RETIRED IN NATIONAL INTEREST

RETIRED IN NATIONAL INTEREST

The starting point is a fundamental principle: civil servants must implement lawful government policies while maintaining professional integrity, impartiality and fidelity to the Constitution.

However, service to the government of the day must not be confused with partisan loyalty to the ruling political party.

1. Who should civil servants be loyal or pay allegiance to?

This question requires a distinction between allegiance to the Republic, professional obligations to the government of the day and partisan loyalty to a ruling political party.

A. Allegiance to the Republic and the Constitution

Civil servants exercise public responsibilities within a constitutional and legal framework.

Article 173(1) of the Constitution identifies the guiding values and principles of the public service.

The relevant provisions include:

“(a) maintenance and promotion of the highest standards of professional ethics and integrity;”

“(c) effective, impartial, fair and equitable provision of public services;”

“(f) commitment to the implementation of public policy and programmes;”

“(g) accountability for administrative acts;”

“(i) merit as a basis of appointment and promotion

These provisions establish that professional ethics, impartiality, accountability, implementation of public policy and merit are fundamental public-service principles.

Civil servants must therefore discharge their responsibilities in accordance with the Constitution, applicable laws and their lawful official duties.

B. Must civil servants serve the government of the day?

Yes. The Constitution expressly identifies commitment to implementing public policy and programmes as a guiding principle of the public service.

This means that civil servants are expected to implement lawful government policies within their respective mandates.

An officer’s personal political preferences do not, by themselves, provide a justification for refusing to carry out or deliberately sabotaging lawful official responsibilities.

However, the obligation to implement government policy does not remove the duty to act lawfully, provide professional advice and protect public resources.

Where an officer identifies a genuine legal, financial or administrative problem, the appropriate response is to raise it through the established official channels.

Professional advice by civil servants to those in power should be evaluated on its merits rather than treated automatically as political hostility.

C. Must civil servants be loyal to the ruling political party?

Professional service to the government of the day is not the same as partisan loyalty to the ruling party.

A political party is an organisation that seeks to exercise political power. The Civil Service is an administrative institution responsible for carrying out public functions.

A professional civil servant should therefore be capable of serving successive governments while maintaining impartiality and professional standards.

The National Assembly’s parliamentary record reproduces the following principle from the Civil Service Code of Ethics:

“Public Service employees should serve the Government of the day, whatever its political persuasion, to the best of their ability in the way that maintains political impartiality and in line with the requirements as outlined in the code of ethics; no matter what their political beliefs are;”

The same parliamentary record states:

“Public Service employees should not allow political views to determine any advice given or action taken.”

D. The constitutional protection of public officers

Article 173(3) of the Constitution of Zambia provides verbatim:

“(3) A public officer shall not be—

(a) victimised or discriminated against for having performed functions in good faith in accordance with this Constitution or other law; or

(b) removed from office, reduced in rank or otherwise punished without just cause and due process.”

This constitutional provision is central to the discussion.

It expressly protects public officers against victimisation or discrimination for performing their functions in good faith in accordance with the Constitution or other law. It also prohibits removal, reduction in rank or other punishment without just cause and due process.

2. What Constitutes Disloyalty or Political Conduct by a Civil Servant

A civil servant’s conduct should be assessed against the applicable law, professional duties and evidence.

The mere fact that an officer disagrees with a political leader does not, by itself, establish misconduct; what constitutes misconduct is;

A. Using public resources for partisan political purposes.

B. Allowing political considerations to determine official decision eg deliberately treating people differently because of their political affiliations.

C. Using official authority to advance partisan interests for a particular candidate or political party.

D. Refusing to implement or deliberately sabotaging lawful government policy out of political inclination.

E. Breaching confidentiality obligations; Unauthorised disclosure of protected information constitute gross misconduct.

3. To my colleagues in the ruling UPND party, please understand the fact that the following circumstances do not, by themselves, establish professional misconduct by civil servants:

A. Holding a personal political opinion.
B. Providing technical advice that a minister or senior UPND official finds inconvenient.
C. Raising concerns about possible illegality, waste or administrative failure through appropriate channels.
D. Having served under the PF administration.
E. Identifying weaknesses in a proposed government policy.
F. Refusing to participate in unlawful activity.

The decisive question is whether the officer has breached a specific legal or professional obligation.

A civil servant should be assessed on evidence of conduct, not merely on assumptions about political allegiance.

Antonio Mourinho Mwanza

Monday, 19th October 2026