Lusaka Province Permanent Secretary, Robert Kamalata, expressed satisfaction with the performance of the public service in the region throughout the year 2023. Speaking at an end-of-year closure meeting with heads of departments in Chongwe district, Mr. Kamalata highlighted several positive strides made by the public service, including achieving a zero audit query status and securing the second-best position in high levels of integrity.
Mr. Kamalata commended the civil servants for their dedication and emphasized that these achievements should serve as motivation to work even harder in the upcoming year. He also announced that the 2024 budgetary allocation for the province has been fully funded by the government, ensuring adequate resources for future initiatives.
While praising the overall performance, Mr. Kamalata expressed concern about the negative work attitudes of some heads of departments. He noted instances of officers reporting late for work and leaving as early as 15:00 hours, emphasizing the need for a more committed and professional approach to work.
“Some of you have a laissez-faire attitude towards work. You want to come for work and knock off at any time you feel like. Some of you have even given each other days in the week to come for work, which is not good at all,” Mr. Kamalata stated.
He urged heads of departments to take their responsibilities seriously and pledged that unprofessionalism would not be tolerated within the civil service in the province. Mr. Kamalata also cautioned civil servants against using political influence to seek promotions and transfers, describing such actions as acts of indiscipline.
Additionally, the Permanent Secretary emphasized the importance of following the right channels of communication when addressing grievances and encouraged civil servants to take care of themselves during the festive season.
Responding on behalf of the heads of departments in the district, Chongwe District Administrative Officer, Kelvin Ndandanda, thanked Mr. Kamalata for his attention to the achievements and concerns of all departments. Mr. Ndandanda acknowledged that challenges in human resources and transportation persist but expressed confidence in Mr. Kamalata’s commitment to addressing these issues adequately.
“Issues of human resource and transport are very critical in the district, but we trust that you will adequately address them,” said Mr. Ndandanda.
That is NOT the general consensus of the people on the ground
Self praise will get you nowhere
@Ndine: We need to hold their asses to the fire. We need to demand accountability. In the US, for example, when they open a business at 8, it stays open until 5 when it closes. There is no such thing as a lunch break. In stead the business organises its workers so that the lunch hour is divided. Half take lunch at one time, the other take lunch at another. If you go in government office to get something done, there is always someone there to attend to you, regardless of what time you arrive during business hours. I say this because I was reading a complaint from a South African who went through Kazungula, and was amazed to have to wait for an hour because the Zambian side of the post was on lunch break
Does he know that even civil servants now avoid direct phone calls because they fear that his government is eavesdropping on them? WhatsApp calls are now the most preferred medium of communication. There’s no sane person that can be proud of such a situation. Anyway, it’ll come to pass.
@Ayatollah: We need to reorganise the government so that civil servants are held accountable by parliament. Civil servants should not be reviewing their own performance. That is a conflict of interest guaranteed to result in such glowing reviews as this, whether they are deserved or not. In fact we need to reform the entire system. We need to have a house of the people, where the members are voted on a proportional basis. We also need to have a house of the provinces, where each province has 2 members. Every bill would need to pass both houses in order to reach desk of the president. The house of the people would control the money. It would set limits on both borrowing and spending…..
Indeed it will come to pass much like some of you on here 🙂
Lusaka province minister has a different opinion.
@Deja Vu: How do we know if he is not talking rubbish? If you had to do your annual job review, what grade would you give yourself? How much of a pay cut or a pay raise do you think you would deserve? It is a complete conflict of interest for this fellow to be able to review his own people.
Proud of such incompetence! I need my hard-earned pension! Its mine! Its not for the government! But none of your civil servants think so