Home Affairs Minister Kennedy Sakeni yesterday took a surprise visit at the Immigration Headquarters offices in Lusaka. Mr Sakeni who was flanked by Home Affair Deputy Permanent Secretary for administration Willie Mangimela found the customer care service department with a handful of staff as most of the chairs and tables were empty.
He told the Chief Immigration Officer Anderson Phiri that he was dismayed with what he saw during a conducted tour of the customer care service.
ZANIS reports that Mr Sakeni said Government laws stipulate that Government workers report for duty at 08:00 hours and not later than 08:00 hours.
The Minister has since challenged workers to change their work culture and refrain from reporting late for duties as evidenced from findings of his surprise visit to the institution.
Mr Sakeni described late coming as a bad habit that should not be entertained. During the briefing, Chief Immigration Officer Anderson Phiri said the department has improved in its operations adding that it has moved from the 10th position of being corrupt 3rd place.
Mr Phiri told the minister that the institution is under staffed with the current workforce of 575 adding that an additional 850 officers should be employed.
He pointed out that for the department to be more efficient, it needs adequate transport to conduct its operations.Mr Phiri bemoaned that most border control posts in the country have no transport a development he said inhibits the effectiveness of the department.
Meanwhile, Mr Phiri has appealed to the minister to consider reviewing some of the contracts Government has signed with foreign firms. He complained that most of the contracts signed by Government made it very difficult for the department to professionally carry out its work as its hands are tied.
ZANIS
If this minister did not fire any one then he is a fool. don’t just be a talker, act. Sata will fire soon
most border control posts in the country have no transport .RB was busy buying expensive cars for himself.
but the officers are millionaires in most of these boarder posts… I have evidence, the guys in the boarders don’t even want to come back to lusaka. Corruption….
Out of this cabinet there only a handful ministers who can perform. The rest are bunch of relatives and friends like this fake one
THIS IS A PUBLICITY STUNT!
IMMIGRATION HEAD OFFICE HAS ALWAYS BEEN LIKE THIS…JUST AS MANY OTHER MINISTRIES
…little wonder every national in the world today can and is free to enter Zambia at will. I never envisaged in my whole life that we would have Zambians doing business in Somalia? Are there Zambians in Mogadishu seling Petrol? How come then that whereever you go today in mother Zambia, there are more petrol pumps than Somalis? It’s mind boggling to say the least…
PLEASE INVESTIGATE SONIA D’ALBERTO OF FIRST QUANTUM MINERALS. SHE VISITS IMMIGRATION HEAD QUARTERS EVERY WEEK AND BRIBES OFFICERS TO GET HER WORK PERMITS FOR FIRST QUANTUM’s EXPAT WORKERS
Sonia is Long gone (about 2 Years now); unless you tell me she’s come back …or that she’s at one of the other FQML sites. Otherwise; I used to work with this Italian/Spanish woman the time I was at the FQMOL offices in Ndola.
this is happening for sure but SONIA D’ALBERTO is no longer with FQM.
Sekeni, thats sata’s tactic, come on boys. You should fired one or two and employ a cadre
Gadaffi sorry carders do not qualify the ‘re kaponyas
MMD just say this is a good move. It is MBWA. Bravo PF
Good, Please minister swip out corruption at immigration esp the commit that issue permits to foreigners. They allow foreigners to TAKE OUR JOBS. Even helpers and lorry boys from china have permits. He is lying that the department has moved to third in terms of corruption. Its the worst apart from judiciary. I have proof because i work with chineese.
This is embi—–how do u still imbasao mucisungu- heee indi mubemba bane mwiseka. mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmiu88fv
This is the most corrupt government wing in Zambia. That Phiri chap should be fired, which contract states that these parasites can bring in human resources that is available locally? Please ba kateka tulubuleni twana nobushushi. Expatriate kaponyas are found all over even at kamwala in lsk
Sam dont expose your ignorance. Go to ZDA you will find that certain investment agreements signed have a provision for the investor to bring people they trust to work in Zambia.
