Harassment of the civil servant by the PF political cadres unfortunate

Dear editor,

Some Patriotic Front (PF) political cadres last Tuesday stormed the Ministry of Works and Supply and harassed

Miss Shelly Chatungwa, the controller of government transport. The harassment of Miss Chatungwa comes on the backdrop of the suspicion that she belongs to a named opposition political party. The incident happened between 111:00 hours and 12:00 hours.

When a horde of political cadres reached the Ministry of Works and Supply in the Ridgeway area, they entered the office of the Permanent Secretary Lenox Kalonde and threatened to shoot him and set the building ablaze. This was when the Permanent Secretary had a meeting with the Ministry officials at the Ministry premises.

The cadres wore masks in a bid to disguise their identities because they knew very well that their action was tantamount to an offence. If the above was not bad enough, the cadres told Miss Chatungwa that they were also employees of the Ministry of Works and Supply but working on a part time basis. This was not true.

As fate would have it, the team leader Charles Kakula aged 24 was identified after he removed the mask. Charles has since been arrested and he is in police custody awaiting to appear in the courts of law soon so that the due process of the law can take place for the committed offence.

Civil servants are professionals who are employed to discharge their duties in a professional manner. It is regrettable that some political cadres could harass an innocent civil servant like Miss Chatungwa with impunity. The uncouth behaviour exhibited by the disgruntled political cadres should not be condoned.

However, stern action should be taken against the political cadres for the barbaric acts at the Ministry of Works and Supply. The incident by the cadres at the Ministry of Works and Supply was filmed and the video went viral and the harassment was widely condemned by people.

All said and done, there should be no sacred cows in lawlessness by some political cadres regardless of the political party one belongs to. As alluded earlier, the due process of the law should take its course against the cadres who harassed the civil servant last week. This will deter the would be offenders.