Maravi

Shikapwasha accuses HH of treason

Shikapwasha accuses HH of treason
Written by Staff Reporters
Wednesday, June 17, 2009 2:54:55 PM

INFORMATION minister Lieutenant General Ronnie Shikapwasha has said UPND president Hakainde Hichilema's statements on the strike by health workers border on treason.

And nurses in Lusaka yesterday walked out of a meeting over the strike, which was addressed by Civil Servants and Allied Workers Union of Zambia (CSAWUZ) secretary general Darison Chaala.

Meanwhile, health workers in most parts of the country have continued with the strike, demanding better conditions of service.

During a press briefing yesterday, Lt Gen Shikapwasha said if Hichilema continued to make such statements, the government would allow the law to take its course because the UPND leader could not continue to incite people.

"So if Hichilema is inciting people, we will of course go ahead and deal with the issues of the law, the law is very clear in Zambia," he said.

He warned health workers who were staying away from work despite the agreement that had been signed between the government and unions that they risked facing the law.

Lt Gen Shikapwasha said the government and the union leaders had signed an agreement and those who were still resisting may have another agenda.

He said few countries were giving salary increments while others were laying off workers but the government had given the public service workers the 15 per cent increment and that other demands could be negotiated later.

Lt Gen Shikapwasha said it was disheartening that national leaders who should be helping the government save lives were in the forefront agitating for more deaths among the people by justifying illegal strikes as a means to bring down the government.

He said it was a sad development that while the government was doing everything possible to prevent deaths that were occurring as a result of the strike by health workers, some national leaders who claimed to be the best alternative to the government were today demanding more deaths among the Zambian people.

"The path that the opposition leaders have taken, to encourage the continuation of the strike by health workers demanding better salaries and conditions of service was the most disheartening thing that a leader can do," he said.

Lt Gen Shikapwasha said Hichilema justified the strike by health workers while at the same time blaming the government for the suffering that the ill were experiencing.

"Instead of calling upon workers to return to work while they negotiate for improved salaries and conditions of services, he urges them to continue the strike so that more people can die and then blame it on the government. This is another of Mr Hichilema's fabrications. Of course, there are many areas he was talking about during the meeting in Livingstone that we need to deal with in this press conference," he said. "Regardless of what had gone wrong in the nation, there is absolutely no justification for someone to demand for more people to die. Those who are dying will never come back, even if Mr Hichilema were to become the President of Zambia."

He said it was absolutely inhumane to fuel the strike to gain political mileage, especially if such a strike concerned health workers.

Lt Gen Shikapwasha said the government did not deny that there might be many public officers swindling the government of huge sums of money and that these may be found in many other ministries.

He said this was why the government had, oversight institutions such as the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) and the Auditor General's office to detect such activities.

"Hence the many people being arrested and being brought before the courts of law. The government is not corrupt, the government is in the forefront fighting corruption. However, what has emerged so far is that that money stolen will affect delivery of services. There is no evidence that the money stolen was for salaries and had this money not been stolen, government would have paid higher salaries," he said.

Lt Gen Shikapwasha said it was a misrepresentation of facts for Hichilema to suggest that every ministry was losing K60 billion annually.

"This is another of Mr Hichilema's fabrications, of course he is deliberating ignorant to the fact that some ministers do not even receive annual funding beyond K60 billion, while some just slightly above K60 billion. Therefore, if all ministries were losing K60 billion, the following ministries as shown in the 2008 Yellow Book would have been closed down," he said. "Ministry of Labour and Social Security - approximately K19 billion, Ministry of Lands - approximately K22 billion, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Services - approximately K32 billion, Ministry of Mines - approximately K42 billion, Ministry of Youth - approximately K61 billion, Ministry of Community- approximately K67 billion, Ministry of Commerce - approximately K 78 billion."

He said one wonders how K60 billion could be stolen from a ministry that receives funding of under or just slightly above K60 billion per year.

"But such is the poor professional analysis of Mr Hichilema, which he is preaching to Zambians to incite them to rise against the government," he said.

Lt Gen Shikapwasha said the government was particularly concerned that Zambians were being incited to bring down the government to facilitate such leadership's entry into office.

He said such calls border on treason as the change they were calling for could not take place constitutionally.

Lt Gen Shikapwasha said at a time like this, the government expected serious national leaders to call upon striking public service workers to return to work and follow the right procedure to channel their grievances.

He claimed that Hichilema's own company had not yet awarded 15 per cent salary increment to their workers.

He said it was common knowledge that the striking workers had not declared a dispute with the government before going on strike, making the strike illegal.

Lt Gen Shikapwasha said no serious leader could therefore agitate for something illegal to continue.

He said the leaders asking for the strike to continue were not serious in any way.

"Mr Hichilema had been misinforming the public that government ministries when travelling abroad travel first class. This is only but a deliberate misinformation of the public. This is no minister in the government who travels first class," said Lt Gen Shikapwasha.

He also said President Rupiah Banda was well and he chaired his first Cabinet meeting after the operation on Monday.

"The President is doing well, it was a successful knee operation and like any other operation, he had discomfort in the knee but otherwise the President is doing very well," he said.

Lt Gen Shikapwasha said the Auditor General's office had completed their work on Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) and that the board of directors had been given time to respond to some of the issues highlighted in the report.

Lt Gen Shikapwasha said the report would later be taken to his office and he would inform the public in due course.

And nurses have refused to resume work even after Chaala addressed them at UTH yesterday.

The nurses refused to return to work as they claimed that the government had given the doctors an increment on the on-call allowance.

Chaala said the nurses had to justify why they should get risk allowance.

