PUBLIC PROTECTOR GOES FOR PARLEY

…questioning criteria used to pay 300 civil servants parked at Cabinet Office

THE Office of the Public Protector has submitted a report to Parliament, questioning the criteria Government is using to pay more than 300 civil servants who have been dumped at Cabinet Office in holding positions, Brebner Changala has disclosed.

Mr. Changala, a civil rights and political activist says there are more than 300 civil servants at Cabinet Office who were removed from their positions without being given any reason and that some had already been replaced.

Mr Changala said the Public Protector was also questioning the criteria that was used to remove the said civil servants from their positions but had been maintained on the payroll.

And Mr Changala has disclosed that upon discovering that 300 civil servants had been dumped at Cabinet Office, he and others requested for the information but Parliament refused claiming that the information was not for public consumption.

Mr Changala said with the Access to Information Law in place, Parliament was not supposed to hide such information, which was for public consumption.

“What is happening at Cabinet Office is illegal, and if you look closely most people who are in those holding position are from a certain region of the country,” Mr Changala said.

He said regional appointments, which were tolerated under the Patriotic Front (PF) were supposed to be changed by UPND as President Hakainde Hichilema was elected on the basis of change.

Meanwhile, Mr Changala has said it was an anomaly for the country not to have had a substantive Auditor General in office for more than a year.