BE ALERT
…Army Commander, you’re fully aware
of issues around our region – HH
By Kombe Mataka in Kabwe
PRESIDENT Hakainde Hichilema has urged the army to be alert to keep the country in an integral manner that allows democratic freedoms to prevail amongst the people.
Commissioning the Zambia Army Officer Cadets at Kohima Barracks yesterday, President Hichilema also said troops serving in peacekeeping missions must get their full allowances “and not a penny must be deducted from them.”
“Army Commander [Lieutenant General Dennis Alibuzwi], you are fully aware of issues going on around in our region, something that is new in our region. Without being specific, you know, and these men and women need to be alert to keep our soil, our country, our territory in an integral manner but also in a manner that allows democratic freedoms to prevail amongst our people because we are democracy,” he urged.
President Hichilema reminded the cadets that, “you are a Zambian soldier, as you stand on this parade. You serve in the Zambia Army. You shall always be dedicated to duty. You shall always be prepared to undertake assigned missions and tasks anywhere – everywhere. You are a loyal and trusted soldier, with respect for our country. You are protector of Zambia’s hard earned freedom.
You are a buffalo soldier. You have joined a respectable profession in which you should put interests of our great nation before your own.”
He said the country expected them to be entirely dedicated and committed to serving the interests of the people.
“In a democratic state like ours, with strong democratic credentials, you are expected to be loyal soldiers to the government and to the people of Zambia. To begin to bring professionalism in the army which we begun to see getting eroded in the past, this government, this leadership, is dedicated – determined – to support you, to work with you, the Army Commander and other service chiefs, to return our service institutions back to professionalism – back to professional days,” he said.
“You can count on us on that because to some extent that is what will assure some stability in our country. In times of instability, we have articulated what you ought to do and your training outlined that. Army Commander, other service chiefs that are here, this government will want you to also perform duties that are to do with national reconstruction. National reconstruction, rebuilding our country in many facets and you have capabilities – you have units in the army that do those things such as constructing our bridges, putting together infrastructure alongside the private sector. We will be working with yourselves to undertake these additional duties in peace times. Obviously, in times of instability we all know what our priorities as an army and as service chiefs and men and women is all about. No question about it. We do believe that this aspect of your duties will help us keep our country, assure our country of national success, economic and social as well as stability.”
He said defence forces were required to exercise utmost discipline, professionalism, and responsibility in the discharge of duties at all times.
“Zambian people expect you to be diligent in safeguarding, maintaining national sovereignty and protecting its territorial integrity. Army Commander, you are fully aware of issues going on around in our region, something that is new in our region; without being specific, you know, and these men and women need to be alert to keep our soil, our country, our territory in an integral manner but also in a manner that allows democratic freedoms to prevail amongst our people because we are a democracy,” he stressed.
And President Hichilema said the government was very proud of the Zambia Army for many reasons, including carrying out peace-keeping missions professionally.
“As I travel around the country, more importantly in the region, around the world, one thing that has come out consistently as I meet other presidents and indeed the African Union, SADC, and obviously the United Nations colleagues, they always say to me that ‘HH, Mr President, thank you for sending us disciplined and hardworking soldiers and other service colleagues…’ If you have done good things or those before you have done good things don’t be the generation that breaks those good things,” he said.
“We are aware, I’m aware, of the challenges that you are facing. And I was whispering to the Minister of Defence [Ambrose Lufuma] that some of the issues that were raised here are fairly mundane and small issues and we should be able to checklist them and get them done…We want to better your lives, working conditions, including the issue of equipment is extremely important…Army Commander, we made it clear before and we make it clear now that we want our troops, as they return from missions outside this country, to receive their full allowances. I say so knowing that we have a debate in our government but as President, I want to say to you that I made this commitment to the people of Zambia before being elected into office that all our men and women working in peacekeeping missions must be getting full allowances and not a penny must be deducted from them. We are getting close to that intent very soon. We are six months in office, we have been looking at the issue and indeed why that decision was made. It was genuine but we want to find a solution around that decision yet maintain the reason why that decision was made – support those requirements yet leave our men and women with their full allowances because we all know why it should be like that. We want them not to be different with others serving alongside them in these missions. We are clear, we are determined and we shall do that fairly soon.”
He reminded commissioned officers that the basic training they had received was just the beginning of “your training process as a part of your career”.
“We would like to see more secondments of young people beyond our boundaries into other countries, not just for peace-keeping missions or otherwise. But deliberately to second our men and women into ranks elsewhere, cooperating colleagues, partners around the world. And this President will work with you to actualise those programmes and this will give these young people an added flavor of basically how other armies operate, behave and conduct themselves,” President Hichilema said.
He said he concerned about the shortage of manpower in the army resulting from various reasons including natural reasons such as retirement and “indeed loss of life”.
“As we stabilise our economy, and we’re working very hard on that aspect, our government will endeavour to address these challenges, ensuring that confidence in the army and elsewhere begins to move towards the full levels as projected for the reasons that they were initially decided because of the need to cover across the breadth and width of our country,” said President Hichilema. “We are also aware that training is the engine that propels the defence forces, and we shall attach extra attention to training including in-service, extra skills. Let’s talk outside these platforms, close our doors and begin to work around these issues as a team. I’m a team player myself. I was raised around a business community that understands in peace and indeed in working in harmony with one another, recognising that we are skilled differently. Even when you go for the same training, as we’ve seen from the prizes that have been given, human beings are talented slightly differently. And they acquire, from the same training, specific strengths in certain areas. And the importance therefore of working together and being a team can never be underscored even among the command structure of the army. And all our service chiefs, team work is what we want to see going forward.”