By Thabo Kawana
I have noted with gratitude the article on sitting allowances written by my good friend who not too long ago was a civil servant himself and now a politician.
I want to make it clear that what I have written here is my personal views and that the said views herein do not represent the position of the UPND Alliance nor the Government. This is strictly a whatsapp conversation meant for social and not official consumption.
Let me begin by agreeing with him (Mwamba) firstly that, Yes, Sitting Allowances for civil servants, were abolished in 2012. However, other allowances remained such as Subsistence and Out of Pocket among various others. And the President did not call out a specific allowance like sitting allowance but rather mentioned allowances in general meaning, this can relate to but not explicitly sitting allowance only.
So do senior civil servants and officials still receive allowances beyond the ban of allowances such as sitting allowance from 2012?
Yes they do and this is what happens, the organisers of these meetings and workshops who are junior to middle management civil servants whom we shall reffer to as the “tu chawa committee”, would go out of their way to impress the “clique” by ensuring one way or another, they still got Govt money into their pockets even on an ordinary working day.
How? The tu chawa committee would organize meetings and/or workshops involving Government Officials at venues such as Mika Lodge or Sandy’s Creation and then pay allowances of K900 or more depending on your position for the day claiming that Mika Lodge is in Chongwe District whilst Sandy’s Creation is in Chilanga District for example and therefore the Officials are out of their jurisdiction hence allowances being paid to them.
Positions such as that of a PS get over K1200 per day.
President HH simply handed a cure to this mischief, the forth coming workshop for Ministers and Permanent Secretaries will be at Mulungushi International Conference Center within Lsk so no allowances expected to be paid out.
Then I want to also believe that the traveling Provincial Ministers and PSs shall be accommodated and fed hence only attracting an out-of-pocket allowance which is like K240 per day.
This works out cheaper and prudent in utilization of public funds as is envisioned and espoused by His Excellency the President.
Ala mukose ba clique, the days of chewing free money from Govt are over. It’s now time to work for the pipo of Zambia and correctly earning what is truly due to one and not free stealing of public resources.
The days of applying low standards to high office are over!
Bally is fixing this.
Simply infected by Bally virus. Is this chap fighting for a government position? But since as you said this is a personal opinion, we will treat it as a such. Not a government position.
Stretch farther, stop hh from gallivanting. We Zambians have a problem when every jim and jack will take to pen or typing trying to clarify issues in a political lense when policy makers decide to remain mute after steering confused statements. To many of these vuvuzelas are dangerous. Too much damage controls from people outside Government is sick too. Shows you the caliber of the head. Allow Kasanda to talk.
This know it all Mwamba does not seem to learn, what he is saying is at complete variance with what the President was saying, I should thik these are the chaps who were running away when others were learning comprehension in English clasess. Because of failing to understand basic things, he fumbled and Sata fired him. Advice to you and all other PF cadres whose election loss was due to the same failure to comprehend, please learn to learn
Blah blah blah blah UPND is now officially government of just talk with no action….Zambians were duped and the majority of them have already realized it….UPND IS ON COURSE TO BECOME ONE OF THE WORST POLITICAL PARTY TO RULE ZAMBIA
Issuing $50m tender without proper tender procedures and now you telling us your fixing k1200.00!!! Laughable…
Read Mwamba’s article first, then read Sick Thabo’s and tell me who is politicking.
Don’t cripple Government functions and fun public confusion on more clearer issues by sick pronouncements. The baby president wants to politick and take to microphones at every podia he chances therefore making uneducated pronouncements. This state of affairs explicitly exposes his inexperience. The sooner he learns when to speak and what to say in public, the better.
Now we have non. entities like kawana who want to immersely amplify the fault by embarrassingly educating hh politically in public by trying to sound more intelligent than MIM. At this point we can only mix hh and kawana in a pot of spirits of confusion.
Umwine wacisushi apa alikwisa?
I think your understanding of subsistence allowance is a shame.
When we take the route you are taking of paying accommodation for civil servants and PS and ministers instead of giving them subsistence allowance, let’s see how the government will spend.
If senior civil servants are paid decent accommodation, the cheapest hotel like Pamodzi is k2400 per single person, good lodges like Mika it is k1400. When we add meals lunch it is not less than k150 per plate and super same making it k300. Now add water and other about k30 per day. Let us now calculate the total.
K2400+k300+k30= k2730 for a PS or Minister per day plus k240 out of pocket allowance total k2970 while subsistence allowance per PS and Minister (Super Scale) is k1200 per day. In this subsistence allowance, the person…
It appears at the foot of hh’s political booboo, hyena kawana is at it again and again to do political damage control for baal’s political flatulence.
Will he manage? Let’s wait and see.
For baal is never short of wild mistakes as he wishes to impress and never fact checks.
Emmanuel Mwamba’s article was more detailed and clear, even all you have alluded to was covered so what’s your point. Chongwe and Chilanga are both in Lusaka province and have the same PS, so are you sure of what you’re talking about? It’s chaps like you that mislead leaders. Bally hasn’t fixed anything on this. It’s better to keep quiet than to embarrass yourself.
UPND mulembwe wacipuba upwila mulitumfwe. Even people who have little understanding on certain matters have the courage to write and defend HH. Any way, what do you expect from them? God help us.
Thabo, thanks for your response, you will get a very bitter response like the ones above written by one or two people and replicated in several ways by the same person/people. Don’t forget that these PF chaps were hard core criminals in government hence the bitter reactions above, remember these are people who were buying a vehicle at one million dollars each and calling it a fire tender, remember this is a group that had a shelter and a booth called a toll gate costing 4.3 million US dollars for one, and remember this is a group that inherited a decent economy from MMD and created a mess, it is the same group that had suspended civil liberties using the police, they will not understand your language and will argue because they are another type of people
Isnt this Mwamba the same chap who after being fired as a diplomat put up a childish statement that he had wanted to resign but he was stopped, if ones desire is really to resign, can one be stopped. How?
Uyu nankwe
You opened my Eyes, I wondered why most Meetings would either be at Sany’s creation or Mika Lodge at the Great East Road Check Point. Very Cheap and unpatriotic people. Well, NO MORE. MWALAILYA. BALLY will Truly FIX YOU CROOKS.
This ka Tamanga Thabo boy in very warm clothing when it is so hot, what is his problem? Let him tell Zambians where he gets the mandate to be commenting on allowances in government. Has he ever worked in government before or just writing about things he hears about? He is really such a busy body!
If you are going to write an article explaining govt policy please dont attempt sophisticated dry humour and incorporating phrases just explain away …anyway tis chap sounds like a cadre!!
As long as transport and accomodation is provided. Food is provided and you are on a salary on government time why the allowances . All allowance must be just banned forthwith.
@15 Razor, Brother, transport, accommodation and food are not provided for free. Check @5 Col. Juku 1’s analysis. The convener of the meeting always meets these expenses. Even government owned Mulungushi Conference Center charges for government meetings held there. A fixed subsistence allowance puts a cap on how much the convener pays. So, even if the servant doesn’t get the allowance, the cost is still incurred and therefore the saving is superficial.