Livingstone Town Clerk warns against nepotism

Livingstone Town Clerk warns against nepotism
By Edwin Mbulo in Livingstone
Saturday December 08, 2007 [03:00]

LIVINGSTONE town clerk George Kalenga has warned senior council officers against employing relatives in the local authority. In a letter to all heads of departments dated December 3, 2007 posted on the general notice board at the Civic Centre and copied to the mayor, Kalenga stated that the practice of employing relatives was a great contributing factor to the poor performance of council workers.

“I have observed for quite sometime now that the phenomenon of employing relations in this council, especially those falling in the category of ‘casual’ is on the increase,” the letter read in part.

Kalenga stated that this practice was a serious offence under the conditions of service which govern the local authority and that officers must first declare interest before employing a relative.

“This sort of scenario is to a greater extent contributing to the poor performance by the said category of employees who are supposed to carry out specific duties because of our personal attachment to them,” Kalenga stated.

He appealed to all the officers charged with the responsibility of the day-to-day running of the local authority departments to ensure that the phenomenon of employing relatives came to an end.

“I will not hesitate to invoke the conditions of service on any supervisor who will fail to adhere to this simple instruction,” warned Kalenga.