inhouse staff, presidential or special advisors to help him function, make informed decisions and govern.
The President governs with other wings of government( Judiciary, and Legislature) and he must interact with them while respecting their constitutional mandate and must also respect the sacred principle of seperation of powers.
BUREACRACY OR CORRUPTION?
Government is run through the above-mentioned bureaucracy. This is a system of administration and governance characterized by a hierarchical structure, specialized roles, and adherence to rules and procedures. It’s a way of organizing government and its agencies to ensure efficiency, service delivery and uniformity.
This bureacracy, if not understood, if mishandled, or if its power is not harnessed or if intentions to make public decisions has corrupt or nefarious intentions, immediately becomes a nightmare, and is viewed as a monster hindering speedy development or result oriented outcomes.
Bureaucracy and procedures, while sometimes criticized for inefficiencies, can help prevent corruption, build accountability, establish a culture of compliance, by introducing checks and balances, increasing transparency, and making it more difficult for individuals to engage in corrupt activities.
Therefore a need arises to balance the interest of service delivery or the need to cut the red tape associated with such a large infrastructure, so that coordination is improved and delivery of service and development does not suffer.
While the President’s advisors do not have formal decision-making authority, they can have a significant influence on the President’s decisions and direction of his rule.
They can shape the President’s understanding of issues, recommend policies, and influence the course of government action.
It is therefore important to set integrity standards for advisors, for instance
through codes of conduct and pro-active disclosure of private interests to prevent conflict of interest.
Further their job profiles, tasks and competencies must be clearly defined to prevent overreach, overlap and utter interference.
We see presidential advisors obsessed with roles outside their defined mandate and all becoming procurement specialists to clearly influence ministerial and public tenders.
Therefore clarifying the accountability structure in which advisors operate, and defining advisors’ tasks, delineating their functions as distinct from those of senior public servants such as Permanent Secretaries and setting the boundaries that the Advisos may not overstep their role, such as giving direct orders to public servants who under other official or constitutional hierachy.
Zambians may remember a public or media spat between State House Special Assistant for Projects and Implementation, Lucky Mulusa and Home Affairs Permanent Secretary, Dr. Chileshe Mulenga (MHSRIEP) over who had authority to denaliate the land in Chelstone Police Camp earmaked for construction of new police houses.
THE CASE OF PRESIDENT HICHILEMA
As soon as he took over the reigns of power, President Hichilema set up to establish his government, appoint his Cabinet, advisors, constitutional office holders and heads of the Legislature, Judiciary and state agencies.
But it became apparent that there were unseen forces wielding levers of state power.
The Brenthurst Foundation and Tony Blair Institute for Global Change formed part of these advisory units.
The former Prime Minister Tony Blair is an interesting fellow.
To overcome the challenges associated with bureacracy, he set up the Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit ( 2001 – 2005).
The Delivery Unit was set up to monitor and accelerate the implementation of Blair’s public service reform priorities in health, education, transport, crime and asylum.
But it was abolished by a new coalition Government of 2010 for its duplicate role and hostility it created among senior government officials.
Blair now sells the idea of the delivery unit as a commercial venture to Governments in Africa to be implemented by his staff embedded at the Treasury and State House with appointed local staff….a story for another day.
There is no doubt that President Hichilema has been confounded by this bureacracy. He usually expresses frustration at the behemoth of the civil service and treats it, not as his delivery unit but an enemy of progress. He fears it stands in the way of his ambitious development path and agenda.
He therefore spent the first two years removing key staff from many ministries and departments to attempt to align the bureacracy.
He has also formed the Presidential Delivery Unit to acceletate policy fecision and development but nothing has really changed.
His time is almost over.
Looking at the state of the country, the poor state of the economy, prolonged loadshedding, corruption, and others crises swirling and spiralling out of control, it appears that his first term was a wasted mandate.
Now he seeks another mandate….as if he spent the last four tears attending a master class on how to run government!
CONCLUSION
We need to promulgate a code of conduct for presidential advisors like other jurisdictions have done, where their role is defined and is not predatory or doesn’t interfere with the work of professionals and civil servants and where corruption is not seen to be perpetrated by State House.
In my view, Presidential Advisors must stick to their lane…advise the usually wayward President, as he has tools, skills and capabilities through his Cabinet, Secretary to Cabinet and other constitutional officers to help him deliver on his mandate.
The role of the Presidential Delivery Unit is disruptive. Instead he must strengthen existing institutions, promote efficiency and enhance monitoring and evaluation mechanisms in each ministry, province, district and state agencies.
By Amb. Emmanuel Mwamba
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