Opinion / Columnist
Looking for Government Corruption! - Read this article and see what happens inside the Mugabe led Zimbabwe Civil Service
07 Mar 2012 at 18:34hrs | Views
"When I vote next time, I will seek to use my vote to send a message to government that corruption is a punishable offence that will be stopped by my vote"
As we move towards elections, I think it is the duty of Zimbabweans to punish those that seek to paralyse our public service by stealing money from the tax payer. We already know of some MPs who have been charged with abusing constituency development funds and their ridiculous explanations of how they spent the money. However, by the look of things, it looks like those MPs were just small fish. The government of Zimbabwe is rotting with corruption and they hide their rot by withholding information from the public by harassing the media, which in many times doesn't have necessary space available to inform the public as journalists are threatened if they write about the gross corruption at hand. Thanks to the GPA which created shared governing between parties, some things cannot go unnoticed as was the case when Zanu-PF was governing alone.
And to the nasty details…Can the country function like this?
The government of Zimbabwe commissioned and completed in November 2010, a Civil Service Payroll Skills Audit Report which uncovered a huge rot of ghost workers within the civil service. Apparently, the government has been sitting on that report, playing delaying tactics to avoid it being made public and we probably know the reason why. A 28 February 2012 parliamentary discussion reveals that the Audit shows that there are 75 000 ghost workers out of a total of 188 000 (Almost 40%) people employed by various ministries. There are also 75 273 civil servants without a minimum qualification as required by the Public Service Commission for designated positions. In 2007, government employed 3593 civil servants without verifiable documents related to police and medical clearances, appointment letters and appointment forms. The audit also reveals that 6 345 civil servants obtained both their police and medical clearances after their dates of appointment and that 10 135 civil servants more than the ministry quotas have been appointed without the necessary Treasury approval.
How much can we "SAVE"?
It is estimated that if government takes this matter serious and remove ghost workers, the country can save US 25 million every month.
Why then hide the report?
We are unlikely to see the report made public any time soon because it will expose Zanu-PF's strategy of buying loyalty from citizens by using state funds. An election is looming and there is no way this information can go public as it might encourage government to fire Zanu-PF foot soldiers who have been so long masquerading as civil servants but in reality, serve as an election machinery for the aged Robert Mugabe. The so called "Green Bombers and Youth Development Officers" form part of these unknown civil servants.
The money meant to pay for improved salaries and better living conditions for civil servants (who recently went on strike) is paying these ghost workers. The question we may ask is how do we expect our children to have a better future when people who are supposed to guide them have no idea what they are doing? There are many complaints raised by people, especially in Matabeleland where teachers are said to have no idea what they are teaching and worse don't even understand the local language while teaching infants who only know their mother tongue.
Is it up to Zimbabweans to stop this?
Now that we know of this recipe for disaster, massive campaigns must be launched to encourage people to remember issues that affect them when they cast their votes in the next elections. A Zanu-PF government will be fatal because it will mean an extension of these unknown people working for government in return for their loyalty to support the dark days of Mugabe and his family. They won't deliver the basic needs and more electricity woes will be guaranteed. Government corruption is undermining efforts to improve the country's well-being and those responsible for it must be punished. An election with no commitment to do things differently would be a clear waste of time and lives. We deserve better and we must strive hard to make better.
Corruption is nature's way of restoring our faith in democracy. - Peter Ustinov
As we move towards elections, I think it is the duty of Zimbabweans to punish those that seek to paralyse our public service by stealing money from the tax payer. We already know of some MPs who have been charged with abusing constituency development funds and their ridiculous explanations of how they spent the money. However, by the look of things, it looks like those MPs were just small fish. The government of Zimbabwe is rotting with corruption and they hide their rot by withholding information from the public by harassing the media, which in many times doesn't have necessary space available to inform the public as journalists are threatened if they write about the gross corruption at hand. Thanks to the GPA which created shared governing between parties, some things cannot go unnoticed as was the case when Zanu-PF was governing alone.
And to the nasty details…Can the country function like this?
The government of Zimbabwe commissioned and completed in November 2010, a Civil Service Payroll Skills Audit Report which uncovered a huge rot of ghost workers within the civil service. Apparently, the government has been sitting on that report, playing delaying tactics to avoid it being made public and we probably know the reason why. A 28 February 2012 parliamentary discussion reveals that the Audit shows that there are 75 000 ghost workers out of a total of 188 000 (Almost 40%) people employed by various ministries. There are also 75 273 civil servants without a minimum qualification as required by the Public Service Commission for designated positions. In 2007, government employed 3593 civil servants without verifiable documents related to police and medical clearances, appointment letters and appointment forms. The audit also reveals that 6 345 civil servants obtained both their police and medical clearances after their dates of appointment and that 10 135 civil servants more than the ministry quotas have been appointed without the necessary Treasury approval.
How much can we "SAVE"?
It is estimated that if government takes this matter serious and remove ghost workers, the country can save US 25 million every month.
We are unlikely to see the report made public any time soon because it will expose Zanu-PF's strategy of buying loyalty from citizens by using state funds. An election is looming and there is no way this information can go public as it might encourage government to fire Zanu-PF foot soldiers who have been so long masquerading as civil servants but in reality, serve as an election machinery for the aged Robert Mugabe. The so called "Green Bombers and Youth Development Officers" form part of these unknown civil servants.
The money meant to pay for improved salaries and better living conditions for civil servants (who recently went on strike) is paying these ghost workers. The question we may ask is how do we expect our children to have a better future when people who are supposed to guide them have no idea what they are doing? There are many complaints raised by people, especially in Matabeleland where teachers are said to have no idea what they are teaching and worse don't even understand the local language while teaching infants who only know their mother tongue.
Is it up to Zimbabweans to stop this?
Now that we know of this recipe for disaster, massive campaigns must be launched to encourage people to remember issues that affect them when they cast their votes in the next elections. A Zanu-PF government will be fatal because it will mean an extension of these unknown people working for government in return for their loyalty to support the dark days of Mugabe and his family. They won't deliver the basic needs and more electricity woes will be guaranteed. Government corruption is undermining efforts to improve the country's well-being and those responsible for it must be punished. An election with no commitment to do things differently would be a clear waste of time and lives. We deserve better and we must strive hard to make better.
Corruption is nature's way of restoring our faith in democracy. - Peter Ustinov
Source - Harare Sunset | hararesunset.wordpress.com
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