Today's letters to the editor

Tue, 25 Oct 2016 13:27:13 +0000

Museveni spot on

Dear Editor

If there was anyone eminently qualified to talk about anarchy, it is President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni. He took over a country that had degenerated to the worst possible levels of anarchy.

Under Idi Amin who took over from President Milton Obote in a coup de tat Uganda had degenerated into a level of lawlessness never seen anywhere else on the continent.  Militias masquerading as soldiers killed and maimed at will. The Asian community was targeted and many of them ended up in the United Kingdom.

When a country loses peace and descends into anarchy it takes many years to recover if at all and even when it does the situation is never normalised because the danger of recurrence is always there hence the current situation in Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi which are seemingly stable and yet still a state of flux.

The situation in neighbouring DRC is not any different just as the case is in neighbouring Zimbabwe where violence and use of arms played a role in securing their independence.

We should be grateful that our transitions have always been preceded by peaceful election because the alternative to democracy is anarchy, destruction and breakdown in the rule of law.

That is why I value to the counsel and wisdom from President Museveni who, like many other international leaders, have been bombarded by the very divisive messages that HH and his colleagues have been sending to the international community concerning the situation in Zambia.

An impression has been created that this country is in turmoil over the results of the last elections. This could not be further from the truth. Seven out of three Provinces voted against the UPND and it  cannot therefore be said that the country is divided.

We are not divided. Somebody wanted us divided by creating an artificial tribal divide which has and will never work because we are one people.

So long live Kaguta Museveni and thank you for the good message to the people of Zambia. Henry Kasonkomona.

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Hakainde Hichilema’s voodoo denial

Dear Editor,

If there was any dispute over who won the August 11 presidential ballot, there was no doubt when it came to Hakainde Hichilema’s voodoo denial.

After post-election mayhem that left scores of UPND sympathizers and members arrested and incarcerated in various prisons across the country, the 5-time UPND presidential candidate at this year’s polls in August, Hakainde Hichilema, inadvertently conceded defeat and unwittingly recognized the PF presidential candidate as the duly elected Head of State in his statement of voodoo denial, finally ending his challenge over the outcome of the August 11 polls.

Just who is wickedly wishing President Edgar Lungu dead is still not clear. A couple of days earlier, Hakainde Hichilema declared, “I am not a voodoo man and therefore, have no capacity to kill President Edgar Lungu and it was unfair for Vice-President Inonge Wina to accuse me of wishing the Head of State dead” (“I’m no voodoo man – HH”, Sunday Nation, October 23, 2016).

Fast rewind,  and back into parliament, his party staged a brief boycott of proceedings following the Vice-President’s ill-wish allegations. Not to be outdone by his members of parliament, the UPND leader also accused the Speaker of the National Assembly Patrick Matibini of favouring the governing party in making his rulings in the House.

Meanwhile, the international community that backed the UPND and the election process in the just-ended polls breathed a sigh of relief, hoping the Hakainde Hichilema’s voodoo denial marked the end of the last post-election shenanigans rather than the beginning of new ones.

It seems this year’s election held in August is still struggling to deliver democracy in the minds and hearts of the UPND leaders, sympathizers and members. Mubanga Luchembe, LUSAKA

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Grievances and miseries of retirees

Dear Editor,

Kindly allow me space in our country wide read newspaper of our time.

I’m one of the retirees who was retired in the year 2012, September at Kafue District Council.

My plight including fellow retirees who were retired many years before me and those who have been retired after me are living in abject poverty.

I therefore write through this forum asking the ministry of Local Government and the Ministry of Finance to fund the Local Authority to clear retirees as soon as possible including those from other councils not yet paid.

It makes sad reading to hear retirees facing severe suffering when they cannot make basic needs in their lives as they are not paid of their benefits.

This is double torturing of life. I’m asking the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Local Government and the newly appointed Minister of the same to quickly solve the issue to enable them meet their daily needs.

The phase the country is going through is going to leave a lot of suffering to the retirees.

I implore the concerned Ministry to even supervise the disbursement of these monies to these local authorities for this purpose. Many a times some Councils have abused the monies meant for retirees.

Local Goverment retirees have been unfairly treated. Local Authority Superannuation Fund is another area where the Government has its eyes been swayed opposite. LASF cannot suffer any consequences, but retirees who had saved with the Fund are the ones who are suffering for they are unable to get any money from the institution for lucky of money.

It is my prayer on my behalf and indeed on behalf of the silent majority of retirees do hereby ask the Government to treaty this matter with the urgency it deserves.It is wrong that the concerned ministries keep quiet while people end up blaming the government of the day.  Let the Government pay US our monies to lessen the burden of living as beggars when we are not supposed to do so in this era as senior citizens. Abraham Nkunika, Kafue.

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Mistreatment of local employees at VisionFund Zambia

Dear Editor,

We want to bring to your attention the worst mistreatment of Zambian employees at VisionFund Zambia (VFZ) by two foreign nationals.

VisionFund Zambia Limited is a Microfinance Institution and a subsidiary of VisionFund International.

These two foreign nationals have adopted a habit of mistreating Zambian employees and disrespecting the Zambian labour laws with impunity.

We appeal to you to expose these two before Zambian employees are abused beyond what they can take.

Staff are overworked and underpaid. The salaries are not aligned to the workload and inflation rate and yet the CEO and CFO are paid handsomely in dollars.

Overtime is not paid instead they pay employees a K100 for transport and lunch or supper and in most cases this is paid after staff have already put in long hours during the week and on weekends. Sometimes employees are made to knock off the following day in the morning.

Employees are only paid leave pay upon resignation or termination of the contract.

Employees have complained repeatedly to the human resource manager but to no avail as this office is toothless and does not represent the affairs of the VFZ employees.

We seek the intervention of your competent office in this matter. Recently two employees (ladies) of VFZ were unlawfully detained at central police station with no charge at all. Is this right? Why should we be treated like this in our own land?

When bank reconciliations are done, sometimes there are transaction errors. The Ugandan CFO punishes the employees who do the reconciliations by making deductions from their salaries and yet they do not handle cash. This is unethical and broad day light stealing from the employees.

The Zimbabwean CEO has been at the helm of this organization for more than 10 years now as though we don’t have qualified Zambians who can manage this institution prudently.

Similarly Zambia has a lot of qualified accountants and we don’t need a Ugandan to head the Finance team at the expense of many qualified Zambians who are looking for Jobs.

The circumstances under which these two obtained their work permits are also highly questionable and need thorough investigations by the Immigration department and BoZ.

Rumour has it that they dubiously use World Vision Zambia and AMSCO to renew their work permits.

Can the Immigration Department move in and investigate the type of contracts and work permits that these two foreigners possess.