Cartels in civil service sabotaging Govt-MMD

Wed, 04 Jan 2017 14:20:05 +0000

BY OSCAR MALIPENGA

THE civil service is riddled with cartels formed within it for the purpose of enriching themselves thereby frustrating government’s efforts to deliver development, Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) national secretary Raphael Nakacinda has charged.

Mr Nakachinda has proposed that there was urgent need to demolish cartels that had been formed within the civil service so as to enhance service delivery to the people.

Speaking when he featured on Pan African Radio, Mr Nakacinda said the country’s civil service is riddled with cartels the workers had developed systems which they were using to enrich themselves when their job as civil servants should be to better the lives of the Zambians.

“Along the way people have even devised a system through which they use their positions in government which they use to enrich themselves. We need to demolish cartels that have been created with the civil service,” he said. He explained that those who were in the civil service to enrich themselves should live their government jobs and start businesses.

“Each one of us has a choice either to go and do business in the private  sector, if you desire to get rich and wealthy you go to the private sector, we have a liberalised the economy, of course this one of the hall marks of the MMD government therefore anybody can start a business but it you chose to join the civil service in principal you have committed yourself to service for the public because it is not by force, it is by choice to that effect the attitude of the civil servant must be to do things that will better the life of the majority.

“These days’ simple things like procurement for example, why is it that when it comes to procuring goods for government there are always 3-4 times higher than the market price? The inflating of prices is because there has been developed within the system,” he said.

He further suggested that government considers a shakeup at departmental level so as to make individuals more productive.