Theft in the Public Service
Lawrence Temfwe February 12th, 2007
When you read President Levy Mwanawasa’s statement that 3 trillion Kwacha (now revised to 36 billion Kwacha) has been stolen by public service workers did you cry or got angry, or offered imprecatory prayers for the culprits? After several years of cuts in public spending that affected the employment of new teachers and reduced the recruitment of new students into schools to meet the debt relief obligation to the World Bank, the Zambian faces a new dilemma - thieving public service workers.
Continued revelation of stolen money by public service workers creates serious problems for civil society organizations in Zambia who are campaigning for more development assistance from the wealthy nations. A report from the Social Watch Forum held in Kenya recently at which Micah Challenge Zambia was ably represented by Chairperson Prisca Kambole and Micah Challenge Council member Bishop Paul Mususu, state that the wealthy nations are not fulfilling their internationally agreed commitments on poverty eradication. But why should we be putting pressure on wealthy nations to fulfill their commitment when even the little that is trickling down to our Ministry of Finance is not helping our people living in poverty but is ending up in the pocket of public service workers?
At the rate we are going it will take a miracle to attain the 2030 vision of a ‘middle-class income nation.’ How do you attain this vision when the framers of the vision have no proper financial systems and every worker does as he pleases? Our story in the public service reads like the book of Judges, “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25
). Like Israel our public service is divided and weak and in need of a strong leader who must cast a vision of a nation of men and women of integrity in public service.
Did you pray for those who are being affected by the stealing; teachers who can’t get their housing allowance, schools that can’t receive sufficient funds and rural government workers who get slave salaries and lack proper accommodation, water and sanitation? Christian rural teachers and government workers have been used by God in planting churches in villages where our town evangelists and pastors have not been able to go. When these people don’t get their allowances it impacts negatively on rural education and church growth.
In Judges whenever suffering grew terrible and the people cried in despair, God would hear and call forth a deliverer to throw off the oppressor. Zambians are suffering. They are in need of a church of intercessors who will cry to God for leaders who will reverse the current trend of self-serving. The church is also in need of preachers who understand that the Bible and its message are more than personal edification, spirituality, and private interpretation. Our proclamation must include being salt and light. As salt, Christians in the public service are supposed to affect the government positively by being beacons of truth and integrity and by being light that exposes falsehood and criminal activities. Is this what you’re preaching and modeling?
