Maravi

Cases of misuse of public funds will be acted on urgently – Kunda

Cases of misuse of public funds will be acted on urgently – Kunda
Written by Chiwoyu Sinyangwe
Tuesday, June 23, 2009 5:19:28 PM

VICE-President George Kunda has said cases of misuse of public funds will be given priority and acted upon urgently. And Vice-President Kunda was yesterday irked and described as “venomous and inflammatory” demands by the public service union that no senior government official should be evacuated abroad for treatment if the conditions of the local health sector were to be improved.

Officiating at the commemoration of the United Nations Public Service Day held at Lusaka’s Mulungushi International Conference Centre, Vice-President Kunda observed that misapplication of public funds by some officers has made the public begin to doubt the safety of their funds.

He warned of stern action against civil servants breaching financial regulations.

He called for the need for the public service to safeguard public resources.

Earlier in her speech, Civil Servants and Allied Workers Union of Zambia (CSAWUZ) deputy president Beatrice Nyirongo said among the things that were causing the deterioration of service delivery by the public sector included limited funding by central government as well as lack of priorities.



Nyirongo who passionately delivered her speech amidst shouts of bauze!! (Tell them) from fellow workers during the commemorations of the United Nations Public Service Day, said workers in the country were currently being sacrificed by the government under the pretext of the effects of the global economic crisis.



She said women in the country were currently feeling the biggest pinch of the economic crisis.



“Even as we come here to march, we shall be given free T-shirts and free meals but the people we have left at home, we left them with nothing,” Nyirongo said. “Even with this global hunger crunch, most times when there is global hunger, the men run away but the women soldier on…”

She said there was need for the government to improve funding to the public service as its activities directly affected the community.

She warned that a de-motivated public service was a threat to the overall ability of the sitting government to meet its mandate of delivering its development agenda.

“Even when you go to the hospitals, all the medicine and other equipments, there is nothing because the government has cut funding and it says because of this financial crunch,” she said. “But when they are sick, there is no crunch as they go outside and enjoy themselves at Morning Side Clinic [in Johannesburg] and we the ordinary people at (University Teaching Hospital) UTH. From the top, everybody should be treated at UTH and other hospitals in Zambia.”



Nyirongo also urged the public service workers to desist from stealing public funds, saying hunger at home should not be an excuse for pilfering public resources.



But when Vice-President Kunda was called to deliver the official address, he was quick to describe the speech from the workers’ representative as inflammatory but acknowledged the issues raised.

“Let me start by acknowledging the speeches delivered…the rather venomous and inflammatory speech coming from the representatives of the trade union,” the Vice-President said. “Apart from venomous depth, I acknowledge the speech was very constructive and hammered all of us here from the theft in the public service.”

And during the prize presentations for performance, Master of Ceremonies Bright Sinkala caused laughter when he referred to Ministry of Transport and Communication as “single sourcing” as the department’s representative went forward to pick its award.

Labels: GEORGE KUNDA

posted by MrK @ 4:19 PM