NRPUP leader Mr Brian Mundubile’s warning that civil servants who support the ruling UPND will be removed from the public service if he forms government is reckless, dangerous and unworthy of a man seeking the presidency. Zambia has spent too many years trying to build institutions that can survive changes of government for a presidential candidate to threaten public officers on a campaign platform. Civil servants are the permanent machinery of the State, and any politician who does not understand that distinction is not ready to govern.
The Civil Servants and Allied Workers Union of Zambia president, Dr Joy Beene, is therefore right to tell Mr Mundubile to leave civil servants alone. His point is simple and correct: civil servants serve the government of the day. The public service worked under UNIP, MMD, PF and now UPND. If NRPUP wins in August, those institutions and officers will be expected to implement its policies. That is how a functioning State operates.
This is why Mr Mundubile’s threat is so troubling. It creates the impression that he sees the civil service not as a professional institution, but as an extension of whichever political party occupies State House. That thinking produces a vicious cycle. One government dismisses officers suspected of supporting the opposition. The next government returns the favour. Experienced professionals are chased, institutions are weakened, and the country loses continuity. Public officers then stop serving the law and start serving politicians out of fear. That is not reform but institutional vandalism.
The State must continue even when governments change. Ministers come and go. Presidents are elected and voted out. Parliament is dissolved. But hospitals must remain open, schools must operate, salaries must be processed, roads must be maintained, taxes must be collected, passports must be issued and national security must be protected. These functions depend on a professional civil service that does not collapse every five years. A country cannot be rebuilt from scratch after every election simply because the incoming party suspects that everyone who served the previous administration is politically compromised.
We remember what happened during the PF era. Cadres invaded public institutions, threatened officers and accused civil servants of supporting the opposition UPND. Some workers were intimidated merely for doing their jobs. Others were forced to demonstrate loyalty to the ruling party to protect their positions. Zambia must never return to those days. If the UPND has dismissed, transferred or victimised civil servants merely because they are believed to support the opposition, that conduct must equally be condemned. Wrongdoing does not become acceptable because it is committed by the party in power.
There is, of course, a distinction. Civil servants must themselves remain non-partisan. They should not campaign for political parties, abuse public resources, intimidate citizens or manipulate government systems to favour the ruling party. Any officer who violates the law or public service regulations must be disciplined through lawful procedures. But punishment must be based on evidence of misconduct, not suspicion, gossip or political vengeance. Due process must replace threats.
Mr Mundubile says he intends to reform the civil service. Reform is necessary in many areas. Zambia needs a more efficient, accountable and responsive public service. There are officers who frustrate citizens, delay files, demand bribes, resist innovation and abuse authority. Those problems must be confronted. But reform means strengthening systems, enforcing performance standards, improving training, digitising services and disciplining misconduct fairly. It does not mean announcing that workers have one month to change their political conduct before they are removed.
A presidential candidate must understand the message such threats send to the public service. Thousands of teachers, nurses, police officers, agriculture officers, council workers, accountants and administrators will begin to fear that their careers depend on election results. Instead of concentrating on serving citizens, they will be forced to calculate which politician might win. That is precisely how public institutions become politicised.
Mr Mundubile has held senior positions in government before. He knows, or ought to know, that civil servants are expected to implement instructions from the administration in office. Their cooperation with the UPND government is not evidence that they support the UPND. If he wins, he will need their institutional memory, technical knowledge and experience. Threatening them now exposes a worrying misunderstanding of the State he wants to lead.
Do you agree that child defilers should be castrated?
Total Votes: 756
All the opposition wants is to remove HH because he is fixing what they broke. They don’t have any other agenda. After getting power, Zambians must continue suffering with destroyed economy, frozen jobs, carderism, corruption, lawlessness etc which they earnestly voted out in 2021. Fortunately they have learnt enough and are now too intelligent to reverse.
Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *
23 Parirenyatwa Road
Rhodes Park
P.O. Box 32147
Lusaka, Zambia
Telephone or WhatsApp:
+26-097-7708285
+26-095-3424603
+26-096-5815078
Email:
diggers [at] diggers [dot] news
editor [at] diggers [dot] news
