Kitwe District Commissioner Binwell Mpundu has castigated Copperbelt University (CBU) workers for snubbing him and some officials from State House who wanted to have a meeting with them following their protests over delayed December salaries and demands to have the vice chancellor fired.
Mr. Mpundu said he does not take pleasure in people who do not respect readership and will therefore ensure that those promoting lawlessness and indiscipline are punished.
Speaking to journalists after the failed meeting yesterday, Mr. Mpundu said CBU workers missed a chance to have their grievances heard by representatives from the President’s office.
He said the team from State House and his office were ready to listen to the concerns of the workers and provide solutions to their problems.
And Mr. Mpundu has charged that he will not leave any stone unturned in dealing with those who want to take the law into their hands.
He said he has a responsibility of ensuring law and order in the district.
Mr. Mpundu has since urged the CBU workers to be patient and considerate over delays in their salaries saying government faces challenges in availing funds for such payments.
Earlier in the morning, Copperbelt University workers locked up the office of the vice chancellor Naison Ngoma demanding that he resigns for failing to run the institution.
The workers, comprising of lecturers and other staff, accused Professor Ngoma of dictatorial tendencies in his style of leadership which they said had affected operations of the institution.
Speaking on behalf of the all CBU workers’ unions, Copperbelt University Academics Union (CBUAU) president, Derrick Ntalasha said the workers will continue with their peaceful protests until Prof. Ngoma steps down as vice chancellor.
And when contacted for a comment, Prof. Ngoma said it was unfortunate that workers have not thought of dialoguing before staging a protest.
He said every institution has challenges hence dialogue was the only way to resolve issues.
He described accusations against him as baseless.
Meanwhile, the CBU lecturers have started receiving their December 2017 salaries.
Why do we need people from state house to engage protesting workers? Were is the responsible ministry??
And I quote “Meanwhile, the CBU lecturers have started receiving their December 2017 salaries”. seriously? on the 11th of January, that’s when they’re receiving their December salaries and you blame them for protesting? This government is not serious.
we need people who can run big institution and got to think big as these institutions are very massively big, government should wake up and make sure that lecturers are sorted out because without them a country can not develop. please let us remove those who does not want to respect the interest of others but just want to care about themselves. i encourage the lecturers to continue protesting up to their satisfaction.
Officials from state house! My foot! Is there another ministry at state house which Cbu falls under? Gents let’s be serious about governance issues
Black people cannot manage $h!t
Naison Ngoma must flash out all politically inclined lecturers, they’re the trouble makers. They also incite students to misbehave, so show them the door. They can’t refer to Naison as a dictator when he wants to bring sanity to CBU under difficult conditions. Workers and their Union leaders must understand that demanding the resignation of the VC isn’t part of collective bargaining.
If one were to dig a little deeper into the affairs of CBU, it will be revealed that the same clique that dominated the Academic Unions is once more at the service of UPND directives. It was the same Academic Union that propagated lies against Prof. Ngoma -resulting in a compromised Minister of Higher Education placing Prof. Ngoma on forced leave. The Committee that investigated CBU administration found that the allegations were totally false. In the spirit of transparency CBU Administration circulated the findings to all members of Staff. This clique went on recess – perhaps to seek for more instructions from UPND. Hence the mushrooming of fresh allegations to saw confusion at CBU, as their leaders get frustrated at events occurring in Kenya, South Africa and Zimbabwe.
Please don’t policize the issue at the Copperbelt University. You know the issue very well but you want to pretend that there’s no problem. It’s a known fact why you are protecting him, he is part of you. If you don’t know, this man has had more protest from both the workers and students since assuming office than any other Vice-Chancellor in the history of the University in a space of less than two terms of his tenure of office. Ba DC please listen to the story of workers for once, remember the same people you are trying to mistreat will be useful to PF in not so long from now. If the people you lead don’t want you why force yourself on them? You are not helping the man at. Qualified University lecturers are hard to get, are willing to fire the lecturers and retain an unwanted man?…
Most of those chaps at CBU are wizards and witches! To work at CBU you need to get voodoo. So Boma must consider services of THAPAZ and Dr Vongo to exorcise that place. How would the departure of Naison solve their problems? Bana ba mfwiti did the same to Mwanalushi but the problems are still there!
Ayatollah, you speak like that because u don’t understand the problem faced by the institution. Icikaipa cumfwa umwine, there are departments that were rich before 2012 and could afford to pay the entire institute from it’s resources and this is a known fact, ask the previous Vice-Chancellors the can attest to this fact.
And please leave Prof. Mwanalushi out of this saga. When did he work for the University and which department? Get your facts right..
Talk about witchcraft