The Zambia Environmental Management Agency has lost its entire directorate, at least for now. In a statement on Tuesday 20 October reported by News Diggers and the Zambian Observer, Minister of Green Economy and Environment Gilbert Siame said the newly constituted board had placed all directors at the agency on administrative leave with immediate effect. They will be assessed on competence, performance and suitability, after which the board will decide whether to reinstate or dismiss them; the Zambian Observer puts the audit period at 60 days.
Dr Joel Kabika, an academic at the University of Zambia’s School of Engineering, has been appointed interim director-general for six months, after which the board is expected to advertise the post. Dr Siame said the process would follow the law and that routine services would continue without disruption, and that the realignment is not limited to ZEMA: similar reviews have begun in every department under his ministry to align structures, staffing and operations with performance expectations.
The build-up
The move follows a run of signals from the ministry. On 19 October Lusaka Times reported that Dr Siame had given the board, chaired by Felix Masiye, until 30 December 2026 to move environmental permitting and licensing fully online, with an integrated application platform, published service standards, real-time tracking and a fast track for low-risk projects, alongside directives on a national carbon registry, forest restoration and climate preparedness. The Zambian Observer attributes the leave decision to frustration from the public and State House, and reports Dr Siame acknowledging that the regulator had not met expectations.
A call for due process
The Action Institute for Policy Analysis Centre responded even before the formal announcement. Its executive director, Solomon Ngoma, said in a statement on Tuesday reported by Zambia Monitor that the institute shared the minister’s concern about degradation and pollution but was troubled by remarks attributed to him suggesting the agency could be dissolved if it failed to prevent mining pollution.
We sincerely hope the statement was made in frustration over pollution concerns and not as a serious policy position,
— Solomon Ngoma, executive director of the Action Institute for Policy Analysis Centre, in a statement in Lusaka on Tuesday 20 October, as reported by Zambia Monitor
Mr Ngoma said ZEMA has qualified professionals who can do their jobs if allowed to work independently, urged the new board to stay within its statutory mandate rather than interfere in day-to-day operations, and asked that any decisions about directors follow due process. Environmental failures, he said, cannot be attributed to one institution alone. Neither the affected directors nor the board had been reported as responding by the time this edition closed.
Sources: News Diggers, “New ZEMA board cracks whip, sends directors on leave” (21 Oct 2026); Zambian Observer, “CLEAN SWEEP AT ZEMA….Green Economy minister suspends top directors for 60-day ‘competency audit’” (21 Oct 2026); Zambia Monitor, “Policy institute reacts to alleged plans to dissolve ZEMA, place directors on administrative leave” (20 Oct 2026); Lusaka Times, “Siame Sets ZEMA’s Digitalisation Deadline” (19 Oct 2026).