WHY HHs ALLEGED BUSINESS ACUMEN IS NOT A RELEVANT PRESIDENTIAL ATTRIBUTE. ln the recent past, l have been paying close attention to the arguments being proffered by my rivals (not enemies) in the UPND camp about why they feel HH would make a good president for Zambia. In the midst of all the emotional blubbering, l was able to pick up one central theme which l wish to now discuss. All UPND supporters seem to share the belief that HH is an accomplished entrepreneur and since he succeeded in business he can make an economic success out of Zambia. I wish to argue as follows: 1. I do not believe HH is an accomplished entrepreneur and neither do l believe he is a rich man. If HH was an accomplished business man, why was he still an employee at Grant Thornton as late as 2006 until he was asked to leave by his employers because he had joined politics. If youre running several successful businesses as HH is alleged to have, why would you want to give 8 hours of your time everyday in return for a stable salary. Personally, l have very little respect for part time entrepreneurs. If you believe in the business that youre running, then you need to quit your formal employment and fully pursue your business. HH did not do that until he was asked out of the firm. So, how did the whole country come to have an image of HH as an accomplished entrepreneur? I am not quite sure, but l suspect it started at the time Mazoka is said to have anointed him as the next UPND president. Since Mazoka is alleged to have been rich, people believed that his annointee must also be rich and HH just rode with the wave thereafter. 2. Assuming for a moment that HH is indeed an accomplished entrepreneur, the next question is, would this attribute make him a good president? I will try to answer this question not from a political point of view, but from an organizational design point of view. Personally, l make a living by designing new organizations as well as restructuring old ones. So am going to look at a government as the management of an organisation with the president as the CEO and cabinet as the senior management team, parliament as its board of directors while the general citizenry will be the shareholders. The next question is, does the CEO of say Zesco need to be an electrical engineer? Or does the Managing Director of UTH need to be a medical doctor or does the CEO of ZNBC need to be a journalist, or does the CEO of ZICA (Zambia Institute of Chartered Accountants) need to be a chartered accountant? The answer of a common mind would be yes, however the answer of an initiated mind is no. The president does not himself necessarily need to be an economist because he has the Minister of Finance and the entire crew of economic technocrats in the ministry. The greatest attribute that a president can have is the ability to fully engage his ministers in policy making, set specific targets for them and hold them accountable for the attainment of those targets. Does being an economist undermine your ability to make a good president? Only if you allow it, that is if you want to get operational instead of sticking to your strategic role. Once you become operational as a president, then you loose your strategic focus where your leadership is really needed. WOULD HHs ALLEGED BUSINESS ACUMEN MAKE HIM A BETTER PRESIDENT? THE ANSWER IS A RESOUNDING NO.
Posted on: Tue, 09 Dec 2014 06:18:19 +0000
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