The Copperbelt University Academics Union has rejected Higher Education Minister Michael Kaingu’s directive for the University to resume normal operations.
Union President Mwiya Songolo says the go slow at CBU will continue as Professor Ngoma and his management has no academic focus.
Mr. Songolo said in a statement that despite the Report and Recommendations of the Caretaker Committee, Dr. Kaingu’s decision is independent to the recommendations by the committee.
He has since challenged Dr. Kaingu to make the Report and Recommendations of the Caretaker Committee public failure to which the Union will reveal the recommendations through the media.
Mr Songolo has challenged Dr. Kaingu to go ahead and fire all lecturers as there will be no co-existence between them and the current management under Professor Naison Ngoma.
Below is the full statement
COPPERBELT UNIVERSITY ACADEMICS UNION (CBUAU) PRESS STATEMENT ISSUED ON WEDNESDAY, 28TH OCTOBER, 2015
by Mwiya Songolo President – CBUAU
Members of the press, ladies and gentlemen, the Copperbelt University Academics Union (CBUAU), once again, would like to thank you for your continued support throughout this period in which we have passed a Vote of No Confidence in the Copperbelt University Management.
First and foremost, we would like to thank the Hon. Minister Dr. Michael Kaingu, M.P., MMD Vice President, Minister of Higher Education, for showing leadership by informing the Copperbelt University Academics Union (CBUAU) Membership the entire Nation his decision following the Report and Recommendations by the Caretaker Committee, which he himself had constituted to look into the problems of the Copperbelt University and the reasons underlying the CBU impasse.
The Minister has showed courage at long last by stating his position clearly on the matter.
This is how a leader should do things. A leader should never fear to make decisions at the right time.
This decision has been long overdue and should not have waited until students almost got killed during the Independence Day.
This however, does not go to say that we, as Academicians of the Copperbelt University, have accepted the Hon Minister’s decision.
Despite the Report and Recommendations of the Caretaker Committee, Hon Dr Michael Kaingu in his Ministerial statement mentioned that he consulted the Chairman of the Caretaker Committee and the Copperbelt University Chancellor in order to arrive at this decision.
I have to say then that, the constitution of the Caretaker Committee was indeed but a waste of time and tax payers’ money! He has not made his decision based on the report but based on the advice of his colleagues whom he had consulted even that same time when he closed the University. May he now, the Hon.
Minister Dr. Kaingu make the Report and Recommendations of the Caretaker Committee available to the public.
The Honourable Minister said he has found neither evidence nor merit in the issues raised by us, the Academicians of the Copperbelt University.
All we can say is, let the citizens of this country be the judge from the information we shall now begin to share with them through the media.
It is regrettable that the situation has come to this end but we remain resolved to our cause and demands.
CBUAU Press Statement – 28th October 2015 Page 2 In his statement to Parliament, the Hon. Minister Dr Michael Kaingu stated four things:
- That, in consultation with the Chancellor of the University and the Chairman of the Caretaker Committee, they have decided that the Vice Chancellor of the Copperbelt University, Prof Naison Ngoma who had been on leave during this crisis should report to duty with immediate effect.
- The entire Management of the Copperbelt University should remain unchanged.
- All members of the academic staff who had decided to withdraw their services are requested to end this illegal action and return to work without further delay. The minister directed that we should go back to work before Friday because if we stayed up to Friday, we would have clocked 10 days and that is an automatic discharge for ourselves. The Minister further said that, if we stayed up to Friday, we will not get any benefits from the Government. The Minister said that they would not accept to be intimated as Government.
- He also regretted the disruption of the academic life of the Copperbelt University and encouraged our students at the university to remain calm as they work towards normal operation of the University.
In view of the above, this is the position of the Copperbelt University Academics Union: If Hon Dr Michael Kaingu wants to fire us, let him fire us all. There will be no co-existence between us and the current management under Prof. Naison Ngoma.
- As Academicians, we will continue to do research and perform administrative duties as usual we will carry on with the go-slow.
- Prof Naison Ngoma and his management have no academic focus and we shall not work under his management. Doing so is accepting mismanagement of the Copperbelt University. Ours is to uphold academic excellence. Therefore, there shall never be co-existence between us as lecturers and Prof Naison Ngoma as Vice Chancellor.
