President Hakainde Hichilema has told new Director of the Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) Mary Chirwa to deal with people siphoning public resources.
Ms. Chirwa was sworn in today at State House in Lusaka together with Teaching Service Commission Chairperson Daphne Liseli Nawa Chimuka.
President Hichilema branded the positions Ms Chirwa and Mrs Chimuka have taken up as critical.
“Two distinguished ladies that are being sworn in today; in your own individual rights you have followed your own career paths that you served the country in different roles and today you are given yet additional responsibilities to serve this country. And you sit there not only because of the names you carry but you sit there because of your capabilities and the good news is that you are both women and I think this is important. I am sending a message out there but the message more important than just being women is capable women. I want to emphasize that point to the media. Capable citizens who happen to be women and its pleasure to be swearing in these colleagues today,” President Hichilema said.
The Head of State added that Ms Chirwa understood well the operations of the Drug Enforcement Commission.
“Madam Chirwa, you were a product of the Drug Enforcement Commission. You spent many years there before you went to the FIC. You know the challenges of that institution; you know what went wrong in that institution. You know, you know what is right. With the added advantage of the Financial Intelligence Institution Centre, you are also grounded in terms of training, qualification,” Mr. Hichilema said.
He said there is a need for conceited efforts in the crusade against corruption.
“In your profession, in our profession, what is wrong is wrong. There is no middle ground. I am following what is going on in social media. People are debating; no this is ethnic, victimization and fighting against corruption. This is getting at PF, no. It is none of that. What is there is that what is wrong is wrong. Taking away money that belongs to the public is wrong. If the Chief Executive Officer of the Drug Enforcement Commission sees a gray area that this may be wrong this may be right, maybe sits in the middle.”
“There is no middle ground. Taking away resources from the child for us to buy a desk as you sit, you two are partners being sworn in today. You are serious partners. It is the duty of Madam Chirwa to make sure that money meant for desks through CDF is not taken by a clique. I retain that terminology clique. They have now started fighting back,” President Hichilema said.
On the education part, the President urged Mrs Chimuka to tackle issues of teacher promotion and upgrade among others in the sector.
“Madam Delphine Liseli Nawa Chimuka, you are going to the Teaching Service, very important, extremely important function. You are going there to chair Teaching Service Commission and you have a huge task. You have a huge task to ensure that we change together the Teaching Service to where teachers work, who are they, where are they, that pupils are getting what they go to school for. You have a major task to do,” he said.
“This Government has pronounced itself very clearly, what it wants to see in the education sector. Particularly that education is the best inheritance for any child. I would not wish any child to seek to get millions of kwacha from parents without education. Promotion among teachers has been an issue, they go for further studies and come back, some are not on the payroll,” President Hichilema added.
Start with the Jangulo issue. Then I will believe you.
No, start with Panama papers. Start with the commander in chief. He stinks corruption. Umulandu taubola. The 90’s corruption practices are still fresh.
If we’re to be serious with the fight against corruption let’s humbly start with h² like he has started with old cases in his corrupt and
picky administration then move to Deja vu’s case. You claim that your haphazard fight against corruption is not targeted, let’s investigate you theft.
Come on girl we hear you have guts, sniff on him. Baal ain’t clean. The evidence is overwhelming.
Mary Chirwa has a $10m scandal on her heard, committed whilst at FIC!! Was she cleared? Thieves can’t fight thieves!!!
Mary Chirwa did a good job at FIC, I am sure she will do a good job at DEC, She should just focus her net wide and also scrutinize all those who worked in the ubomba mwibala alya mwibala regime
@3 Nigga Nature
That’s huge. It takes a thief to catch a thief, but are our theives in top offices catchers?
Then baal’s administration is a ring of jokers. There abso’hell’lutely no way this fight is going anywhere.
Let’s watch them and record their abuse of office activities as they seek to impress – they will make alot of mistakes.
A thief can’t catch him or her self. No wonder Hon. Zulu called for the life audit of these investigators. You can’t trust them.
Who the investigators of the investigators.
