Lately, there have been concerns raised in various sections of society even in the media regarding the work culture and the perception of the Zambian Civil Service falling short of the people’s expectation in the delivery of quality service at various levels of public service. It is not long ago that the Honorable Minister of Labour and Social Security, Honorable Fackson Shamenda complained of poor work culture in Government Institutions. This message was again reiterated by His Excellency the President Mr. Michael Chilufya Sata. In conquering with the concerns raised by the His Excellency the President, Government institutions are faced with huge challenges in meeting people’s expectations. To this effect, the perception held about the various government institutions is that they focus on ‘self service’ and caring less for the public for whom they are employed to serve. This negative work culture has resulted in inefficiency and consequently derailing and frustrating the Government development agenda and thus not delivering on its pronouncements. It is true that some civil servants have a pathetic work culture. There are instances where people report for work at 09:00hrs in the morning, spend one hour moving from office to office chatting, then spend another one hour sipping tea or coffee, work for two hours and then go God knows where, I suppose for shopping? At the end of the day you will realize that of the expected eight hours they are expected to put in, they only put for four hours. Surely what can one achieve in those few hours? Some have constant excuses for not reporting for work because they know that dismissing them is not as easy as 123! This has resulted in very poor attitudes towards work and in the end the Zambian agenda doesn’t move! Perhaps allow me to make drop a bombshell that most Zambian workers worse with the Civil Servants are remunerated for just reporting for work and not availing themselves to work. Is it an easy way of reaping where you did not sow? The ‘Productivity’ and ‘Work Culture’ question should however not just be directed at the civil service but all productive sectors of the country as a whole after all collective effort is what sees Zambia move forward and not just a portion of section of the country. This matter should be presented at the feet Public sector too who have on many occasions exhibited inefficiency and managed to get away with it. Many people that I have personally interacted around the sub-region with full of praises for Zambians as being hard working. While I have agree with such assertions on account of seeing for myself how hardworking Zambians in diasporas are, It appears they work hard when they are working outside Zambia? Where does the steam to patriotically work hard for the benefit of this nation disappear to when in Zambia? How do they manage to keep two to three jobs out there and when in Zambia they give little or nothing to move this country forward? Someone once said that if Zambians worked as hard as they talk, Zambia would have been a heaven on earth but its only talk! Anyway, my focus is not on the Zambians in diaspora but those of us working within the borders. In my view, Zambian workers generally lack virtues of honesty and time management. They could be hard working, but no matter how hard working one can be if they lack these two very important attributes then the quality of work delivered is compromised. Why should the Zambian public be denied quality service when the majority of the Zambian Labour force is actually youthful? Statistics are there to show that the Zambian Public Service comprises 78% of a workforce aged between 20-44 years and 18% are 45-54 years, while only 4% are above 55 years. With this Youthful workforce why shouldn’t government programmes move at lightning speed? It is a pity that some workers just report for work, work with the system and not even make a single plan of how they will approach their work for the day using their personal effort. On the other hand you will read on a number of times in the press of some road contractors are accused of doing shoddy works on some of the road works. How many of you ever think of the fact that the poor workmanship may have been a result of workers who stole cement and given an impression that they had utilized it for the intended purpose? It is clear that the virtue of honesty lacks on the part of the employees. . Where are the work ethics in this?
One close friend of mine at the height of the heat wave in October 2012 jokingly retorted that it had become too hot and that the Government should do something about it. We laughed about it but when you come to think about it reflectively, this is the culture that has slowly taken over the Zambian Society today that they expect the Government to do everything for us even in situations where we can actually mobilize ourselves as communities to solve some of the community problems. It has become common every day to see and hear people on either television or radio making appeals for the Government intervene in this or that community problem. The words that have become common these days are “Tipema government iyanganepo” (Literally meaning the Government should look a particular matter). This is also clear indicator of how our society appears to taken the path of waiting for the Government to do things for them. There is need to reverse these trends.
However, we cannot say all hope is lost because attitudes though hard to break can still be changed. It is also true that there are some civil servants out there who are making huge difference in the health, education, and other sectors. It is important to build on this and ensure that government programmes move. The Ministry of Labour and Social Security should be a given a leading role to provide us with information on the productivity index and levels both in the private and public sectors. Perhaps they could go round some of these institutions to explain the important of improved productivity. It should not end there but there is need to thoroughly study systems that create bottle necks in the delivery of quality service at the end of the day. The most important one is for every worker to reflect on what contribution they are making to whatever institution they are working for. Honestly, it does not make sense to sound like a broken record singing the same song year in year out on the need to change your personal attitudes towards work. Do you expect the government to be moving around with whips to make you work? That will be reminiscent of the days of slavery. The Unions can only do enough and so can the Government the rest is incumbent upon you as a worker to motivate yourself to work hard to not only prove your worth but also move this nation forward. At the end of the day, we should get up and work extra hard since Zambia is a land or Work and Joy in Unity.
