ZAMBIA BADLY NEEDS A PERFORMING CIVIL SERVICE

Dear Editor,

A PROSPEROUS nation, thrives on a vibrant civil service, but where the civil service is inept, the nation grinds to a halt like a rusty log wheel of the industry which cannot move round in production.

It has to be realised that all activities be it, shoe repairs, tyre mending, farming, car wash, street vending and marketing, drug stores, transport and communication, building and construction, postal services, mining and metal fabrication, liquor licensing, hygiene and health, forestry, elections, judiciary, immigration and refugees etc, there is a government ministry responsible to regulate them.

So, when officers in government are not committed and professional, there will be no performance and development in these sectors.

To create a civil service is not entirely on the demand for higher academic qualification which are not backed by civil service competences. A civil service where officers are not given chance to rise through the ranks to fully understand the operations and procedures of government is dangerous for a country, as government decisions affect many people, even outside of the civil service itself.

Equally, it is also dangerous to run a civil service, which has no system to drill decision makers into career civil servants who are patriotic, skilled and knowledgeable of civil service procedures.

All these problems we are facing as a nation, are as a result of the academic civil servants with hidden agendas, some are politically inclined and so disobedient and are not submissive to the authorities.

A performing civil service, creates an all-round enabling environment for accelerated development in commerce industry and agriculture.

It should not always take the Head of State to chase after public servants to ensure work is done expeditiously.

Our civil service has not taken advantage of the adverse environment around us in the region for the country to excel.

Take for example, those entrepreneurs that sell flowers to mourners, are not necessarily happy to see more funerals, except that their commodity is a necessity at the time of someone’s bereavement.

Take for instance again, we have experienced less rains this season, and therefore, it is beyond comprehension that a water borne disease like Cholera can afflict us in the midst of a calamity of a semi drought.

This simply means, something has seriously gone wrong somewhere or everywhere in the community and the authorities that manage it.

The way forward is that, someone should crack the whip to see that everyone at whatever level of the public service puts in the valued service to remain on government payroll, otherwise it is a waste public resources.

In this regard, the Disciplinary Authority, are all responsible officers or supervisors in all ministries, departments, institutions, divisions, provinces or districts where such erring officers serve.

So, does it make sense to main maintain such inept public servants who put the lives of people of Chongwe in danger recklessly?

Given the right work culture, there is nothing impossible to be done by any civil service. Adeodatus Matafwali Lusaka