HICHILEMA HAS PURGED INNOCENT CIVIL SERVANTS
Dr Brian Mushimba writes:
Politicians, let’s leave career civil servants alone
I have just been going through a list of permanent secretaries, heads of departments, and CEOs of implementing agencies (parastatals )that I had the pleasure of working with while in govt.
Many of them were highly qualified, non-partisan, loyal and worked extremely hard even under difficult conditions.
Now, many of these, In the prime and peak of their careers, and with no fault of their own, have been fired because of changing of govt 😥.
If any govt officers needed the security of tenure, I would think many of these do. They get specialized qualifications, labour for many years (10, 20yrs) in their civil service jobs (sometimes with poor conditions of service compared to their friends in the private sector), perfecting their craft just to be sent packing because govt changed and the new govt wants to bring in their senior civil servants 🤦🏾♂️.
Isn’t this a waste of national resources? Surely forcing a 38yr old man/woman with double master’s degrees in public administration, attained at huge cost to them individually and to the nation, and forcing them to start farming? Is this the best use of those national resources?
I was not there in 2011 and have no recollection of how the MMD/PF transition happened to career civil servants and heads of parastatals. Please remind me, those that remember 🤷🏿♂️.
However, the firing of career senior civil servants, which is non-political, is so unfair and extremely saddening. We must leave the civil service alone and allow it to remain professional.
Please allow me to lament today and commiserate with the fired career senior civil servants/parastatal heads or those about to be fired. U deserve better and we are failing u as a nation.