We need proper systems in the civil service – ZCTU

Sat, 10 Dec 2016 11:53:43 +0000

THERE is need to put in place proper systems and policies to make the civil service more effective by ridding the system of individuals who would not add any value even if they were to be transferred, the Zambia Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) has said.

ZCTU president Nkole Chishimba told the Daily Nation that while the call for President Edgar Lungu to reshuffle workers in the civil service was timely, there was need for more measures to be put in place to make it more efficient.

Mr. Chishimba said transferring an erring civil servant from one place to the other did not end their inefficiency but was just transferring one problem from one department to the other which meant that the inefficiency aspect would not be addressed as it was most likely that the individual might not change the attitude despite the reshuffle.

He said there was need for stringent measures to be put in place if the country was to benefit from a holistic, efficient, and result-oriented civil service which would in turn enhance quality service provision to the people.

He said mindset change among employees might take long in some individuals, hence the need to come up with proper systems and policies that would give desired results in making the civil service better.

“What we need as a country is an efficient and effective civil service if we are to have effective service provision and so, apart from reshuffles, we need to come up with proper systems and policies that will enable us to achieve this because sometimes it has to do with the mindset of an individual.

“If you transfer an individual who has failed in one area to another without coming up with stringent measures to rectify the problem it means you have not sorted the problem but you have just transferred it and so the problem remains in the system. If it means putting systems to get rid of such individuals, then it should be done for us to have a better civil service. If it means getting rid of such an individual by showing him or her the exit door, then it should be done,” Mr. Chishimba said.

President Edgar Lungu has directed the Public Service Management Division (PMSD) reshuffle the civil service from time to time in a bid to curb corruption, complacency and familiarity attitudes so that there should be an improvement in the delivery of services to the general citizenry.

Speaking during his three-day working visit to South Africa on Thursday, President Lungu said there was need for public service workers to periodically be moved within ministries and departments to stop complacency and familiarity, which often led to corruption.

The Head of State said he did not see how civil servants could work in one office for more than a decade without moving to another ministry or department and at the same time expect such a civil servant to deliver the best of services to the public.