MINISTRY POWER STRUGGLE

DONOR-funded projects at the Ministry of General Education are in limbo after the director appointed by the Teaching Service Commission (TSC), Grace Chikombola Chilekwa, has not been allowed to set foot into her office since June this year. But when contacted for a comment, TSC chairperson Stanley Mhango said Dr. Chilekwa was the legitimately appointed director in the ministry and that the commission was not aware that her office had been taken over by another person. Impeccable sources on Friday said confusion has continued brewing in the ministry over who was in charge between Dr. Chilekwa and Alexander Phiri, the person occupying her office. The fight has been extended to donor-funded projects as the permanent secretary, Mr Felix Phiri, is allegedly refusing to authorise any project under Dr. Chilekwa’s name. “There is serious confusion in our ministry. Just yesterday (Thursday), the PS refused authority for a UNICEF-funded program to be undertaken under Dr. Chilekwa as director Teacher Education and Specialised Services (TESS). He only facilitated the programme when they removed and replaced her with Mr. Mulenga. “Officers under Keeping Girls in School and the Zambia Education Enhancement Projects (ZEEP) which are both World Bank projects, have been working in fear of being sacked if they disobey his directive on who they deal with as director TESS and as a result, productivity has seriously been compromised,” the source said. Sources said Dr. Chilekwa has been squatting in an office for chief education officer in education boards unit for the past six months and had been excluded from discharging her duties as Mr. Mulenga had taken over. “Mr Mulenga held a meeting to inform all in the directorate that only works submitted by him to PS will be approved and from that moment, all were directed to only deal with him as the one authorized by the PS. “The PS also threatened some officers that if they don’t stop reporting to Dr. Chilekwa, they risk being removed from donor-funded projects as he had the overall mandate. Since inception, this ministry has never sunk so low,” the source complained. But when contacted for a comment, TSC chairperson Stanley Mhango maintained that Dr. Chilekwa was the only director in the ministry. “As far as the TSC is concerned as the body mandated to appoint teachers and senior officers in the public service in relation to teaching, Dr. Chilekwa is the only director in charge of teacher education and we are not aware of there being two directors because her appointment was done by the commission. If there is any such a thing, it has not come to our attention. Get in touch with the PS,” Mr. Mhango said. Efforts to get a comment from Dr. Phiri proved futile as calls to his mobile phone went unanswered while a query sent through WhatsApp was also ignored despite being delivered.