Africa-Press – Zambia. Newly appointed Mufumbwe District Commissioner, Patrick Kalelemba has implored heads of government departments and parastatals to guard against segregation in their service delivery.
Addressing his first meeting with district heads yesterday, Mr. Kalelemba said Zambia and Mufumbwe, in particular, has seen a lot of divisions related to political affiliations and tribalism which has the potential to affect the development of the district.
“Our country is getting divided, Mufumbwe inclusive has not been spared from issues to do with tribalism, we are the people who can unite the people. We have been entrusted with the responsibility of delivering services to the people but we should be careful in the manner we discharge these duties, if we are not careful, we may end up dividing the people,” he said.
Mr Kalelemba assured the district heads that cadres will not be allowed to interfere with their operations and promised not to witch hunt anybody in the government system.
“I know some of you were very frustrated in the past regime. Others were being aligned to UPND (United Party for National Party), saying you are UPND. So even your working was not okay because of witch-hunting, those are the things of the past,” he said.
Mr Kalelemba encouraged the district heads to just work hard and assured his office’s commitment to supporting all the departments and promised to maintain an open door policy.
Meanwhile, district heads have assured the district commissioner of their co-operation in his efforts to take the district to greater heights of development.
A representative for the district heads, Francis Samalumo said it is gratifying hearing from the district commissioner that his office will not witch hunt anybody but instead allow officers to work freely as professionals in their fields.
“We are happy to hear you say that there will not be caderism, because based on past experiences, we saw occupants of the DC’s office labelling some officers as sympathizers of the then opposition UPND party, and we hope you will not rush doing that because it has a potential of dividing the district,” Mr Samalumo said.
During the meeting, Mr Kalelemba promised to come up with a programme where he will be meeting departments so that he can gain deeper insight on their operations.
Meanwhile, Newly appointed Kalumbila District Commissioner, Brenda Sankisa has called for hard work among civil servants in the district. Ms Sankisa said there is need for concerted efforts among civil servants if the district is to make positive strides.
The District Commissioner was speaking when she met some civil servants at Kalumbila district administration on her first day in office today. “All I want to ask from you is hard work and one of the tools for hard work is time management, that is the only way that we are going to succeed together,” she said.
Ms Sankisa also appreciated the members of staff at the Kalumbila district administration for welcoming her to the office. And speaking during the same meeting, Kalumbila District Administrative Officer, Frank Siatwinda urged civil servants to accord the district commissioner all the support that she needs.
“We now have a DC, let us ensure that we give her all the support that she needs…let us also be punctual when it comes to duty and any other assigned tasks,” Mr Siatwinda said.
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