• Avoid political interference in the ongoing teacher recruitment exercise.
• Nationwide debate indicates that there have been suspicions of political interference in the ongoing recruitment of 30, 000 teachers.
• Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) dispatched officers to all 116 districts to oversee the teacher recruitment process
Transparency International Zambia (TI-Z) has cautioned Government to avoid political interference in the ongoing teacher recruitment exercise.
Organization Executive Director Maurice Nyambe said it has come to TI-Z’s attention, through a nationwide debate, that there have been suspicions of political interference in the ongoing recruitment of 30, 000 teachers.
Mr. Nyambe noted that the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) dispatched officers to all 116 districts to oversee the teacher recruitment process, to ensure utmost integrity and stamp out any inclination towards corruption.
He stated that despite ACC’s initiative, stakeholders have continued to express concerns that some government and ruling party officials have been presenting lists of their recommended persons who they deem to be more deserving of recruitment, thereby disrupting the exercise.
Mr. Nyambe said such political interference has potential to undermine the entire process and cause a loss of public trust in other government programmes.
“Such political interference has the potential to undermine the entire process and to cause a loss of public trust in other government programmes. Moreover, this paves the way for weaker institutional systems that lack professionalism and independent administration, “he said.
“The mandate that the people of Zambia gave the UPND was partly premised on their promise to do things differently, and it would be a blatant betrayal of that mandate for the UPND administration to endorse and perpetuate the misdeeds of the past,” he added.
Recently, Southern Province Minister Cornelius Mweetwa directed the Provincial Education Office to revise the report sent to the Teaching Service Commission on teachers’ recruitment.
Mr. Mweetwa said the Provincial Education Office never involved stakeholders in the recruitment process as directed by Cabinet circular number 10 of 2022 on recruitment of over 11,000 health workers and 30,000 teachers.
