Thu, 06 Jul 2017 08:28:54 +0000
By OSCAR MALIPENGA
HEADS will roll in the civil servants following President Edgar Lungu’s directive to bring sanity in the system, Civil Service Commissioner Dickson Chasaya has warned. And Mr. Chasaya has vowed to continue transferring civil servants across the country in order to make the civil service system effective and efficient. Speaking during a meeting with over 10 public service unions in the civil service commission boardroom. Mr. Chasaya said when appointed by President Lungu he was directed to bring sanity in the civil service.
“We are here to do things differently and we will strive hard to do our best,” he said. He told all the public service unions that his office would be free every Tuesdays and Fridays for meetings on how best to improve the challenges being faced by civil servants across Zambia. “We will be meeting every Tuesdays and Fridays to clear all outstanding issues,” he promised the unions. Meanwhile, civil service commission vice chairman Hilary Chipango directed all the public service unions to educate their members on the code of ethics, public service disciplinary procedure and terms and conditions of service for public service workers. Mr. Chipango observed that most civil servants across the country had not acquainted themselves three most important documents for the civil service which include code of ethics, disciplinary procedure and the terms and conditions of service. “We need to maximize and utilize the union money to educate the public service workers on the code of ethics and the terms and conditions,” he said. Earlier, Mr Chasaya said he would engage permanent secretaries on frozen positions and told the unions to help the service commission to identify the frozen jobs.
“The issue of frozen job is the biggest animal that we want to fight,” he said. And Civil Service and Allied Workers Union of Zambia (SAWUZ) president Davy Chiyobe pledged to work hand-in-hand with civil service commission to improve the conditions of service for the members. He said there were a lot of challenges in the working conditions of his members. Mr. Chiyobe said his union was looking forward on how best the public service commission was going to resolve the challenges being faced by civil servants. And Zambia Union of Nurses Organisation (ZUNO) President Liseli Sitali expressed concern over delayed confirmation of his members who had been appointed act in certain position for a long time.
“Our members have been acting for a long time contrary to the statute which demands that a civil servant shall act for six after which he/she must be confirmed,” he said. And Agriculture Professional Stuff Unions of Zambia representative Alick Chirwa expressed concern over the delayed payment of settling allowances for the members who had been transferred.
He appealed to the public service commission to ensure that they addressed the issue of delayed payments of settling allowances, repatriation and retirement packages. Responding to their concerns, Mr. Chasaya said there would be a lot of transfers in the civil service in order to improve the system’s performance. He said it was unacceptable for a civil servant to be in one position and same working environment for more than 15 years like a village headman.
