By Isaac Zulu
Faustina Sinyangwe has attributed the tendency by civil servants to leak confidential information to the public to the continued trend by those in government to appoint political party members to take up positions as senior civil servants.
On Thursday, acting Secretary to Cabinet Patrick Kangwa lamented that civil servants have been leaking confidential information to members of the public, warning that this is against the Code of Conduct for civil servants.
Commenting on the said lamentations, Sinyangwe said that there is need to depoliticise the civil service.
“During our time we were true professional civil servants and ours was to work with the government of the day. I worked under UNIP, UNIP was voted out of power and MMD formed government and I remained loyal to the government of the day because I was a professional civil servant,” Sinyangwe, who served as director in the ministry of information and broadcasting, said. “Mr (Michael) Sata was my uncle and was a politician, but he appreciatedthe fact that I was a professional civil servant, and he could not ask for anything from me. So this issue of civil servants leaking confidential information…it is the politicians who have created it. They are to blame because they have appointed those that have been singing songs for them and political party cadres to work as civil servants, even at permanent secretary level. Today we are seeing permanent secretaries going to some places and we see, even the Secretary to Cabinet lining up at the airport to receive politicians. I think there is need to depoliticise the civil service. This thing has cost us as a nation… we can’t make progress. Service delivery is being compromised.”
She recalled that, while in opposition, President Hakainde Hichilema used to publicity tell those that were in government then that he used to access government confidential documents, and that he should have been discouraging misconduct among civil servants before the party he was leading could form government.
“You remember when he was in opposition, the President used to say that I access your documents before you can see them. Now that he is in government he is complaining. He has forgotten that the civil service that he has assembled is appointed on political lines. He has civil servants that are aligned to the ruling party. I think they should sieve the system and bring in credible people in the civil service.
Sinyangwe also pointed out that there is need to improve conditions of service for public workers in order to restore integrity to the civil service.
“I can only advise our civil servants to work with the government of the day. But also they should improve conditions of service for civil servants… they should be comfortable. This thing where money is exchanging hands has eroded the integrity of our civil service,” said Sinyangwe, who also served as Patriot Front Matero member of parliament.
