RECRUITING HEALTH WORKERS ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL

RECRUITING HEALTH WORKERS ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL

I never imagined I would live to see the day when recruitment into the civil service would be conducted from a political campaign stage.

Today, volunteer health workers are being encouraged to abandon their duties and attend campaign rallies so their names can be taken down for employment. That is not how a professional public service is built. It is not how a constitutional democracy should function.

I have supported President Hakainde Hichilema since 2015. I have defended him against unfair criticism and have never hesitated to acknowledge the good he has done. But I also never imagined he would become the kind of politician I have always criticised—one who appears willing to blur the line between the State and a political campaign.

Promising or facilitating public employment on the campaign trail creates the appearance that government jobs are rewards for political attendance. That is precisely the kind of conduct electoral laws are intended to guard against. Public jobs should be filled through transparent, competitive and institutional processes—not from the back of a campaign truck.

What is even more disappointing is that this has now become a pattern. Everywhere the President campaigns, volunteer nurses arrive with placards, hoping their names will be recorded for recruitment. No one around him seems willing to say, “Mr. President, this is wrong.”

Good people become complicit when they remain silent as public institutions are drawn into partisan politics. The Presidency is a constitutional office, not a campaign office. The powers of that office must never be used in a manner that creates the perception that employment depends on political proximity.

Think about the numbers. If the President has addressed around 70 campaign meetings and, on average, 20 volunteer health workers are identified at each one, that amounts to roughly 1,400 recruitments linked to campaign events. Before the campaign ends, that figure could easily exceed 2,000. And health workers are not the only group receiving such promises.

What message does this send to thousands of equally qualified citizens who refuse to attend political rallies? That merit no longer matters? That recruitment now begins with a party slogan instead of an application form?

This is how institutions are weakened. Today, aspiring civil servants may begin to believe that attending rallies is more important than attending interviews. Tomorrow, those recruited through such a process may feel politically indebted rather than professionally accountable.

The President himself has repeatedly said that his word is policy. That is precisely why greater restraint is expected of him. Every public pronouncement carries the weight of the State.

What troubles me most is the level of political desperation this projects. President Hichilema did not need to travel this path. He could have gone to the Zambian people with his record, his achievements and his vision. Those should have been sufficient.

I say this not as an opponent, but as someone who has openly supported him for years. True supporters do not clap for every mistake. They speak when something is wrong because they care more about the country than about pleasing a politician.

Call me a traitor if you wish. Label me whatever makes you comfortable. The truth remains unchanged.

Politics must never become a marketplace where livelihoods are exchanged for applause. Public employment is not a campaign gift. It is a constitutional responsibility.

When government jobs begin to look like political rewards, the damage goes far beyond one election. It erodes trust, undermines professionalism and plants the dangerous belief that loyalty to a politician matters more than loyalty to the Republic.

That is a bridge Zambia should never cross.

McPherson Mutale