Opposition political parties in Kabwe have asked Kabwe deputy mayor elect, Christabel Mwenda to resign from her position before the installation this Monday because she will not manage the pressure of two offices.
The members of the opposition feel Mrs Mwenda who is MMD Muwowo east ward councilor and also a teacher at Mukobeko high school in Kabwe, will not be effective at her work place because the position of deputy mayor is too involving.
But Mrs. Mwenda has refused to resign saying councillorship and mayoral positions were part time adding that they would not affect her performance at the school where she teaches.
United Party for national Development (UPND) deputy chairperson for commerce and industry, Clement Kazeze said there should be a reversal of everything before Mrs. Mwenda is installed.
Mr. Kazeze said government should not allow civil servants to be involved in politics.
Another opposition leader Davy Siamuzulu also of the UPND observed that the anomaly had been over looked for a long time and need to be rectified saying Mrs. Mwenda had been in active and partisan politics since 2001.
Mr. Siamuzulu said Mrs. Mwenda would not serve the nation effectively as a teacher if allowed to continue holding the deputy mayoral position hence the need for her to resign and concentrate on teaching.
‘She must choose between remaining a politician and continuing with the mayoralship. She must quit before the installation on Monday next week as there is still time to choose another deputy mayor,’ he said.
He said the position was given to her wrongly as she was a civil servant who should not be involved in politics at any level.
Mrs. Mwenda however said those talking about the resignation were wasting time because the positions of councilor and deputy mayor are part time.
She said the two positions were not as busy as people think adding that she has always gotten permission from her supervisors at the school where she teaches when duty calls.
Mrs. Mwenda said if things become tough, she will go on unpaid leave and not resigning.
Mrs. Mwenda who was once opposition UPND councilor before she crossed to the MMD in 2006, won the deputy mayoral elections last week on Friday, beating the former Saidi Chibwana of the Patriotic front (PF).
Mrs. Mwenda, the first woman councilor to become deputy mayor in Kabwe, got 19 votes to beat Chibwana who managed 8 votes in the elections which also saw incumbent mayor Musonda Chimbwi return his position unopposed.
[ZANIS]
Is this councillor Mwenda a civil servant or she is teaching at a private school? If she is a civil servant then she is not supposed to be an active politician. There should not be rules for MMD and different ones for the opposition.
very fun only in zambia such things happens. Too much of anything is bad. poverty has corrupted everybody’s minds in Zambia.
Civil servants are allowed to participate in local government politics. that Zambian law, remember in G9 civics?
On the Copperbelt there was a Mayor who was a Provincial Education Officer in 2006, its normal. But its only normal if its MMD!
Abash uyu Mayo, she wants to eat with two hands, yashani? Cobra take action!