Stop alcohol abuse, civil servants urged

Sat, 10 Jun 2017 09:35:15 +0000

By JUSTINA MULENGA

CIVIL servants should stop taking advantage of their work by abusing alcohol during working hours, 3rd Liberation Movement leader Enoch Tonga has said.

Speaking in an interview with the Daily Nation, Mr Tonga said some civil servants’ behavior was shameful by abusing alcohol.

“It is very disappointing to find that some police officers abuse alcohol while on duty because those are the people in the forefront of maintainng law and order among members of the community,” he said.

Mr Tonga said civil servants had stopped respecting their work by doing whatever they wanted while on duty.

He said the increase in such behavior was as a result of lack of supervision from their superiors.

He stated that it was high time civil servants started respecting their work and followed the code of ethics.

“Civil servants serve the nation and should be an example to those who want to break the law by stopping behaviours like abusing alcohol,” he said.

Mr Tonga said civil servants should report for work in a sober state and stop embarrassing Government with poor conduct.

He said Government should put strong punitive measures in place that would be applied on those found drunk during working hours.

He also said random inspections were necessary to check on the operations of civil servants.

Mr Tonga said civil servants needed to deliver to the nation diligently and with integrity.

He said they were also a contributing factor to youths’ abuse of alcohol because they portrayed morally bad behavior.

‘‘How do you expect to tell a youth to stop abusing alcohol when you as an enforcer of the law is a culprit,” he said.

“We are not developing as a nation because of some people who take their work for granted, especially those in the civil service,” he said.

Zambia was lagging behind in development because of the bad attitude towards work portrayed by civil servants.

‘‘There can be no good service delivery when one is under the influence of alcohol,’’ he said.