Shamu remains tight-lipped on ZBC saga | The Herald

via Shamu remains tight-lipped on ZBC saga | The Herald January 22, 2014 by Fidelis Munyoro

FORMER Media, Information and Publicity minister Cde Webster Shamu yesterday remained tightlipped about his response to the damning report on the state of affairs at ZBC written by permanent secretary Mr George Charamba.
The report reveals that Mr Charamba brought to Cde Shamu’s attention the state of affairs at the national broadcaster and recommended a shake-up of the management and immediate audit of the corporation’s finances.

The memo dated November 1, 2012, that was found among Mr Muchechetere’s files at Pockets Hill, was on Monday leaked to The Herald by ZBC staffers unhappy that management was not listening to their concerns  inspite of similar concerns raised by the parent ministry.

Asked to comment on this development by The Herald yesterday Minister Shamu — who now heads the ICT, Courier and Postal Services ministry — said he would not comment on the matter as he had since left the ministry.

“I don’t want to meddle in the affairs of that brief (Mr Charamba’s memo to him). Why should I quarrel with those running that ministry?
“In all fairness does that make sense to you?” he said before  hanging up the phone.

In the report, that was published by this paper in full yesterday and is available online, Mr Charamba recommended several interventions the ministry could consider to remedy the appalling situation at the national broadcaster.

Last week, Mr Charamba revealed in Parliament that Government would soon wield the axe on managers and staff at ZBC to create a lean, effective and efficient team.

He said preliminary investigations showed that 47 managers gobbled about 33 percent of the wage bill.