Zambia National Union of Health Allied Workers president Ozias Banda said nurses go through a lot and there was no hospital that could operate without them.

The nurses later walked out of the meeting and went to assemble in the car park by midday.

On the Copperbelt Province, the situation in health centres in Ndola remained unchanged as health workers continued their strike.

At Ndola Central Hospital, things appeared generally slow with nursing managers and student nurses attending to the patients.

At Kawama Clinic, the gate was locked with the place literally deserted.

The situation was the same at Chipokota Mayamba Clinic in Chifubu Township.

And teachers in Ndola have continued their strike.

The teachers have also asked former president Frederick Chiluba to apologise for dividing them.

In an interview yesterday, one of the teachers at Masala High School charged that Chiluba was the cause of confusion reigning in the teaching fraternity because he allegedly divided teachers by spearheading splinter unions.

"And we are asking the same Chiluba to apologise to us," said the teacher who sought anonymity.

Another teacher explained that although teachers had reported for work, they were not teaching.

"If you go round the school and find anyone teaching, just know that they are on teaching practice," the teacher said.

Pupils talked to confirmed that there were no serious lessons at the school.

The pupils were found roaming about by press time.

Masala High School teachers also wrote to the District Education Board Secretary (DEBS) informing him of their decision to withdraw their monthly subscriptions to the three teacher unions - Zambia National Union of Teachers (ZNUT), Secondary Schools Teachers Union of Zambia (SESTUZ) and Basic Education Teachers Union of Zambia (BETUZ).

The teachers disclosed that they were collecting signatures from their colleagues in other schools so that they could withdraw their contributions to the three unions.

"This is also in an effort to ensure that we only have one union," they said.

The teachers said they would rather have the two per cent that was deducted by their unions added to their salaries instead of enriching union leaders that did not even represent them effectively.

They also demanded the resignation of Ndola District SESTUZ chairperson Wisdom Mufuzi for allegedly failing them.

They charged that the unions needed to be audited because they did not even account for the teachers' contributions.

"You see, about K42,500, which is two per cent of our salary is deducted from our salaries towards the union. So we want to inform the DEBS that such money should not be deducted. It should be added to the 15 per cent so that we increase our salaries by another two per cent. We shall be unionless until further notice," the teacher said.

They warned the government that their divide and rule tactics would not work.

"The government through ZNBC are trying to portray a picture that everything is normal when things on the ground are different," one teacher observed.

A check at Kansenshi and Chifubu high schools revealed that pupils were not learning.

In Choma in Southern Province, nurses and other public service workers resolved to resume work but passed a vote of no confidence in their national union leaders, demanding for their resignation.

At a heated meeting held at Choma General Hospital and addressed by Civil Servants and Allied Workers Union of Zambia (CSAWUZ) branch chairman Switzer Mpukani, the public service workers reluctantly agreed to call off their strike action.

The nurses and other public service workers had earlier on vowed to continue with the strike but union leaders cautioned them on the implications of such a move following the signing of the collective agreement between government and the unions.

It took Mpukani and other union leaders considerable time to persuade the workers to reconsider their position.

The members then resolved to return to work but vowed to withdraw their membership and contributions from the CSAWUZ as well as the National Union of Public Service Workers (NUPSW).

They complained that there was no way their union leaders could sign for the 15 per cent salary increment, leaving out other crucial issues like housing allowances and other entitlements that had remained unchanged over a long time.

However, members of the three teachers’ unions who met at Adastra Basic School on Tuesday vowed to press ahead with the strike action despite the signing of the collective agreement.

In Monze District, over 800 government workers refused to return to work and resolved to continue with the work stoppage despite the signing of the 15 per cent salary increment.

The worker warned both national union and political leaders to stop provoking the workforce through intimidation, saying the continued issuance of statements threatening workers of disciplinary action would turn the country into chaos.

At a meeting held at Monze Basic School to discuss the 15 per cent salary increment that government had awarded to public service workers, the workers said would not resume work because they had been misrepresented by national union leaders.

The visibly annoyed workers, who in most cases chanted slogans and sang songs expressing their disappointment, said they were ready to face anyone threatening and forcing them to return to work.

The workers said it was sad that unionism had lost its direction.

Workers also demanded the resignation of Zambia Congress of Trade Union (ZCTU) president Leonard Hikaumba for failure to show leadership at a time when workers needed his input most.

The workers said they would use stones to sort out whoever would harass and intimidate them and that they would also stop all their contributions to various unions.

Earlier, members who did not want to listen to the district leadership demanded a demonstration at the DEBS and district commissioner's office to express their disappointment over the conduct of their national union leaders.

A check at both the hospital and other government institutions in the district found the offices deserted while at Monze Mission Hospital patients were being attended to by student and senior nurses.

At various schools, pupils were not learning because teachers had vowed not to resume work.

And in Mazabuka civil servants turned down the 15 per cent increment and vowed to continue with the strike.

During a joint meeting held at Kaonga Basic School grounds, the civil servants among them nurses, teachers, agriculture extension officers and other government workers from different departments in the district resolved to continue with the strike until government addressed their problems.

The angry workers who were chanting anti-government slogans expressed disappointment with the union leaders for signing a deal without their consent.

The workers, who were clad in black, agreed to meet tomorrow morning to chart the way forward on the matter.

They expressed disappointment with some civil servants including department heads and headteachers who were working while others were striking, describing them as cowards.

A check at many government schools and health centres found pupils and patients wondering without people to attend to them.

Labels: CSAW, HAKAINDE HICHILEMA, RONNIE SHIKAPWASHA

posted by MrK @ 1:54 PM