{"id":69404,"date":"2018-09-18T12:20:55","date_gmt":"2018-09-18T10:20:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.times.mw\/?p=69404"},"modified":"2018-09-18T12:20:56","modified_gmt":"2018-09-18T10:20:56","slug":"ministers-misplaced","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/2018\/09\/18\/ministers-misplaced\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Ministers misplaced\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Jameson Chauluka:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
USI\u2014 When a striker becomes a referee, there is chaos<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Political activist Michael Usi has triggered debate on the manner in which Cabinet ministers and senior government officials are appointed, saying wrong people are serving in key positions thereby undermining the country\u2019s development.<\/p>\n

Usi spoke on Sunday during a rally he addressed together with United Transformation Movement (UTM) shadow member of Parliament for Blantyre Kabula Constituency, Felix Njawala.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust like in football, when a striker becomes a referee, there is chaos. Look at the Ministry of Health, for example [which is headed by lawyer Atupele Muluzi], other ministries and senior government positions. The positions do not tally with the holders\u2019 levels of education and expertise,\u201d<\/em> said Usi, who leads Okudya Zake Alibe Mlandu, a grouping which is working with Vice- President Saulos Chilima\u2019s UTM.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Usi said people should be appointed to positions based on their expertise and abilities and not politics of appeasement.<\/p>\n

A quick look at President Peter Mutharika\u2019s 20-member Cabinet shows that another lawyer Bright Msaka heads the Ministry of Education, engineer Francis Kasaila is the Minister of Sports, chemist and academician Emmanuel Fabiano is the Minister of Foreign Affairs, broadcaster Kondwani Nankhumwa is the Minister of Local Government while intelligence expert Nicholas Dausi is the Minister of Information.<\/p>\n

Still in Mutharika\u2019s Cabinet, Jappie Mhango, a sports administrator, heads the Ministry of Transport and Public Works, nurse Grace Chiumia is the Minister of Civic Education while doctor Jean Kalilani is the Minister of Gender.<\/p>\n

However, all is fine with economist Goodall Gondwe and lawyer Samuel Tembenu, who are in charge of finance and justice ministries, respectively.<\/p>\n

But government spokesperson, Dausi, dismissed Usi\u2019s sentiments, saying ministers only serve as political leaders of ministries.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat only shows that the one who was speaking does not understand how the government works. We have technocrats in all the ministries and departments who advise the ministers,\u201d<\/em> he said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

However, some ministries have technocrats such as principal secretaries whose expertise does not tally with tasks of the line ministry. In other cases, even board members are appointed irrespective of their qualifications and experience.<\/p>\n

But political scientist Ernest Thindwa said having ministers to head ministries they are conversant with is good but the main problem is that the country lacks transformative leadership.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving an agriculturalist as Agriculture Minister is an advantage but the main problem is that the country\u2019s leadership is concerned with political survival and not developing people\u2019s lives,\u201d<\/em> he said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Jameson Chauluka: Political activist Michael Usi has triggered debate on the manner in which Cabinet ministers and senior government officials are appointed, saying wrong people are serving in key positions thereby undermining the country\u2019s development. Usi spoke on Sunday during a rally he addressed together with United Transformation Movement (UTM) shadow member of Parliament […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":44237,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-69404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69404","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69404"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69404\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":69407,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69404\/revisions\/69407"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}