- The minister said that if we do not report for work by Friday, we will automatically discharge ourselves and we will not get any benefits from Government. There is never such a thing like automatically discharging yourself. The moment he decides to give us discharge letters, he should also be ready to pay each one of us, our benefits. Failure to do that, the Copperbelt University will have to pay every ngwee with interest effective Friday, 30th October 2015.
- Come Friday, after receiving the discharge letters, we should respect each other’s decision.
Fighting should come to an end. We go our way and the Minster should remain with Professor Naison Ngoma.
Professor Naison Ngoma should resign in the interest of the student at the university and the Nation at large…we cant go on like this.
If he was a man of integrity he would have done so a long time ago. But ofcourse because he is unprincipled and evil he will not all at the expense of the students.
Boma ni boma Iwe Hasongolo. Why are you calling it go slow today? You have felt the heat uziba no strike is legal.
Comment: Fire them, holding Government at ransom. You will get your benefits from the one who sponsored your strike.
Lecturers, no worry you will be re-instated after elections and paid your full package
Kaingu & Ngoma r holding the ALL NATION AT RASOM. H.E ECL is being put in awkward situation by short tempered Kaingu. Let’s wait for the report & study it so that we can see who is protecting who? In 2013 students wanted Ngoma out coz of mgt & the sane govt protected him. Now its lecturers who have risen due to Ngoma’s lack of academic focus. CBU is really affecting the public and Changwa shud act to rescue CBU from total collapse. CBU will be closed for a very long time
Fire them…! We are waiting to take up their jobs..! They think they are the only educated guys..! We are many of your level or even better…but no jobs..! Fire them and see how many applicants u will receive..!
Iam sure those “poundits” from Copperstone University will fill their positions!!!
They deserve to be fired. It is hard on the street- Hear from me. You are going to regret your decision of not going back to work just after one month without pay. The positions will be filled in record time because we have plenty of Zambians with PHDs and Masters. PLEASE FIRE THEM. Do not hesitate this time because they have lost public sympathy.
#Kant Neva u sound so shallow in yo thinking & unreasonable. You seem to be out of touch on this issue
@ Kant neva clearly you have no understanding of the issue at hand. There is no way so many eople can have issue with the same man. Before it was the students, now the lecturers. The problem can’t be the lecturers.
..yankalako trick situation…..if the govt heed to lecturers demands…a precedence shall be set such that when ever the head of administration is not wanted (may be by just 2 or 3 vocal lecturers) the union will want him or her removed in a similar manner…if the situation stays put…nothing good in terms of graduates shall come out of CBU…..now its over to ECL to use his negotiation skills he learnt at the school of humanity….by coincident….state house is in kitwe as from today…
But why can’t that one person step down his colleagues at UNZA resigned the government should fire him.
It’s possible to transfer him either to UNZA or any other institution or indeed the ministry since he has been cleared.
The Lecturers are not being fair to themselves why cant the resign themselves if Naison has no academic focus. You want your friend to be fired just resign since now you know that Naison is going no where. Stop playing double standards ba lecturer filekeni kaili instead of waiting to be discharged or automacally discharging yourself for desertion.
Why did Kaingu ignore the recommendations of the caretaker committee which he himself set up and instead consulted one or two of his colleagues. Is this normal? Something is seriously wrong. Shamenda must come in again. He did a good job last time.
use-less lectures.Let them be fired.Atase bane.Do they do research work by the way?.all they know is salary increase.the chaps have done nothing in the country but chaos.educated but not useful 4 anything.All books are written by white pipo but nothing which they offer.let the be fired and employ foreign lectures who can change mother zambia.I’m sick of these lectures and doctors who demand money but don’t teach students.They love only how to steal school fees from students.Our universities can make money thru research work like other universities which have developed nations.Zambian lecturers use books writen by white pipo,indians,chinese etc.Musebanya ati lecturer mu zambia.
with comments like that ba KGB that’s why u r always behind kuli ba CIA, MASSAD, MI5 & other secret agencies. yo childish post is a derail to Zed development.
Hon. Dr Kaingu Sir, please for once sort out the impasse at the CBU .The problem at CBU is still within your jurisdiction unless you your self choose not act to get rid of your friend and mentor Prof.Naison Ngoma.
