Mr HH & Mr Haimbe, voluntary retirees unpaid historic debt a dangerous decampaign for you
By Michael B Munyimba
It is yet to be established whether the unjust pain and suffering that justice minister Mulambo Haimbe is inflicting on the voluntary retirees/seperatees is by his own volition, or is in alliance with the highest office on the land.
The voluntary retirees whose benefits have strangely been withheld (or stolen) for over 23 years, have reached a sad, breaking point – that is for those that are even lucky to still be alive through years of unbearable travesties that come with being cash-strapped in a bad economy. What is strange about this sad story is that President Hakainde Hichilema (HH) is on record of having issued a direct order, first to community development minister Doreen Mwamba early this year, and later to justice minister Haimbe to urgently workout the amount due and pay them out.
The President first gave this directive publicly at the Kabwata by-election in February this year in Lusaka and it became the sweetest melody the retirees had heard in close to two and half decades. And their relief and assurance was knowing that words and directives from the Head of State carried a seal of authority that could not be questioned, challenged, denied or delayed. And in the weeks that followed, minister Doreen Mwamba assured the desperate retirees that their monies would soon hit their accounts. But that was not to be, more weeks and months trickled by – and nothing was happening. And when the minister eventually defied her own final vow to pay them by July 31st, it was the last stroll, they matched to New Kasama where the group representatives met with the Attorney General Mulilo Kabesha, the President’s political advisor and the justice minister Haimbe, who now took up the mantle, promising to correct the problem and pay them ASAP.
All was discussed amicably, apart from one concern raised by the minister, who pleaded that the money due be reduced to a manageable amount as it had accumulated so much interest and other emoluments, such that each one of these 3,500 ex-civil servants was now owed an average K9 million, a tenth of the national budget! These voluntary retirees understood and slashed the figure down by over half. Besides, they were willing and ready to accept anything substantial, looking at the many years of endurance without any source of livelihood. But when the newly suggested figure was presented to the minister, he told them it was still too much for government to manage. That’s when they suggested that government comes up with its own amount. And that was the end of the story and beginning of a new kind of horrific nightmare. Since those July meetings, there has not just been silence from the minister or any official, but defiance, dejection, and total refusal of the minister to meet these suffering men and women.
These are gallant men and women who diligently served the civil service and nation at large, men and women who voluntarily gave up their jobs in the nation’s interest when in MMD era. IMF gave government a condition to downsize its civil service if the country was to benefit from an economic growth programme that involved several countries in the region, such as Lesotho, Namibia and others; with the World Bank and other collaborating partners being among the funders to pay off all those that would volunteer to surrender their jobs. These are Zambian citizens, respectable fathers and mothers with dependents. They are not outcasts or animals, neither are they kids or prisoners. Several have died from depression over the years when they failed to sustain their families due to lack of financial resources, families and marriages have broken. These are men who have waited five governments to receive their hard earned dues, they are not begging for money they did not earn or work for, it’s their money they seek. Is that too much to ask?
One would have thought that with this issue in the hands of one whose portfolio and title is JUSTICE itself, bwana Haimbe would be in the frontline of the battle to ensure that these dear Zambians get what is rightfully and legally theirs, not to alter his title to be “injustice” minister. Haimbe has suddenly and automatically updated and upgraded his CV to masquerade as the most hard-hearted and most frowned at office-bearer to at least 3,500 Zambians, an attribute and legacy I wouldn’t want on my life’s history. Haimbe has adamantly refused any audience with the retirees who have vehemently tried everything within their power to seek an explanation from him on why they are not getting their money. But what does our injustice minister do if he doesn’t lock himself in his office and instruct his secretary to tell the silent protesters that he has no interest or intention of meeting them now or ever? He orders security guys, policemen to scatter them out of his office yard. How sad!
I can go on and on talking about Haimbe and minister Doreen Mwamba’s uncalled for behaviour, except that there’s one important question lingering on people’s mind whose answer could exonerate and vindicate both of them. If the President had truly instructed these two ministers to pay up these guys, why then have they not instituted or executed that command? Wouldn’t that be deemed gross misconduct and insubordination of the highest order of the land attracting instant expulsion or dismissal? Why then is the President silent on the matter? The President is aware of what is happening; the protests by these retirees at the Ministry of Justice and at State House. Only two possible answers come to mind. One answer is that these ministers are just brave, defiant, selfish, heartless, barbaric men and women whose interest is not to serve the Zambian ordinary people but themselves. Ministers get over K50,000 p/m, plus K2,000 sitting allowance in parliament every day, plus fuel, travel and other allowances.
At the end of each month, ministers pocket probably K120,000. Most lads in that wage bracket in Africa don’t know how impwa, ulumanda, soya pieces and katapa, all without oil, salt, tomatoe or onion look or taste. They live in a Disney world of sausages, grilled pork and roasted beef, spaghetti and rice, coffee with eggs and bacon every day that they don’t even exhaust each meal time. They surrender the remains to their healthy looking German shepherd dogs that also merely sniff and perk on a chunk or two, before leaving the rest to house boys, gatemen and cleaners. These guys drive expensive luxury automobiles only seen in latest cinemas with their offices, in which they do nothing, laden with laptops, fridges and stereos, offices where they just drink tea and dose, doing practically nothing for the people who put them in office. And when they enter parliament, they are either dozing or talking sheer rubbish when they open their frighteningly large mouths.
If this is the type of ministers that were mandated to look into the plight of voluntary retirees, then we have a big problem, such people can’t have a heart human enough to care for us the weak financially.
In closing, and that is if the President is aware of this and is deliberately silent over the issue, let me give this advice; first, the President should know that paying these guys their dues will positively impact on the economy. Think of the number of people that will be employed from the small businesses each of these guys will start and how the marketeers will have more customers. If 2026 comes and these guys are not paid, it automatically means UPND will have 3,500 villains, members defecting, including their children, relatives, friends and neighbours. Calculate, how many those can be? All those votes lost! Don’t decampaign yourselves!
Two weeks ago, Chama South member of parliament Davison Mung’andu asked the Minister of Justice if government truly owed these guys, to which he answered affirmatively, stating that there is indeed a historic debt that needs to be settled and all parliamentarians consented and ordered that government must pay these people. Surprisingly, our new Secretary to Cabinet presented a letter full of legal jargon stating that government had paid everyone in full.
If any major sums of funds were released, they should question those lawyers who represented these people, some of whom have bought luxury estates outside the country such as in Dubai. We call upon opposition parties to question government on this matter, or else as far as journalists like me are concerned, tamwalale until this matter is resolved and these guys get their loot. We don’t want to start writing letters to embassies of countries which produced the money to pay these guys, this money didn’t come from the Zambian treasury. Pay them, or we shall roll in the mud together bwana Presido. Till next Wednesday, I sign off!
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