Masebo warns against employing relatives

Masebo warns against employing relatives
By Maluba Jere and Abigail Chaponda
Sunday May 18, 2008 [04:01]

LOCAL Government and Housing minister Sylvia Masebo has warned the local government authority to desist from employing relatives at the expense of qualified staff. Speaking at the 14th graduation ceremony at the Local Government Training Institute (LGTI) in Chalimbana on Friday, Masebo said she did not expect any local authority to employ unqualified people because they compromised service delivery.

“We have a lot of people with degrees on the streets simply because they have no relatives in these offices,” she said. “If that be the case, councils can still tap from those with the necessary qualifications but didn’t make it to university.”

Masebo said the culture of people giving preference to their relatives when employing was a bad cancer.

“It’s unfair and not necessary. Most of you today have graduated with passes, we should be having more credits but obviously it’s not easy to get a distinction, merit or credit,” she said. “Even though some of you have passed and will expect to be promoted but you won’t because some people will instead put their relatives there.”

She also said her ministry was in the process of taking to Parliament the Local Government Service Commission that would regulate employment.

Masebo noted that some personnel in local authorities had limited formal education or inadequate qualifications to enter higher institutions.

She commended the institute for the training programmes embarked on saying they were enhancing the credibility of the staff to facilitate for improved service delivery.

“Your efforts in designing tailor made courses for such workers and subsequently closing the performance gap are appreciated,” Masebo said. “These job related and performance oriented training programmes should continue.”

Masebo urged the grandaunts to use the knowledge acquired to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the ministry.

She reiterated her ministry’s commitment to improving infrastructure at the institute. She said her ministry’s vision for the institute was to make it a centre of excellence in capacity building and training of local authorities especially in the area of decentralisation and good local governance.

She said she was aware that the college had a shortage of staff despite recording a number of successes.

“I am directing the permanent secretary in my ministry to ensure that the staff establishment of Chalimbana whose treasury authority has been obtained from the Ministry of Finance and National Planning should be filled without further delays,” she said.

Masebo further urged the institute to speed up the exercise of developing a business plan to broaden opportunities and resources available to the institute for the purpose of optimising its resources.

And the principal for Local Government Training Institution, Isaac Zozi, said that some workers lacked relevant requirements to enter higher institutions of learning.

He said the institution also operated as a formal training facility where staff with necessary educational qualifications undertook various professional courses relevant to their jobs.

Zozi also said that the institution believed that a weak local government base had effects on the smooth running of the central government and that was why the institution attached importance to training.