Overhaul public service, demands MP
THE misappropriation of public funds will not end until there is a drastic change of the current service which has served from the Kaunda era, says Patriotic Front Nkana Member of Parliament Alexander Chiteme.
And Mr Chiteme alleged that a good number of civil servants were doing better than MPs because of theft.
Speaking during the PF interactive forum in Lusaka yesterday, Mr Chiteme said reforms in the civil service were needed as matter of urgency if corruption was to be completely uprooted.
Mr Chiteme said most of the issues of misappropriation cited in the 2016 Auditor General’s report where misapplied by civil servants and yet it is politicians who received the backlash.
Mr Chiteme said though the civil service reforms were expensive, the current generation of workers needed to be replaced with professional people with a heart for the people.
He also alleged that some civil servants were living better lives with stylish and luxurious houses, especially in Lusaka’s Chalala area where houses were being constructed and owned by them.
He charged that some civil servants working in Government ministries and the people in charge of expending budgets that were being approved in parliament were the ones behaving like monkeys in a maize field.
Mr Chiteme however clarified that not all issues reported in the Auditor General’s report were as a result of misappropriation, noting that failure to punish the offenders had led to the scourge continuing.
“If you go in Chalala area you will find houses built in the Nigerian style and if you ask for the owner you will hear it is the accountant in Education Ministry. We can change Government today, we have changed Government before from UNIP into MMD, and from MMD into the current Government of PF and what we have not changed drastically is the civil service.
“It is the same civil service that was in Kaunda Government, the same that was in MMD Government, same civil service that is working in this Government and you expect corruption to end,” Mr Chiteme said.
Meanwhile, Mr Chiteme who is Presidential Empowerment Initiative Fund (PEIF) vice patron describe 2017 has a tremendous year following infrastructure development projects that had been initiated and undertaken by Government while some were still underway.
Mr Chiteme said no government could boast of more development than the PF had recorded in all sectors in such a short time.
Mr Chiteme said the PF Government had upgraded many clinics to first level hospitals and built health posts that were now in each part of the country making it easy for citizens to access health care.
He also talked about the social cash transfer initiative that was helping alleviating poverty in rural areas.
He thanked President Edgar Lungu for being a leader that was not afraid of taking bold decisions to develop the country.
“The Lusaka/Ndola dual carriageway and many other road projects from Dudumwezi in Southern Province to Chifunabuli in Luapula Province as successes that could never be taken away from the PF government by those that chose to see wrongs even were it was clear for all to see that the Government of President Lungu was working and delivering to the people.