HH GAMBLING WITH STATE SECURITY – KAPWEPWE
PRESIDENT Hakainde Hichilema is gambling with national security by recruiting party cadres into the Zambia Police Service four months before the general election, Mulenga Kapwepwe has said.
Kapwepwe, who is Patriotic Front (PF) Pamodzi Alliance member of the central committee, warned that gambling with state security was a danger to the unity, peace and stability of the nation.
Speaking in an interview with The Mast, she said the fact that Hichilema had claimed not to be aware of the recruitment of police officers was a sign of irresponsibility.
Kapwepwe said Hichilema’s statement during his party convention was not only reckless but also showed that he was not on top of things.
“The question most Zambians are now asking is who these people are that we are entrusting with national security because they are not known entities,” she said.
She said Hichilema was playing and gambling with national security ahead of a critical election.
Kapwepwe said it was mind-boggling for the head of state to claim that he was shocked about the secret recruitment when it was a matter of national security.
She wondered what criteria the Zambia Police Service was using to recruit officers without the approval of Cabinet.
“This is nonsensical of the highest order by people we have given authority to treat us in this manner. The President, during his convention, said he was shocked by the recruitment. Just the other day, when the story broke, the police said they were cleared to recruit. Who cleared them to recruit if it is not the Cabinet chaired by Hichilema? Who is telling lies here? This is gambling with the security of this country,” Kapwepwe said.
She said the comment by Hichilema that he would rectify the problem was confusing and deceptive in nature because secretly recruited people had reported and there was no sign of cancelling the illegal recruitment.
“People were wondering what would happen next because it is not possible that the recruits will be recalled from the training which has already commenced. This is total deception again from the highest office on the land,” Kapwepwe said.
Kapwepwe said Hichilema was not being sincere over the recruitment by suggesting that he was not aware of such a big and serious issue that bordered on national security.
“It is unfortunate that the process is done in so much secrecy that a lot of qualified people are left out just because they did not have connections. It is disturbing that people in far-flung areas have been left out just because they do not have people or connections to the powers that be,” she said.
Rattled by the huge public backlash over the secret recruitment, Hichilema told his supporters that he had heard complaints about a secret recruitment of police officers but was also not aware. He said he was addressing the issue.
The Mast
This issue was clearly explained by the Hon. Minister of Home Affairs and according to his explanation, the current recruitments don’t always need to be advertised as they were advertised at first because they are now on a data base. Each Ministry now has a data base which it follows each time there is a recruitment. There is no need to advertise any recruitment now when each Ministry has a backlog of pending applications because advertising this time just attracts more applications. For example in Health, there are already more than 90,000 pending applications, so why advertising and attract more applications when you are already overwhelmed by the old ones, it doesn’t make sense.
Then you are saying that the President is not aware of the recruitments hence is endangering the country’s security. But it’s normal for the President not to know a recruitment because he appoints Service Commissions which work for and on his behalf. For example, the Police Service Service Commission did the recent recruitment following the data base, the Health Department through the Public Service Commission did the same. I am sure you are all aware that Public Service Commission recently recruited more than 2,000 health workers and support staff following the existing applications on the data base. For the sake of those who don’t know, we have about four if not six Service Commissions in this country namely, Judicial Service Commission, Teaching Service Commission, Zambia Police Service Commission, Correctional Services Service Commission, Local Government Service Commission and Public Service Commission. So it’s the duty of these Commissions to brief the President wherever and whenever a recruitment has taken place because they are the ones which directly work for and on behalf of the President. If the President says he is not aware of the recruitment, it is not in itself a denial but he is simply saying that he is not yet briefed by the line Commission. But the bottom line is that no recruitment can take place without the treasury authority from the Public Service Management Division. The Public Service Management Division creates the positions first, then it gives the treasury authority to start paying salaries to the newly recruited officers and this is done in line with the National Budget and not just from the blues. Therefore it’s not possible to recruit four thousand UPND cadres in the name of police officers, where are they going to be getting their salaries if there are no positions and there is no treasury authority from PSMD? If such things happened or used to happen under PF, it was in PF and it was that time but not anymore under UPND, it’s unthinkable under the New Dawn government, there’s no reason to do that. Under PF, everything was possible but under UPND, we strive to do things orderly, legally and methodically. You just have to get used and forget about the past, that’s history.
This chap should shut up, I think government recruited in heal using already existing name in database, may be it will do the same in education soon, what’s different with the home affairs, why look at this with a political lense? Silly chaps
This woman is toxic.
As if she knows anything about security.Is this not the “my father was” lady?Mama just take a seat and drink cold water.
Please tell that woman to go to hell with PF mentality. She knows very little or nothing about what she is talking about. Seek relevance elsewhere.
