Saturday, August 02, 2008

Letters - Kenneth Kaunda, Salaries

KK's experience
By Concerned citizen
Saturday August 02, 2008 [04:00]

I have written in response to the article entitled “Let’s Use KK’s experience” that appeared in The Post, Thursday 31 July, 2008. I fully agree with the views expressed in this article and I would like to put forward a couple of points.

First, in my view, KK is one of the most under-appreciated African leaders. His love for his people, pursuit of economic development in Zambia and unquestionable incorruptibility cannot be topped by anyone.

I hope each and every African leader models their conduct on his example. Let us, as he did, try to get past the crippling effects of tribalism in Africa and fulfil the statement “One, Zambia, One Nation”.

Let leaders, as he did, try to come out of political offices with our hands clean, without any allegation or charge of corruption to our name.

Leaders should, as he did, build lasting institutions and infrastructure that will accelerate economic development. African leaders should, as he did, develop their nations evenly instead of concentrating on certain areas and neglecting others.

Second, it is well known that KK helped in the struggle to liberate many African countries, including South Africa. So it is sad to see the recent xenophobic attacks there. Mr Zuma should tell the people of South Africa that these attacks were a poor way of saying thanks for what Zambia did for them!


http://www.postzambia.com/post-read_article.php?articleId=44556

Cabinet's salary increment
By Concerned citizen
Saturday August 02, 2008 [04:00]

I was deeply shocked to see the kind of increments Cabinet has approved for itself. The story you (The Post) carried about this subject somehow confirms that Zambia is in a leadership crisis.

I believe with all my heart that if President Mwanawasa was around, he was not going to entertain such selfish increment proposals.

Honestly, with such increments they are proposing for themselves, can they convince Unza lecturers that the goernment doesn't have money? How many teachers can be paid from a proposed K22 million increment for a cabinet minister?

Civil servants are languishing in poverty. The 15 per cent which was offered to them was nothing because their salary scale is low.

The gravity of the statement by His Honour, Rupiah Banda urging Zambians not to be proud to have poor people within societies (The Post, August 1, 2008) has been reduced to a mere political statement by Cabinet's action.

The gap between the rich and the poor is getting wider. This is a country where highly-qualified medical/veterinary doctors fight tooth and nail to get their hard-earned meagre allowances, while political figures get better allowances almost free, for simply reading a speech. On top of that, they even get free airtime.

I urge the civil servants' labour movements in the country to open their eyes. During the next negotiations, they should convince the government to increase salaries by a block figure across the board.

The 13 or 15 percent government usualy offers doesn't uplift the living standards of the civil servants at all. A K300, 000,00, for example, across the board can definitely do a lot for the many suffering civil servants in this country.

Labels: ,

posted by MrK @ 4:47 PM

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home