Minister Elvis Nkandu has good credentials

ROY Kausa has lamented on what he calls poor appointment by President Hakainde Hichilema of the Permanent Secretary and Minister at the Ministry of Youth, Arts and Sports (Sunday Nation, November 21, 2021).

I will restrict my comment on the appointment of the Minister, Mr Elvis Nkandu. One can easily deduce the intent of Mr Kausa, by highlighting that the minster is former chairman of Chisokone market, he is casting aspersions on his competence to run the ministry.

Why did Mr Kausa pick the minor and leave out the major achievements of Mr Nkandu’s CV? Mr Kausa may not like the minister personally; but it is important to be civil and recognise the leadership talents that God has bestowed on others.

Mr Nkandu is one of the founder members of Zambia National Marketeers Association (ZANAMA) and under his leadership transformed the association into a national body and voice of the poor marketeers.

He is also the founding president of Alliance for Zambia Informal Economy Associations, a coalition of informal economy associations which was one of the founding organisations of Street Net International.

To his credit, ZANAMA never went under because of poor leadership, but was de-registered by the PF administration in 2011 because it was really a political force and the late President Michael Sata did not want to gamble with it.

The minster possesses organisational and mobilisation skills that are crucial in addressing the concerns of the youth including employment and empowerment challenges.

Not all of us may acquire leadership skills from universities; others are, like Antonio Gramsci has stated, are organic intellectuals. Their intellectual growth is within people’s struggles.