The delay in appointing a full Cabinet drew its sharpest criticism yet on Monday 26 October, when the political scientist Dr Neo Simutanyi called on officials of the ruling UPND to stop justifying it and to censure President Hakainde Hichilema instead. News Diggers reported that Simutanyi believes the delay is affecting governance and making Zambia a laughing stock, and that the President has had enough time to identify qualified people for his administration. More than two months after the August general election, the paper noted, only four ministers have been appointed, and stakeholders have raised concerns about what the vacancies mean for the running of government.
The Zambian Observer carried a longer version of his remarks. In its account Simutanyi accused the President of concentrating power in his own hands, asked how ministries could function without substantive ministers, and asked whether the President intended to run those ministries himself. It quotes him as saying that "Zambia is today a laughing stock because of a President who is not serious with national affairs", and that the President "loves power too much".
Zambia is today a laughing stock because of a President who is not serious with national affairs.
— Dr Neo Simutanyi, political scientist, as quoted by the Zambian Observer on Monday 26 October
The ruling party's answer
Both papers report the UPND's defence: that the Constitution sets no deadline for the appointment of Cabinet ministers. Simutanyi's reply, as the Observer reports it, is that the absence of a deadline is not a reason for delay, and that party officials should demand accountability rather than defend the President as a matter of course. Neither report carries a response from State House or the party to Monday's remarks.
The four ministers in office are Situmbeko Musokotwane at Finance and National Planning, Mulambo Haimbe at Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Gilbert Siame at Green Economy and Environment and Roma Chilengi at Health, all sworn in on 14 September, according to Bénin Web TV's report of the ceremony. Every other ministry is without a substantive minister.
The criticism landed on the day State House announced that the President has asked Parliament to approve the establishment, merger and dissolution of ministries, reported as the lead story in this edition. The Lusaka Times notes that new ministries normally require ministers to be appointed once they exist, which offers one possible explanation for the sequence the President has chosen: structure first, names second. No official has said so. The Observer's report has Simutanyi putting the interval at about four months; the election was held on 13 August and the President was sworn in on 1 September, which puts Monday's remarks a little under eleven weeks into the term.
Sources: News Diggers, “Don't justify HH's delay in appointing Cabinet, censure him, Simutanyi tells UPND” (26 Oct 2026); Zambian Observer, “HH not serious turning the country into a laughing stock says Dr Simutanyi” (26 Oct 2026); Bénin Web TV, “Zambia: Hichilema reappoints Musokotwane as Finance Minister after reelection” (14 Sep 2026); Lusaka Times, “Hichilema Asks Parliament To Approve A Reshuffle Of Government Ministries” (26 Oct 2026).