It is not a surprise. Unfortunately such a cancer has been with civil servants for a very long time. They only work between 9 and 11 o’clock. Try going there after lunch and you will be shocked that most of them will be “out in the field”. The work culture is so bad. i remember the late FTJ did make such impromptu visits to parastatals and government departments and time keeping was a very big problem
“Who will bell the cat” ? If senior civil servants go late for work or leave office to supervise their farms or house construction projects, how can the junior do any better? Most of the civil servants “retired” on the job a long time ago. It is not age but lack of commitment to work.Is there no system of assessing job performance in the civil service? Giving such people another 5 or 10 years before legal retirement is a waste of money indeed.
He should have first started at the passport office.
YOU DO NOT EXPECT PEOPLE IN LUSAKA TO REACH THEIR OFFICES UNTIL THAT CONGESTION ON THE ROADS IS SORTED. IT IS MISERY ON THE ROADS IN THE MORNING, LUNCH TIME AND KNOCKING OFF TIME. I WOULD PERSONALLY NOT BE HAPPY IF SOME HAS NOT REPORTED FOR WORK AFTER 0830 HRS. IT IS HELL ON EARTH IN LUSAKA AS FAR AS TRAFFIC IS CONCERNED. IMMIGRATION IS NOT A PRIORITY BECAUSE IT DEALS WITH FOREIGNERS, WE MUST LOOK AT DEPARTMENTS THAT BENEFIT OUR PEOPLE DIRECTLY, I MEAN ZAMBIANS. YOU CAN NOT FEED SOMEONE’S CHILD BEFORE YOU FEED YOURS.
they are still very corupt that Phiri Man is cheating you can even see what they do is far from there income per month some one MUST invetsgate them that is why they come late because they first start by passing through some places to collect bribes. Shame
SONIA D’ALBERTO is no longer with FQM. the OFFICERS MUST invetsgated for sure.
hehehehe..so what was the motive behind all that useless burning of our gas..?
Pulamasaka u need to change ur attitude towards work,surely r u tooo blind to see the motive,eish,dont be lazy get to work on time….
Good work bwana Minister.Keep it up
There is something wrong with this article. It is Sakeni who wanted contracts reviewed because the immigration department is issuing work permits to anyone, including bricklayers. In truth, our bricklayers, like most civil servants as cited in the article, have a bad work culture. Again, their workmanship is poor. You cannot compare them to the well-rounded masters of finesse from China. Working with the locals poses many risks. For example, who loses out when the work is shoddy or rejected or delays to complete? The contractor, of course – and this is why the contractor brings along the best men.
MINISTER, YOU SHOULD HAVE CHARGED THOSE LAZY MEN AND WOMEN. GOOD WORK ANYWAY…
HON MINISTER PLEASE INVESTIGATE HOW DO THE ILLEGAL INDIANS MANAGE TO GET ZAMBIAN PASSPORTS AND FAKE WORK PERMITS.AS OF TODAY THERE ABOUT 5000 ILLEGAL INDIANS LIVING IN LUSAKA ALONE.HON MINISTER PLEASE REPLACE ALL THE TOP BRASSES IN THE IMMIGRATION DEPARTMENT.WE NEED STIFF ACTIONS BA MINISTER.
Mr. Sakeni, you should have fired them all on the spot. If they were understaffed as Phiri said, why then again aggravate the situation by reporting late and knocking off early? Set an example and demonstrate zero tolerance to unprofessional work ethics instead of giving them pep talks!
NO need of employing more Staff, just fire those lazy chaps and outsource some of the services?? Ukushipula ba Zambia, don’t you know that times have changed? There is automation nowadays; we are in the 21st Century of Information technology age.
Firing people is sometimes failure to improve the system in place. Everybody, including the Minister must play their roles. Planning, designing implementation strategies and implementation follow up seem to lack in most of our leaders and so they take the easy way out and blame their juniors.
Close all petrol stations operated by Somalis and investigate big chunks of land acquirer by Somalis especially along Great North road. Somalis are a menance where ever they are in the world. Thats why they do not have a state of their own. See what they do to Kenya and Kenyans who feed them.
