By Isaac Zulu
Faustina Sinyangwe has charged that President Hakainde Hichilema is creating position in government in order to appease and reward his political allies.
In an interview with Daily Revelation, Sinyangwe, who served as Patriot Front member of parliament and director at the ministry of information and broadcasting, has questioned the decision taken by President Hakainde Hichilema to create four positions of permanent secretaries for “special duties,” stressing that by creating positions that never existed in the past; the Head of State is creating a bloated civil service which she said has a bearing on the Treasury.
Sinyangwe explained that, whilst in opposition, the UPND pledged to be prudent in the utilisation of public resources and wondered why the Head of State is now putting stress on the Treasury.
“Personally I don’t think it is necessary to create positions like permanent secretary for special duties. To start with, what special duties are those? Do they even have a job description? At Cabinet Office already you have the permanent secretary for administration, you have the secretary to Cabinet and the two deputies as well directors. So it is not necessary to create those positions,” explained Sinyangwe. “And I think the President is creating jobs for the people he has been working with in the political alliance just to appease or reward them. And I don’t think that the people being appointed to serve in the civil service have what it takes to do a good job.”
Sinyangwe emphasised that President Hakainde Hichilema should “walk the talk” with regard to implementing austerity measures in the utilisation of public resources.
“He is talking about prudent utilisation of public resources, the implementation of austerity measures and so on. But that is not what is obtaining on the ground,” said Sinyangwe.
She said there is need to change the trend of appointing political party cadres to take up positions in the civil service, saying “the civil service should not be politicised.”
“I worked in the civil service myself for 33 years and we worked as civil servants on merit and not based on political affiliation,” explained Sinyangwe. “We had UNIP, then MMD came in and when MMD went out, Patriot Front came in and now we have the UPND in government. I strongly feel that this trend of appointing people who are politically inclined to take up positions in the civil service is becoming a disease. And should come to an end,” said Sinyangwe.
Sinyangwe continued.
“And now they have even gone to an extent of creating a position of director for information at the ministry of information and broadcasting, which never existed during our time just to reward a politician. They have gone a step further by creating a position of media director at State House, whose work can easily be discharged by Anthony Bwalya. Hahaha… I think we need a President who is going to be strict on this particular issue and concentrate on running the country efficiently without politicising the civil service.”
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