We Support President Sata: Dissolving Boards is the Right to do for Zambia.

President Sata is taking a right action to dissolve the boards of BOZ, ZRA, NAPSA, ZESCO and the RDA. The President’s action needs to be supported and encouraged. This is a smart way to reform public service delivery in Zambia. The fact of the matter is that these boards under the MMD government failed to deliver public services and was a total bureaucracy failure. What jobs did two permanent secretaries perform at the ministry of finance?

MMD appointed boards were like clubs or cartels where personal loyalty were rewarded more than merit. Boards were reduced to patronage dumping grounds for the politically well connected. The fact is that these boards made bad decisions affecting millions of Zambians and costing taxpayers billions of Kwacha. These unaccountable boards had too much power and responsibility. It’s time to reform the boards.

In additional to actions taken President Sata to clean up these unaccountable boards, PF Government need to embark on robust government reform initiative that should start with enacting a government reform act into law. Government reform act should include setting board governance standards, board performance assessment policies and prohibit board members from doing personal or family businesses with agencies or departments regulated by boards they serve on.

Before someone takes a seat at the board, the President must demand them to disclose any potential conflict of interest. This is only way to make boards accountable to the people of Zambia. Other important issue in government reform should be focused on civil servants who are the face of the government especially responsiveness to customer or citizen’s needs in areas such as hospital waiting time and pension fund processing.

There is much more work to be done. The recent directive by President Sata is an innovative way to start reforming the system. President Sata is on the right track to make government transparent, cut unnecessary costs and make government accountable. It is the right thing to do, Mr. President.