CIVIL SERVANTS REINSTATEMENTS STALLS

During the 2021 election campaigns, President Hakainde Hichilema, then in opposition promised he was going to reinstate all civil servants who were either retired in national interest or unfairly dismissed for political or tribal reasons.

On November 5, 2021, the Secretary to Cabinet advised all the affected civil servants to lodge in their appeals for reinstatement by November 15, 2021. It has been one year since and the officers in the Zambia Army were retired in national interest and those who feel they were unfairly dismissed have not been recalled despite having appealed.

“As you may know, in April this year, the chairperson of the Appeals Committee, Lucy Mungoma announced that out of the 388 appellants, only 76 had been recommended for reinstatement. In June, the Minister of Defence, Mr Ambrose Lufuma informed the nation that he would the names of the former military personnel that were going to be reinstated in the same month. But no name has been announced so far and we have been told that the list has been ignored because most of the dismissed or retired officers are from the Northern region. It would appear that the recall of the officers who were retired or dismissed has become tribal, one of the dismissed officers claimed.

The officers said it has been revealed that in fact there was nothing like retirements or dismissals based on tribal grounds and that the realisation that the dismissals were based on valid grounds had not settled well with the leadership. “On June 25, 2022, Ministry of Defence Permanent Norman Chipakupaku announced that the recommendations for the reinstatements committee for military personnel was with President Hichilema. And on September 9, Secretary to Cabinet Patrick Kangwa announced that the 154 civil servants had been recommended for reinstatement without announcing the names. As we speak, there has been no correspondence to the effect that the line ministries have received the names of the affected officers,” the officers said.

The source stated that the reinstatements are now causing problems as there was a serious struggle between the reinstatement committre and government in an attempt to include officers were not recommended for recall into the civil service. They said most of the officers government was attempting to reinstate were in fact dismissed or retired after they were found wanting of committing offences such as attending rallies for the UPND in opposition.

“What is worrying is that from the Zambia Army and Police, those that have been reinstated are either from Western, North-Western and Southern provinces. Those from other regions have been made to wait indefinitely because it seems the names are not correct,” the sources said.