Reinstate chief registrar Mhende – Kateka
By Thomas Ngala
I THINK it is not right to use a whole system to fight a young lady, former chief registrar of societies Thandiwe Mhende, who cannot fight against you, laments New Heritage Party (NHP) leader Chishala Kateka.
Kateka said, when she and other opposition leaders addressed the media in Lusaka on Tuesday, there is injustice being done in the country and it relates specifically to women.
“When we have the whole system, the whole government, coming down hard upon some defenceless women, women who they know cannot fight them back, it is very unfortunate. I am speaking about the former DPP [Lillian Siyunyi], who was hounded out of her office. I am also speaking about the immediate past registrar who has been kicked out. Why am I talking about injustice? When you have an office in government you cannot willy-nilly give out information,” she said. “Now, in the case of the registrar, that lady was subpoenaed, which is as good as a court order. When you are subpoenaed, you are subpoenaed to do something. You have no choice. If you do not accord to that, you can actually go to prison. But here she does what she is supposed to do, she releases that information, and then, I don’t care what you call it, she is fired.”
Kateka bemoaned the message the government is sending to the civil service through issues surrounding Mhende.
“What is the woman supposed to do in that position? Should she have sat on that information or listen to her bosses? Where is the justice in what has been done to that poor woman? Now what is the effect of that injustice? Here is a woman who has a career ahead of her. I used to hear of the registrar but I had not seen her pictures until now. She is a very young lady with her future in front of her, and then you curtail that,” she said. “What message are you sending to the government workers? You have to listen to us, don’t listen to those who are coming and for you to do what is right. So you are putting fear in the public service. We must reinstate that lady, and there is injustice being perpetrated against her. Don’t forget that she has got someone who looks after her as well, she has got God on her side.”
Kateka warned that “if you are the one who was responsible for firing that lady or moving her when she should not have been moved, may you also be moved.”- The Mast
She has not been fired, but merely transferred to another arm of government. Should there be need she will be called to answer before the court and if found compromised government can prescribe appropriate action. Remember we have before this government officials who planted to bid for PF former ministers and officials. We are still dealing with cases of stealing and corruption. When corruption cases were taken to court they would give themselves immunity. Remember Chitotelas case and the looting at KCM by Milingo Lungu and his subsequent immunity from prosecution. The Home Affairs Minister ID the supervisoring authority of the RoS. The back stops at the minister. The anomalies on the form from Makebi Zulu should be explained by Makebi. If he fails to convince the court about where he got that form, he could go in for forgery and lose his practising licence. It’s only people that are compromised or who are part of this criminal syndicate who cannot see what a forged document looks like. As a civil servant the RoS can be transferred to any government department where his/her services are required. She can not demand where to serve. You cannot be playing politics with everything including supporting criminals.