Vibrant civil service key to development

Vibrant civil service key to development

Mpika, September 23, 2014, ZANIS…Muchinga province  Permanent Secretary Bwalya Ngándu says a vibrant civil service is not only key to delivery of quality services to the public but also cardinal to national development.

Speaking in Mpika over the weekend during the inaugural provincial conference for the Civil Servants and Allied Workers Union of Zambia (CSAWUZ) Muchinga Chapter, Dr. Ngandu said the civil service is an engine of the Government and it should therefore work hard to implement Government programmes and policies.

He said this in a speech read on his behalf by the Chief Human Resource Officer Webster Chisha.

Dr. Ngándu said that the Patriotic Front (PF) Government is committed to delivering quality services to the public adding that this can only be possible with a vibrant civil service in place.

He implored the civil servants in the province to work hard and provide services as expected by the public.

And Dr. Ngandu has commended CSAWUZ President and his team for living up to the promise of improving funding and transport in the provinces.

Dr. Ngándu said the vehicle that has been given to the Provincial CSAWUZ committee in the province would go a long way in sorting out grievances and other problems faced by the membership.

He promised to ensure that the vehicle is used for the intended purpose.

And CSAWUZ president Davy Chiyobe said his union has vowed to leave no stone unturned in ensuring that it is in constant touch with its members across the country for the successful implementation of Government policies and programmes.

Mr. Chiyobe said his union has been restructured so that it becomes relevant to the needs of the members and also becomes more effective in responding to the demands of the general membership.

Mr. Chiyobe said the restructuring in the union includes the scrapping of the office of the Regional Secretary (RS) that has been replaced with that of the Provincial Secretary under the Provincial Executive Committee (PEC).

Mr. Chiyobe also said that his union will continue to dialogue with the Government on the wage freeze saying it was hypocritical for Member of Parliament to ask for a pay rise when Government has imposed a wage freeze on its workers.

The CSAWUZ president also promised to continue engaging the Government on the fired health workers until the last person is reinstated.

“Our hard working nurses and paramedics lost their jobs for participating in a strike. Although some of them have been re-employed, others have not and my union will continue fighting for the re-instatement of the fired workers until the last one, “ said Mr. Chiyobe.

Meanwhile, National Organising Secretary Makai Makai has disclosed that CSAWUZ has continued to grow from 9,000 members a fews years ago to about 19,000 adding that his vision is take back the union membership to where it was many years ago on slightly above 45,000.

The Muchinga inaugural provincial conference ushered in the first provincial executive committee headed by ZANIS staffer Jonathan Mukuka that will be in office for the next 4 years.

The theme for the union this year is “Revitalising Trade Union Organisation through Grass Root Unionism”