Hichilema to Mweetwa, dropped from government: "be grateful you are an MP"
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Zambian Observer
Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema told Cornelius Mweetwa, a former Minister of Information excluded from the new cabinet, to be grateful to be MP for Choma Central. He was speaking on Tuesday in Choma, at the start of a 10-day visit to Southern Province, according to Zambian Observer.
Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema told Cornelius Mweetwa, a former Minister of Information and Media dropped from the new government: "Be grateful that you are an MP." He was speaking on Tuesday at his farm in Choma, where he was starting a 10-day visit to Southern Province, Zambian Observer reports.
"I have heard them complain that I left them out as ministers. Out of everyone born in Choma, Mweetwa, be grateful that you are an MP," the head of state said. Mweetwa was among the legislators who came to welcome him, together with First Lady Mutinta Hichilema. Supporters chanted "2090".
Mweetwa kept his Choma Central seat in the August 2026 general elections. He had been Minister for Southern Province, then Minister of Information and Media. That portfolio has been given to Elvis Nkandu. After the government was announced, Mweetwa had dismissed speculation by saying he had no entitlement to a ministerial post.
Former Commerce Minister Chipoka Mulenga has also left the executive, but she lost her Chingola West seat in August.
These remarks follow the appointment of the new government announced by Hichilema on 28 October, after his re-election.
