By Patson Chilemba
Sources in the defence forces have told Daily Revelation that Zambia National Service Commander Lieutenant General Maliti Solochi has banned officers from pursuing studies beyond the bachelor’s degree level.
But Gen Solochi, and the three senior military officials looking into the staff welfare, he called into the meeting to rebut the assertion, said there was no such decision, but added that the Service will only promote “needs based training programmes” tailored for the requirements in the service.
Gen Solochi has also been accused by some Seventh Day Adventist Church insiders, where he is an elder, of having abused his authority by sending ZNS soldiers to disrupt a conference on behalf of his purported ally, something the Gen
also
dismissed saying his officers happened to be in the vicinity where the event
was taking place.
Well-placed
sources in the Defence forces have told Daily Revelation on condition of
anonymity that Gen Solochi has directed that no further studies should be
pursued by officers such were not required for the needs of the service at that
particular time, saying the move has demotivated most staff as his orders taken
as commands.
“The environment
is very intimidating actually because people who wish to progress their studies
have been curtailed from doing so. In short there will be no studies required
beyond the degree level and beyond what the Commander considers relevant for
the service,” said a source.
But when
contacted via phone by this journalist, Gen Solochi denied that he had passed
such a decree, and told this journalist to have the matter discussed at his
office as he did not want to be discussing matters over the phone.
At his
office, the Gen called in three others officials in charge of administration, staff
welfare and educational needs, with them echoing the same sentiment that the
training programmes will be “need based” for the service.
Chief of
Staff, Gen Mwewa said there have been some officers who have been perpetuity studying
and in the process have spent little time handling the very duties they were
employed for.
But asked if
officers were free to pursue studies they wished to, Gen Mwewa said the studies
will be based on the requirements of ZNS so that state resources could be used
prudently and staff training allocated according to the needs of the service.
But asked
about those officers who wished to sponsor themselves, Gen Mwewa said they will
still be using government time.
“You find
that some officers have been continuously studying and now what happens when a
deployment is required?” added Gen Solochi.
Brigadier
Gen Chinunda said there was no instruction stopping anyone from pursuing
further studies, just the priority areas stated for any particular period.
And in correspondence
received by Daily Revelation, insiders in the SDA Church have accused Northern
Zambia Union president pastor Tommy Namitondo of having used his close
association with Gen Solochi to disrupt an SDA Northern Zambia Conference where
his favoured candidate was allegedly losing the elections.
“All the
delegates wanted Pastor Sinyangwe who helped to transform North Zambia field
into a conference to be the first President of the conference. To their dismay
Pastor Namitondo had his own agenda of having a different President who would
support him for the 2nd term as Union President,” the correspondence
received by Daily Revelation stated in part, and that when pastor Namitondo saw
that his preferred candidate was losing he called in “Elder Solochi to help him
with ZNS manpower to help protect him after he made a very unwelcome decision
of calling off the session and pushed the matter to SID where he knows his
friends Pastor Akombwa and Pastor Mulambo will support him and give him a
president he preferred knowing Akombwa
used to do the same tactics while in Zambia that made him the longest union
President ever.”
The Church
insiders argued that it was abuse of office by Gen Solochi to send soldiers on
unarmed people, wondering why police were not sent in as the rightful people to
maintain law and order.
“Whoever
will come here as President apart from the one we want will not be accepted. We
shall mobilise ourselves. Enough is enough. It’s time to show these people that
leadership is from God not imposing one. Copperbelt conference and North
Western conferences you are next,” stated the correspondence.
But asked to
respond to the same assertions, Gen Solochi said he was a God fearing man who
could never engage in wrongdoing.
But asked if
he sent the soldiers to aid his friend pastor Namitondo to disrupt the meeting
and what the same soldiers were doing in the same place, Gen Solochi said
anyone has the responsibility to stop violence, “including yourself”, pointing
to the journalist.
He said the
three army personnel, one officer and two soldiers, were there only to show a
sense of control, and that the police in fact eventually managed to arrive at
the scene and restored order.
