RHETORIC AT PLAY
IT is surprising that after being in the driving seat for over two years, the ruling United Party for National Development (UPND) is still driving a divisive agenda in the civil service.
Some of its senior and influential members still talk about there being remnants of the former ruling Patriotic Front and blame them for the new dawn administration’s failure to deliver.
We do not think Zambians are impressed with this narrative that remnants of the PF are undermining the policies of President Hakainde Hichilema.
These failures should not be blamed on innocent people whose only crime is that they have been in the civil service and served under the PF.
To our knowledge, the civil service is composed of professionals whose preoccupation is to work with the government of the day – on nonpartisan lines.
It is therefore saddening that some senior UPND members have the nerve to demand that President Hichilema should fire what they perceive as PF remnants.
They are accused of frustrating and sabotaging the implementation of the government’s developmental programmes meant to benefit Zambians.
A UPND Presidential campaign team member, Mr Beene Hachoombwa claims that those who were employed by the PF want at all cost to frustrate the UPND government because they do not believe in its ideology.
Mr Hachoombwa said allowing them to function in the same positions is bringing down the good policies of the new dawn administration.
It is common knowledge that the UPND since taking control of the government has systematically purged not only the civil service but other quasi-government institutions of anyone it suspected of being aligned to the PF.
These have been replaced by its cadres, and in the process sparking controversy as the majority of cases were not on professional grounds but based on ethnicity.
There are already over 200 civil servants dumped at Cabinet Office on holding positions because the new dawn administration feels it cannot work with them. This is simply political.
One wonders how the UPND hopes to unite the country when it has cadres like Mr Hachoombwa who are driving a negative agenda.
And the sad part is that the powers-that-be just sit back without any form of censure. Could it be he is speaking for them?
It is ironic for example that Mr Hachoombwa claims that the so-called remnants are now conniving with businessmen to hike prices of commodities so that Zambians can look at the UPND leadership as not being serious.
He said PF remnants have especially dominated the procurement departments and are using tactics to ensure that projects are delayed.
Our advice to Mr Hachoombwa is that he should leave civil servants alone as their role is to interpret policies of the political party in office. If its policies are flawed, they should not be blamed.
The mess in the health and agricultural sectors for which the nation is yet to recover should wholly be blamed on the politicians who opted to play politics at the expense of people’s lives.