By Patson Chilemba
Southern Province minister Cornelius Mweetwa says the decision to fire Dr George Magwende from the position of permanent secretary (administration) in the Ministry of Health is in national interest.
Speaking with Daily Revelation, Mweetwa said President Hichilema was someone who was capable of making a decision against his associates if only that decision was in national interest, saying that was the Hichilema he knew and had worked for for the last 18 years.
“So whatever decision was taken against Dr Magwende it is in national interest. That’s the President you have,” Mweetwa said, adding that Dr Magwende was endowed intellectually and would still be of relevance to the country, saying when one was removed from a position it did not mean that they were trashed to the bin. “It just means that that position which you were occupying for the time being there is a realization that maybe you should not be there. You can serve the country in another position.”
Mweetwa said everything has got its own time and that for now it was time for Dr Magwende to take a rest from the position of PS, arguing that sometimes the problem people have is that they fail to appreciate that the President has the constitutional right to hire and fire.
“Sometimes he can fire you even if it’s for not wrongdoing but he thinks that another person can perform better than you. Sometimes the President will fire you because of corruption. All that is within the purview and the province of his mandate and we should not be so inquisitive. We should let sleeping dogs lie,” he said.
Mweetwa said the message to the other senior government officials was very simple that “HH has no friends”, as his friends were the people of Zambia.
“When you do what is right for the people of Zambia you will be a friend of HH. If you do anything that undermines the integrity of service as a servant to the people of Zambia, HH will not be your friend. We understand him some of us who have been with him for a long time. He has no time for friendship. He has time for the friendship of the nation. He has time to keep Zambia moving,” Mweetwa said. “When you look at him there is something you are able to tell, that this is a man, this is a President who says when I leave office I may not have done the best but I want to have a clean record that I tried my best. He is doing the best for the country and Zambia surely will never be the same again.”
He said as a party in government, the UPND was not in the habit of ratcheting systems of governance which he said must be apolitical, saying if the Anti-Corruption Commission have issues with “him (Dr Magwende), let them deal with those issues as an institution. We don’t want to voice over a political wish. No! We will be unfair.”
