Mundubile promises to re-introduce debt swap, says civil servants are drowning in debt
NATIONAL Reconciliation Party of Unity and Progress —NRPUP presidential candidate Brian Mundubile has pledged to re-introduce a debt swap programme for civil servants and address the long-standing backlog of teacher upgrades if elected into office.
Speaking on what he terms as the challenges facing public service workers, Mundubile says many civil servants are struggling under heavy debt burdens due to reportedly unpaid government obligations, forcing them to seek loans to meet their financial needs
“If you look at the civil servants today, they are drowning in debt. They are highly indebted because government owes them money, and as a result they have had to go and borrow,” he says.
Mundubile describes many public workers as the “working poor,” arguing that a motivated civil service is critical to effective public service delivery.
He says his administration would implement a debt swap programme under which government would settle outstanding obligations owed to civil servants while also taking over debts they had accumulated from external lenders.
“As a responsible government that would like to have a motivated civil service, we will implement debt swap. Government will liquidate whatever obligations they have for the civil servant and at the same time take up the obligations the civil servants may have contracted outside their work environment,” he says.
Mundubile further highlights the plight of teachers who have upgraded their qualifications but remain on lower salary scales.
He notes that approximately 50,000 teachers were awaiting upgrades despite obtaining higher academic qualifications, including degrees, master’s degrees and doctorates.
“These are people who entered the teaching service as certificate holders, but today some are degree holders, some have master’s degrees and some have PhDs, yet they are still being paid at entry scale,” he says.
He pledges to clear the backlog of teacher upgrades and extend similar considerations to other public service workers who have improved their qualifications.
Mundubile describes the proposed measures as “soft solutions” that would not require substantial resources, arguing that civil servants deserve to be compensated according to their qualifications and the level of service they provide.
“These civil servants have improved themselves. They are providing a service at a different level and should be compensated as such. We will implement that,” the NRPUP presidential candidate said this when he featured on a Millennium TV program.
We will baptize you in zeros. Ask Sean Tembo.
Another unrealistic promise. Does Mr. Mundubile know the financial implications of his promise? Where is he going to get the money for such an ambitious undertaking? If he was serious about his promise, he should have given concrete figures, not this “soft soultions” he is talking about.
Civil servants lack financial discipline and no amount of bailing out will free them from their debt syndrome. People should learn to live within their means.
Even huge salary increments are not the solution.
This is another outrageous out burst. Government has no business meddling in private contracted debt financing. These are issues which are very personal in nature and are unrelated to proper governance issues.
During your tenure civil servants had no salary increaments for years. Now these people have a decent wage and are getting loans which they need to use prudently and now you say this uncoordinated stuff. Guys be reasonable.
This type of thinking is what has lead to institutions like the Development Bank of Zambia being made to go Bankrupt because politicians allowed their friends to obtain large loans without a plan to pay back. This is the case with DBZ.
Now you want to bring all that debt for us to bear. Is it not enough that we are carrying the debt of abused funds during your previous reign. We still owe these funds and its upon every Zambians head wether we like it or not.
These types pf clueless politicians are a danger to our sound financial well being. There is no such thing as debt swap. You transfer the debt for someone else to settle it. How else will the legal lender be settled. You take from A and give to B. where is justice or responsibility in all this foolishness. In this case it is tax payers who will eventually bail this financial indiscipline.
What happened to the deductions for the contracted loans. What of the collateral, why can that not be used to recover the funds.
This backward financial intelligence and a tendency for mis- management is a glaring misfit and we the citizens of Zambian will no longer condone such political and financial ignorance to negatively affect us any more.
What we want is prudent management of public resources and financial discipline. Period. I really don’t understand this type of thinking were you reward indiscipline. This is a joke. I personally think the status quo is much better than the confusion being uttered.
*pf meant of
The PF in all their forms are wedded to debt. They only know how to borrow and to please people by encouraging them to live on debt. Voting for Mundubile is voting for the same ol’ PF. Dununa reverse.
