Destroying the Public Service
..Why is President Hichilema allowing these individuals to violate the Constitution and desecrate public service guidelines…
Amb. Emmanuel Mwamba wrote;
A new crop of UPND cadres in the public service won’t even bother to pretend to be civil servants, professional or act non-partisan.
Leading the troupe is Permanent Secretary for Information and Media, Mr. Thabo Kawana, who has publicly and repeatedly stated that he engages in politics, spurs with politicians and issues political rhetoric because he is a party cadre.
He says he is from the UPND Alliance and will not therefore bother to abide by civil service regulations.
He emphasises that will not have a job without President Hakainde Hichilema.
He forgets as a Permanent Secretary, he has a Minister whose job it is too legitimately engage in political matters and handle such political work.
He also forgets that every time he talks, he exposes how harpless his boss, Patrick Kangwa, Secretary to Cabinet is, who is his supervisor and whose duty it is to ensure and build, a public service that is professional, ethical and non-partisan.
Now Permanent Secretary for Special Duties at Cabinet Office, Naomi Tukiya Tetamashimba says she is an unapologetic “UPND civil servant” and is openly campaigning and coordinating logistics for the Kawambwa parliamentary by-election.
Another one who comes to mind is the new Lusaka High Court Judge, who is a previously known UPND cadre, Situmbeko Chocho, but has shamelessly continued to do the bidding of her Party in her sacred work of a Judge.
Currently, stakeholders are contending with Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) Chairperson and Commissioner, Mwangala Zaloumis and Mcdonald Chipenzi.
Recently,Joseph Akafumba, former NDC Vice President, but now Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Home Affairs and Internal Security, rallied his colleagues that they should respond enmass to attacks issued against President Hichilema by former President Edgar Lungu or opposition leaders.
The trouble is not with these partisan elements soiling the public service and subsequently obtaining illegitimate pay, allowances, and deriving fringe benefits from the public purse.
The trouble is with President Hichilema who has allowed the desecration of the public service to continue.
He had pledged that he would build an independent and professional public service.
He is expected to promote a professional and non-partisan public service.
When he came into office in 2021, he did the Opposite, he actually purged civil servants and public officials who he fired, dismissed, retired in-national-interest or victimized on mere allegations that they allegedly belonged to the Patriotic Front.
He also set up a commission to reinstate and reintegrate those public officials who he said, could have been dismissed because they were members of the UPND or were victimised because they came from a certain region.
But currently it’s a serious offence warranting immediate removal or dismissal, if you are suspected to be a member or sympathizer of the Patriotic Front or the Opposition.
For example, President Hichilema retired in purported national interest 38 senior police officers, in one swoop, at the Zambia Police.
Currently over 430 directors and senior civil servants are parked at the Public Service Management Division (PSMD) and Cabinet Office on false allegations that they are/were sympathetic to the former ruling party.
Each Minister, Permanent Secretary or head of department, Commissioner or Board, has proceeded to remove those senior civil servants they found and replaced them with those they feel are UPND first, as priority criteria.
The purge, removal and harrasment of civil servants has been so wanton that the Public Protector investigated this regional, tribal and partisan purge.
Sadly she has grown cold feet and has failed to release the findings and her own Report.
The Public Protector, Caroline Sokoni won’t even bother to emulate the former Public Protector of South Africa,Thuli Madonsela, whose fearless work inspired Zambia to set up a similar constitutional office to hold power to account.
Madonsela investigated corruption at State House and authored the report into “State Capture”, that exposed nefarious and corrupt influence of the Gupta Brothers on the Presidency of South Africa.
President Hichilema swore to respect, uphold and promote the values of the Constitution.
He cannot allow zealous party cadres to desecrate with contempt, the Constitution and values of the public service.
This set of values as outlined in the Zambian Public Service Code of Ethics, define and guides the conduct of government officials.
These include impartiality, integrity, honesty, objectivity, loyalty, respect, accountability, excellence, confidentiality, and selflessness; essentially emphasizing ethical conduct, transparency, and commitment to serving the public good without personal gain.
Probably, Josephs Akafumba, Thabo Kawana and Naomi Tetamashimba have put this document in their dustbins next to their plush offices.