By Merlyn Mwanza
The wholesale recall of diplomats and attempts to have those recalled replaced with new ones has come with its own gaffes resulting in inefficiencies like where power was recently cut off to the Zambian Embassy in Brasilia, Brazil by that country’s power utility company.
And President Hakainde Hichilema has recalled almost the entire diplomatic establishment from the previous administration, which is understandable with each new government, but something the President himself politicized during his time in the opposition as a waste of public resources.
Information obtained by Daily Revelation indicates that as a result of the diplomatic “clean out” the government did not take some precautions, where in most cases signatories to Embassy accounts, mostly made up of the Ambassador, the deputy and accountant, were recalled at a go, leading to inefficiencies in the running of the embassies.
“For instance in countries like Brazil where there is a lot of bureaucracy running the Embassy has become problematic as payment vouchers can not be authorized for payment because the recognised signatories with the banks are no longer there. Owing to the same hiccups, the Zambian Embassy recently had electricity to the chancery cut off. And as recently as last week, the locally engaged stuff had not received their April, 2022 salaries, which they normally receive by the 24th of every month,” sources said. “However, power was restored only recently after some stop-gap measures were put in place on people who will be signatories as they wait for the new Ambassador and deputy Ambassador.”
Sources said the pace of recalled diplomats arriving back into the country has increased, with recalled former Ambassador to Nigeria Solomon Jere having arrived in the country last week, including many more junior officials arriving from across the world.
However, there are a few remnants from the previous Lungu administration who have been left to serve in their positions including most of the establishment at the Russian Embassy, Zambia’s Ambassador to South Korea Wilbur Simuusa and Zambia’s Ambassador to France and former first lady Dr Christine Kaseba.
Efforts to speak with Foreign Affairs permanent secretary (Administration) Chembo Mbula failed as his line was just ringing.
