Mushala refutes Labour Day T-shirts accusations

Eastern Province Permanent Secretary Bert Mushala has refuted claims that he imposed all civil servants under Provincial Administration to wear shirts as opposed to suits on Labour Day which falls on Wednesday next week.

Mr. Mushala says that it is the committee on Labour Day which is charged to decide on what to wear on the material day.

He however expressed concern that all the government departments in the area did not have adequate resources as they did not budget for events as reflected in the yellow book.

ZANIS reports that the provincial minister said this in an interview, in Chipata today.

Responding to complaints that the Permanent Secretary had imposed shirts on the workers, Mr. Mushala said he was not part of the committee which was expected to decide on the type of uniform for the departments under provincial administration.

“I’ am not part of the committee though I know that the suggestion was made because all departments under control 95 did not budget for events, where they can get an allocation for such events as Labour Day, Independence Day or Public Service Day unlike other provinces,”
he said.

Mr. Mushala urged the committee and all government departments to ensure that all workers participated in Labour Day activities saying even those in the districts should benefit from the uniforms.

He observed that there had been a trend where only a few individuals benefitted from such activities saying only a selected few were privileged to get uniforms.

“We want all employees including office orderlies and a district officer to also wear uniforms as Labour Day is for all workers and not a selected few.

“ We have observed that those in the districts are not considered as only those at provincial level get to wear uniforms and in some cases, awards.” He said.

And Mr. Mushala has appealed to people in the private sector to participate in the national events by awarding deserving employees.

“They should also participate in the match pass and all programmes lined up for that day,” he said.

There have complaints among some government employees that they have been compelled by the Permanent to wear shirts on Labour Day.

Some workers who sought anonymity said it would be the first time that civil servants would wear shirts because they had been wearing suits on Labour Day.

They told ZANIS in separate interviews that it would be unfair because their fellow civil servants in others provinces would wear expensive suits as they match on the national day.

“The suits have been motivating us to participate in the Labour Day activities but with this development, only a few will participate,” they said.

Some vowed not to participate while others said they would wear shorts or chitenge materials as government would only provide shirts.

But a check by ZANIS found most of the departments rehearsing ahead of the commemoration of Labour Day.

ZANIS