The Road Transport and Safety Agency says it is in the process of cleansing itself, which is why the agency informed police about criminal allegations involving two senior officials.

But sources at RTSA insist that there is a brawl between director Zindaba Soko who “is trying to shield himself against criminal investigations” and the employees whom he reported to police.

On Friday last week, the C1 division of the Zambia police arrested Joseph Mwaba, a transport manager and Roderick Mulenga, the human resource director at RTSA, for theft by servant.

Police also picked several IT employees for questioning in connection to World Bank computers, which were being kept at RTSA Lumumba offices.

RTSA Head of Public Relations Fred Mubanga confirmed the arrests of the officers and added that the institution was undergoing a cleansing process to ensure that it does not lose public confidence.

He said there were some RTSA officers at the institution who had been undermining the core values of the institution and warned that they would be dealt with accordingly.

“ In our 10 years of existence as the Road Transport and Safety Agency, we have endeavoured to promote transparency, accountability and integrity. And to serve the public in an efficient way, we have always upheld our values. Therefore, our officers should always promote these values,” Mubanga said.

“In the process of protecting the interest of the institution as well as the interest of the country, we are not going to allow any erring officers to work contrary to the provisions of our values. It is for this reason that officers that are going against the provisions of our values will be dealt with according to the provisions of the law.”

He said corrective measures had been put in place to restore public confidence at RTSA.

“It is for this reason that corrective measures were put in place when we had some discovery about some few officers that were not working in accordance with the RTSA core values. We shall not allow any kind of disregard of the law. Going forward, corrective measures have been put in place to arrest any loopholes to stop any staff from putting the name of the agency into public disrepute,” Mubanga said.

He however said instead of five IT employees, only three were questioned.

“You reported that five IT employees were picked up from their homes, that’s not true. Only two or three were questioned. Pamela Mwaba for example was not arrested, she is working. And the two officers who were arrested are not directors, but they are just officers,” Mubanga said.

“When asked why RTSA was employing cadres and relatives of senior officials, Mubanga said it was not true.

“There is a procedure when it comes to employing, and everyone who is employed here followed the stipulated process. That is not true,” said Mubanga.

But sources disclosed that in fact, Soko disowned the arrested officers because he was protecting his personal interests.

“If police do a professional job without being intimidated by politicians, this investigation will end at Mr Soko’s door. He knows what he has done. He knows what is going on at RTSA, and there is no way he will be left out,” the source explained.

“Those officers were reported by Soko because there is a list of directors whom he wants to get rid of. These are constantly challenging him and he is trying to expose them to the police. Go to the auditor general’s office and ask for the report from RTSA, you will see what is in there.  The whole nation will be shocked with what’s going on at RTSA,’ said the source.