Civil Service Commission commits to uphold decentralisation agenda

The Civil Service Commission has committed to fully apply itself in order to realise President Hakainde Hichilema’s agenda of ensuring that citizens derive utmost benefits of having a decentralised system of governance.

The commission has also acknowledged the importance that the Head of State attaches to a decentralised governance system, hence pledging to contribute towards its maximum realisation.

Civil Service Commission Member, Victor Nyasulu, has cited the ongoing mass recruitment in the health and education sectors as one of the commission’s major steps towards the realisation of a decentralised system.

Mr. Nyasulu was speaking in Chipata when he paid a courtesy call on Eastern Province Permanent Secretary, Paul Thole, before meeting with the Provincial Human Resource Management Committee.

He said it is gratifying that citizens are steadily starting to enjoy the benefits of decentralisation as evidenced in the ongoing decentralised mass recruitment of health workers, among other undertakings.

“As guided by the decentralisation policy, the Cabinet directed that the current recruitment of the over 11,000 health workers be done at district level in order to ensure equity in human resource engagements,” he noted.

Mr. Nyasulu further said the government, through decentralised recruitment, wants to ensure human resource management reforms are fully implemented to promote efficiency and effectiveness in service delivery.

“The directive of the new dawn government is that decentralisation should be implemented as a way of empowering provinces and districts so that they make their own decisions in both developmental and human resource matters. This has motivated the current recruitment exercise of over 11,000 health workers,” he said.

He said the task of the commission currently lies in monitoring and evaluating and not to interfere with the selection processes until at a later stage when it will make appointments on behalf of the President, and as guided by the grassroots.

Meanwhile, Eastern Province Permanent Secretary, Paul Thole, expressed satisfaction that the decentralisation system has extended to human resource recruitment exercises.

Mr. Thole however called on the commission to take interest in resolving some matters that might arise from the decentralised recruitment process, as the undertaking is relatively new.

The team led by Mr. Nyasulu is in Eastern Province on a monitoring mission of the ongoing mass recruitment of the 11,276 health workers.