ZNS volunteers secrecy raises eyebrows

ZNS volunteers secrecy raises eyebrows

By Thandizo Banda

THE recent recruitment of youths to undertake voluntary skills training under the Zambia National Service (ZNS) lacks transparency, some members of Parliament (MPs) have said.

Patriotic Front (PF) MP for Shiwang’andu constituency Stephen Kampyongo, Bwacha’s Sydney Mshanga and Francis Kapyanga for Mpika wondered in separate interviews with The Mast which platform and criteria had been used to identify and select the candidates for the voluntary skills training programme.

Kampyongo described the programme as a scam.

“Maybe MPs from the ruling party, the United Party for National Development (UPND), were consulted and engaged in the ZNS skills training selection process …otherwise none of us from the former ruling PF were involved,” he said.

Kampyongo said the lack of transparency had created speculation among various stakeholders, who were wondering whether the programme was aimed at benefiting UPND cadres with military skills in exchange for votes in next year’s general elections.

“This is a very sensitive matter involving the training of over 1,000 unknown youths in military skills. Perhaps the million-dollar question is what’s next after the training? You cannot just train military personnel and offload them onto the streets. It is a time bomb,” he warned.

Kampyongo said government should be careful with its ambitious recruitment of military personnel who, once trained, were expected to be placed in cantonments in order to monitor their conduct and not left free to roam the streets among civilians with their new skills.

“And they expect us to support and fund the programme when we were not involved in the first instance. They claim CDF [Constituency Development Fund] is the people’s money, but they continue to dictate how the fund should be used,” he said.

And Mshanga, a former Central Province minister, wondered who had selected the unknown four youths out of the required seven from his constituency.

“As Bwacha MP, I beg to know who these youths are, which wards they are coming from and how they were identified and selected because there was no CDF meeting convened for this particular purpose,” he said.

Mshanga warned CDF members authorising the release of money without following guidelines.

He said the act amounted to abuse of office and was punishable by law.

Mshanga said under normal circumstances, a CDF meeting should have been held to approve the budget for funding the training of the selected candidates for skills training.

Mpika MP Francis Kapyanga also wondered how the selection for candidates for the national voluntary skills training programme was conducted without involving sitting MPs.

Kapyanga criticised the manner the programme had been handled, saying it had raised more questions than answers.

He said soon, the issue of ZNS volunteers would be an audit query.

Last week, the government released over K17 million to finance the ZNS voluntary skills training programme for youths at three centres – in Katete, Kitwe and Kasama, which began Monday.

The release of the money by the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development from the 2025 CDF pot was meant to implement President Hakainde Hichilema’s directive to restart the ZNS voluntary skills training that ended many decades ago.

Ministry of Defence permanent secretary Maambo Haamaundu said each constituency would select seven youths across the country to benefit in the first unit.