These farmlands sold to them will be training grounds for terrorism. Next will be bombs raining in Lusaka. Forget about money they can bring its all ill gotten money. Same money of ransom from pirates finds its way to pro up oil business in Zambia and other countries. Lets be in charge of our country.
The problem with Zambian civil service is that it is an ingrained laid back environment, that culture needs to erased; the general public should be treated as customers whom you are offering a service to and not the other way round.
*that it has an ingrained laid back
Its unfair for goons like this minister to drop-in on the poor Chief Immigration Officer when his hands are tied, these guys are not empowered to be creative & don’t even have the power to incorporate flexible time structure for their staff. It’s ridiculous for everyone to come in at 08:00hrs then expect the same self people to work through lunch time when it’s at its busiest…introduce flexible weekly slots (8:00-17:00 and 10:00-1800). Then have the public sector customer service department opening from 8:30 to 17:30 that way the place is fully staffed and sorts out any staff shortages…simples.Only when these Ministers sort out their departments & empower their Gov’t managers to be flexible and creative can they sneak in incognito.
Zambia should adopt flexi-working where people can report for work say anytime between 07.00hrs and 09.00hrs and leave between 16.00hrs and 18.00hrs respectively. In this way, we reduce effects of heavy traffic at rush hours and school runs when parents drop chilldren at school. This is the practice in most work places here in UK and in Europe. You still work the full hours required of you per day and per week. Id developed countries have seen the benefits of this practice, surely Zambia will benefit from increased productivity and peace of mind as well. You dont have to rush for work.
Mr Minister, please consider this.
How can we contact the the Home affairs Minister. This is serious. There are too many unskilled foreigners in Zambia. They promised Jobs to the youth, sorting out the immigration issue is one way of delivering.
They probably went to attend funerals. In the past it was common for workers to go to fuenrals during work hours. Does it still happen?
Although of course the UK is another extreme, where your neighbour would die and you never get to know. I know of someone who only got to know six months later, after asking about the lady of the house. she died 6 months previously. In Zambia, if you neighbour has a funeral, you also take leave from work. Well in the past, dont know these days.
Somalians in Ndola. What status are they in Zambia for? They come in containers smuggled in by a fellow famous Somalian in Ndola and he bribes immigration and Police to keep quiet. These poeple are rude, Indisciplined, cause accidents and damage to property through reckless driving coz even their driving licences are bought from RASTA. Think of us in their country, can we stay????????
What is this that we hear of Barloworld Equipment renovating the Immigration Office and buying of Funiture?
I have been trying to get a work permit for a certain expatrait for 5 months now and I have been told that they have run out of them and they have to wait for them to be imported from Germany.What?We can’t even afford to produce a simple work permit
HON.SAKENI SHOULD ALSO WORK HAND IN HAND WITH MINISTRY OF LABOUR TO CONTROL THE LEVELS OF UNQUALIFIED CHINESE NATIONALS COMING WITH FAKE PAPERS AND BRIBE IMMIGRATION OFFICERS FOR WORK PERMITS:CHECK NFCA MINING PLC HR MANAGER-CHENG ZHIGANG WHO CAME AS SAMPLER THEN BECOME CHIEF SURVEYOR AND TODAY HE IS HR MANAGER.WHERE IS ZIHRM,WHERE IS IMMIGRATION DEPT;THIS SAME MR CHENG HAS EXCESSIVE POWER IN NFCA MINE AND SEEMINGLY ABOVE EVERY OTHER MANAGER YET HE DOES NOT HAVE PRACTISING CERTIFICATE,NO HR QUALIFICATION WHAT HR CAN U EXPECT FROM HIM.
IT’S TOLD THAT HE RUNS A COMPANY WITHIN NFCA MINE WHICH DOES JOBS WHICH SHOULD BE DONE BY ZAMBIAN CONTRATORS
The minister should also arrange routine check up on expecialy Somalian business man who have employed Somalians to driver their trucks, i dont think all of them have work permits, when our zambian driver’s are suffering for work, there must be a control in this area. asap
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