Civil service purge hurting service delivery – Kateka

…says UPND’s agenda of replacing experienced workers with perceived loyalists has compromised service delivery and worse politicised jobs could deepen divisions and fuel instability in the nation

By NATION REPORTER

THE systematic removal of experienced civil servants perceived to be opposed to the ruling party, has resulted in declining public service delivery, New Heritage party president Chishala Kateka has claimed.

Ms Kateka, who has a corporate background, said in an interview yesterday that the civil service was supposed to remain professional and permanent regardless of which political party was in power.

She alleged that the Government had, over the last five years, replaced competent and experienced workers with people perceived to be supporters of the ruling party, regardless of their capacity.

“And that’s why over the last five years, we have seen the level of service delivery going down. We have been putting people who don’t have the capacity and the experience, simply because they are supporting the ruling party. It’s not meant to be like that,” Ms Kateka said.

She said civil servants were employed to provide expertise to the Government and should not be treated like political cadres who come and go with an administration.

Ms Kateka said Zambia had a multiparty political system in which citizens were free to support different political parties and that political affiliation should not determine access to employment.

“Are we saying simply because we don’t agree with the way they think, then we can’t have a means of income? Because those people that are working in the civil service, they are giving their expertise,” she said.

Ms Kateka also questioned how authorities could determine which civil servants had supported the opposition when voting was conducted by secret ballot.

“How do they know how people voted in the first place? Or are they just going to use that as an excuse to purge the civil servants of certain individuals?” she asked.

Ms Kateka warned that tying livelihoods to political allegiance could make elections a matter of survival, as supporters of each political camp would fear losing employment whenever power changed hands.

“If it is about the money, then what we are saying is that going forward, it will be either this group in power and in jobs or that group in power and in jobs,” she said.

“Now when you do it that way, it means that politics will be to the death. This is not only nonsensical but shallow thinking.”

Ms Kateka warned that such a situation could create resentment and instability, saying Zambia should instead build institutions that serve citizens regardless of their political affiliation.

“It will lead to bloodshed. So, we have to stop this sort of nonsensical thinking. It is certainly not going to unite the nation,” she said.

She also expressed concern that targeting of civil servants could extend beyond individuals to particular regions, warning that such an approach would further divide the country.

ENDS