President Hichilema praised for recruitment of more public service workers

President Hakainde Hichilema has been commended for recruiting and deploying public service workers to serve the people in outlying areas of Siavonga district in Southern Province.

And United Party for National Development (UPND) Siavonga Member of Parliament, Darius Mulunda has called on public service workers in Siavonga district to reciprocate President Hakainde Hichilema’s gesture by working extra hard.

ZANIS reports that Mwenda Mwenda, a mathematics teacher based at Chaanga Combined Day School, off the Bottom Road said this during a meeting chaired by Siavonga Member of Parliament Darius Mulunda, who was accompanied by Siavonga Town Council Constituency Development Committee Fund (CDFC) Chairperson Lubinda Mubiana and Mulimya Ward Councillor, Sydney Simweemba, held at Chaanga Combined Day School.

Mr Mwenda says the move by President Hichilema to recruit over 40,000 civil servants has greatly motivated those that have been deployed to remote areas to serve the public despite such areas lacking basic social amenities.

He however, expressed great concern with the way the Siavonga District Education Board Office has been handling administrative transfers of erring teachers by sending them to far flung areas as a punitive measure.

Mr Mwenda requested the area member of parliament and other relevant authorities to prevail on the matter and suggested that erring teachers and other public service workers should be reprimanded and transferred closer to their supervisors for easier monitoring.

His concern arose from an incident involving a fellow teacher who was transferred deep in the outskirts of the district due to alleged gross indiscipline and other related disciplinary matters.

And in response, United Party for National Development (UPND) Siavonga Member of Parliament Darius Mulunda has called on public service workers in Siavonga district to reciprocate President Hakainde Hichilema’s gesture by working extra hard.

Mr Mulunda implored teachers and other public service workers to be dedicated to duty and be ready to serve in remote areas if meaningful development is to be attained.

The Siavonga parliamentarian commended all public service workers that have readily accepted to serve in the outskirts of the district which are still shunned by some civil servants due to its remoteness.

And in a related development, Mr Mulunda has implored teachers to heed Minister of Education Douglas Syakalima’s call to them to desist from engaging in partisan politics.

Mr Mulunda reiterated President Hichilema’s warning that the government will not hesitate to dismiss any erring public service worker in a bid to professionalise the “education system”.

He reminded the teachers and other public service workers in the district that the grace period for those with “political antics” is over as the government is in a hurry to develop the country.

Chaanga Combined Day School lies in the outskirts of Siavonga District off the Bottom Road and provides limited and improvised weekly boarding facilities to some girls while the rest are renting in nearby villages.

Mr. Mulunda later donated mattresses and blankets to some pupils during his visit to the school following a request that was made by both school management and parents to consider helping girls that come from far flung areas of Siavonga.