The President of the Engineering Institution of Zambia (EIZ), Wesley Kaluba, has strongly condemned the growing trend of Board Chairpersons resigning and taking up CEO positions in the same institutions they once oversaw, calling it a corporate coup d’état.
In a public statement,Mr. Kaluba describes the practice as a deliberate subversion of corporate governance principles, warning that it undermines transparency, accountability, and the separation of powers essential to institutional integrity. He has argued that while such transitions may appear legal, they are ethically flawed and damage public trust in corporate systems.
Quoting Clause 17 of the LuSE Corporate Governance Code, which requires the roles of Chairperson and CEO to be held by separate individuals, Kaluba emphasizes that this safeguard is vital to prevent conflicts of interest. He has warned that when Board Chairs assume executive roles, they bring with them undue influence over recruitment, strategy, and succession planning areas where impartiality is critical.
He had also raised alarm over broader governance failures, referencing the 2023 Auditor General’s Report which revealed that some boards had exhausted their entire annual governance budgets within the first quarter. He says the same boards, after overspending on allowances and retreats, are now installing themselves as CEOs, further undermining discipline and credibility.
The EIZ President, who was elected in 2024 on a reformist agenda, called on regulators, institutional investors, and government ministries to intervene. He has warned that if left unchecked, the practice would entrench a culture of manipulation over merit, particularly in state-owned enterprises and engineering-related institutions.
By Rachel Mumba