What you don’t seem to realize Hon. minister Kaingu is that you’re people’s representative and as such you owe your allegiance to the people that voted you in power , these are the people of Mwandi constituency these Mwandi people have university going students at CBU and you are doing your constituents a big disservice just for one minute think of the privileges you’re enjoying because of the good job these people did for you by voting for you. This is a rare privilege and you must use this chance to the fullest the best pay back to your constituents is for you to get…
Firing this nigga will prove more cheaper than protecting him at the end of the day. So many zambians can replace him. Go slow and closures are more costly. Students riots also paint a gloomy picture already inflation rate has hit double digit.
Aahhaa!! Ba zambia, mwakumanya ama lubish ba pf.
Job vacancies to be announced by COB tomorrow. Let me update my CV and put other documents in place ready to launch an application.
Job creation for the humble is around the corner
as usual zambians showing their ignorance. the union is saying that there is a report that was prepared by the select committee that the minister constituted why is it not being followed? its like the issue of the commission of inquiry that were constituted and up to now no one has read their reports
Mwiya Songolo and his group of imbeciles have gone into panic mode. This group of unionists, who are in league with UPND know that the Minister is on firm ground because the decision he made in Parliament was based on concrete facts.
The Minister could have consulted widely by reaching out to vital units of GRZ – including the Attorney General’s Chambers. Most of the allegations the CBU Union made against Prof. Ngoma were false. Songolo failed to provide evidence to support his wild allegations. Dr. Kaingu is on firm ground for keeping the recommendation tight under the sleeves as they contain facts that will expose the lies CBU Unions have been feeding the nation if the Union dare to challenge Govt in the Courts of Law.
What is meant by Prof Ngoma has no academic focus. Academics should be more clearer than that since they are in the arguments business.
pipo are just making comments without being properly informed. is not that lecturers want him out of CBU, he can remain and be a senior lecturer like profess lungu and tembo just to mention a few. there is alot of management errors that smell corruption and bribery, and lecturers are aware and have real evidence. unfortunately prof ngoma is aware thats why he cant resign like prof simukanga of unza. this is because more issues shall come out, very stinky ones. unfortunately, kaingu are frends with ngoma, old old frends. so you think kaingu can do anything. it cant NEVER. My advice is to PF, copprebelt is politically volatile with the economy, joblosses and parents and students are frustrated; i suggest they amicably sort this mess. they should nt forget that the nurse saga has costed them…
some popularity loss, whether they accept or not. if i was Nason i would just resign and if i was kaingu, i would transfer or ask nason to resign. this year ba PF dont make mistakes especially here in kitwe, bashimaiani ba mopani baletanfya macito olo bale patikisha ukuleka. so making mistakes in such a place is making a big mistake popularity wise. kitwe is the hub of the CB, so lets be careful as ba PF here.
Members of the CBU academic union have such thick skins in that they are able to fabricate lies and sustain them in the hope of transforming their lies into “gospel truths”. They live in a world where they feel ordinary Zambians will believe what they say because they have degrees. Besides, Songolo has no clue on the contents of the recommendations which were worked on by an independent group of eminent citizens. The recommendations were sealed such that even their Post Newspaper or Watchdog could not access the contents. Songolo is lying because he had no access to the recommendations submitted to the Minister.
However, university authorities in the region must watch these fellows closely. These are a class of academics that are capable of plagiarizing (stealing) data to stuff…
your names speaks billions, there is nothing secret bwana. if the presidents speech can seen before its red, whatmore a report. this is Zed bwana, data is in CB
Chinena I doubt yo level of education coz yo reasoning is very irrational & blurred how can hope to go & work @ deteriorating institution where brothers in r protecting each others messy. For yo information lectures r not fighting 4 better conditions of service. Ngoma & mgt has management skills & lack academic focus
There is no harm then, in releasing the findings of the committee for everyone else to make their informed judgement is there? Whats the point of constituting inquiry committees and then locking up the results in vaults? This is a common trend in Zambia. How do we know Kaingu’s decision is based on the report if we don’t know what it says?
Kaingu thinks his threats can work on the lecturers…he also thinks its easy to find qualified lecturers if he fires these.Ngoma shud just go chapwa as easy as that.
I hope that these union guys can find their way to Chagwa Lungu and present to him the damning evidence of how public resources are being swindled out of the institution. In my own estimation if Lungu does not take action it is more serious than meet the eye.