By SILUMESI MALUMO
THE Patriotic Front (PF) employed 160, 000 civil servants, so the new dawn administration should not be excited with the 41, 00 they intend to employ, Patriots for Economic Progress president Sean Tembo has said.
Mr Tembo said the new dawn administration should not portray this planned recruitment as a major score.
He reminded the government that from 2011 to 2021, the size of the civil service grew by approximately 160, 000, which translates to an average of an annual increase of 32, 000.
“So if the previous government was employing an average of 32, 000 civil servants per annum and the new dawn intends to employ 41, 000, what’s the major difference here, which an entire Republican President should be citing as a major accomplishment of his administration?
“It is also worth noting that the new dawn intended recruitment is unlikely to be an annual event for each of the next five years that they will he in power, but rather it appears to be a once off fiscal year event. I am very much doubtful that in the 2023 fiscal year the new dawn intends to recruit another set of 11, 000 health workers and 30, 000 teachers.
“Truth be told, we do not know how many civil servants the new dawn administration will employ in their five-year period in office. So far there is nothing to celebrate about their intended recruitment of 41, 000 civil servants for the 2022 fiscal year,” Mr Tembo said.
If we are to objectively ascertain, he said, whether the new dawn outperformed the previous regime in terms of civil servants recruitment, the best time to do that would he in 2026.
Mr Tembo also said however if on the other side the new dawn only hires 41, 000 this year then decide to effect an employment freeze thereafter, it means that by 2026 their accumulative total number of civil servants hired will only be 41, 000 which will be far less than the what the PF regime hired.
He said for now, it is premature to be over the moon celebrating the planned recruitment of 41, 000 civil servants.
“There is nothing monumental or worth celebrating there. Unless if one is really short of victories to celebrate, which appears to be the case for Mr Hichilema,” Mr Tembo said.
Ends.
He also said if Mr Hichilema achieved the planned constructing of Livingstone-Ndola dual carriageway, then he would have something tangible to celebrate about.
