No More Laziness Among GRZ Workers- Dr Rowland Msiska
Secretary to the Cabinet, Rowland Msiska has warned against unproductivity among government employees.
Dr Msiska says there will be no more lazy and unprofessional workers as the launch of the Human Resource Management Reform Programme (HRMRP) will enable Government Ministries, Local Authorities and other government Institutions to quickly fire underperforming public workers.
He said there will no longer be jargons in handling matters of unproductivity, indiscipline and a poor work culture as has been the case in the past decades due to government decentralization.
He said before the launch of the HRMRP was introduced, it took so many years to arrive at a decision to fire, hire or replace public officials due to the long channel of decentralization.
“The reforms which are being launched today is the delegation of Resource Management from the Service Commissions to government Ministries, Local Authorities and other Government institutions.
“The reforms will entail a shift in the role and responsibilities of the Service Commissions from undertaking transactional services to a more strategic and regulatory role, whilst they will retain responsibility for the most senior level appointments across the sectors.
“And one of the key factors emphasized by the reforms is the introduction of a merit and value-based human resources management system which is intended to enhance professionalism in the public service and premised on the Constitutional National values which include morality, and ethics, equity, equality and non-discrimination, good governance and integrity,” Dr Msiska said.
Speaking earlier at the same function, Department for International Development (DFID) Acting Head of Office, Mr Andrew Ockenden said there was need for government to put a lot of efforts in ensuring that recruitment and promotion is based upon merit and to promote open competition for all suitably qualified and experienced applicants as a way of having right people with the right skills in the right place at the right time.
He also said that his country, the United Kingdom (UK) were willing to render support to Cabinet so as to foster change of mindset and approach to help public servants to find innovative solutions in response to complex challenges.
“As DFID and our partner the UK’s National School of Government International, are proud to be supporting Cabinet Office to achieve this, and have worked alongside our Zambian government colleagues from policy inception through to legislative development to this current phase of implementing and testing the new model in selected government institutions,” said Mr Ockenden.
The Human Resources Management Reforms received Cabinet approval in May 2013 after being launched by the Late Michael Sata on 16th July, 2013 and was later reinforced by Provisions of the Republican Constitution as Amended by Act No. 2 of 2016 and the Service Commission Act No. 10 of 2016.