To take the fight to corruption, it’s not lip service and cipante pante. It’s serious business. You need serious people not questionable people. What a bombshell.
Tulipano.
PF thugs will fight tooth and nail. Nothing good comes from the ruling Party.
Good, very good that there’s political will to fight corruption from the Highest office in the land. I see the rebirth of the Mwanawasa administration in HH. That’s the change we voted for.
Please look into the relevations from Derrick Chitala’s book and investigate them all…today they are pretending to be concerned about ZESCO unbundling yet they were asset stripping it behind the scenes.
@ 1 Deja Vu add all those other PF friendly fertiliser suppliers who lied to Zambians during election that they had supplied the commodity and yet still got paid the full amount. To date no Fertiliser has been delivered by them. Jangulo can keep his profit, he delivered.
The clique and their supporters have declared all out war on HEHH………..
their source of living, which is to steal public funds and secure unfair advantage for contracts is being eroded away from them………….
The fight against corruption is full on……….
As a Zambian, my heart bleeds to hear those who benefited from the privatization of state owned enterprises of the 1990’s and are themselves hugely rich as a result of that process they participated in, are now saints today and sending DEC to go for those who are allegedly siphoning state resources today. If you got rich because of privatization you also siphoned money from the state!!!! There is no difference here. Probably the only difference is that you are the one calling the shots.
Madame Chirwa, please act differently from the way ACC is going about their mandate. Be professional and deal with these thieves and plunderers of the previous government (it appears that your mandate only ends at PF plunderers according to your appointing authority) and recover our money.
Mr…
#9 PF or not theft is theft. I don’t know why people want to justify wrongs by mentioning PF in every wrong committed under the current GRZ.
It’s straight forward. Gather evidence and charge the culprits. You are using gossip, to apprehend, search houses, lock people up, hoping evidence will pop from interrogations and intimidations. If you harvest evidence, the whole nation will be behind you in this fight, including PF supporters. Plunder affects every single person.
If you are not careful, rather than finding stolen money, GRZ will find be paying millions to those accused based on lies, only for them to have the last laugh in civil courts and walk out with huge compensations. Therefore, the cries are not about going after PF but rather the “reverse-procedures” you are using.
#12 PATRIOTIC ZAMBIAN
January 18, 2022 At 11:14 am
“As a Zambian, my heart bleeds to hear those who benefited from the privatization of state owned enterprises of the 1990’s and are themselves hugely rich as a result of that process they participated in, are now……..”
The current ACC, DEC have nothing on HH , just like the past 4 presidents could not find zilch on him………..
Nada, zero, nothing………..
That is 4 past Zambian goverments with all the machinery at thir disposal, zilch…..zero.
Just get used of the fact that HH is clean and your lies did not work last time around and will not work now nor in the future…….
This is a bit like Trump and the FBI director. Now the thieves know your agenda, they just need to make an offer and the ladies could be anybody’s. some things need to be handled sensitively.
Bally, get all of them. If Tonga’s, Lozi’s, Luvale’s, Kachokwe’s stole from the people, investigate them and if found guilty, throw them where they belong. Similarly, if Bemba’s stole, if Ngoni’s or Chewa’s stole do the same thing. After all we were told that they should be eating from the “field”. We were also told that “Umulandu taubola”. Get them my man. In fact you should also engage to donors to assist build more correctional facilities for the thieves and their children. These people have corrupted the moral fiber of our society. Even women have joined in. Who will teach our children? Get them thieves and send the to jail. Time is running out Bally. By the way, where is that police woman who was attacked at Independence stadium by one notorious PF official? she should…
#15 SPAKA
Please read my article very well. Nowhere in there have I mentioned the letters HH, or saying that the ACC and the DEC have find something on this gentlemen. It is you who brought-in these two letters (HH). But again when you opt to “praise sing” you lose track and lose objectivity, and become irrelevant to serious issues.
I give up on you because we can’t engage in a constructive debate and help our country after realizing that you are, in fact, not resident in Zambia but making noise from outside. We love this country and that is why even when things aren’t well economically here in Zambia we stay and engage politicians for a better Zambia.