President Edgar Lungu says if the current culture of misrepresentations of facts and falsehoods continue, civil servants will find it difficult to execute their functions for fear of having their reputations destroyed.

And President Lungu says although he wants corruption in Zambia to be extinguished, it does not please him to see innocent people being accused.

President Lungu said this at State House in Lusaka, Thursday, when he swore-in Dr Miti as new Secretary to the Cabinet after the ratification of his appointment by Parliament last week.

“I expect you to understand how the civil service can be improved, and to execute your mandate exceptionally. Civil servants must not be partisan, but should be loyal to their government, and your task is to ensure politics is uprooted from the civil service. I expect you to ensure government programmes and projects are implemented, and to do this, you are expected to ensure government performance management contracts of permanent secretaries are cascaded to the rest of the civil service. Promotions in the civil service should be based on merit,” President Lungu told Miti.

And he insisted that as much as he wanted corruption extinguished from Zambia, it would not please him to see innocent people being accused of corruption.

“I watched and listened attentively as the motion to ratify your appointment was being moved and seconded, and I was very impressed by the spirit exhibited by the honourable members of parliament, on both sides, who did not even debate the motion. That shows the confidence that the people of Zambia have in you through their members of parliament. It also showed that when I appointed you, I made the right choice. Listening to the seconder, Hon. Raphael Nakacinda’s comments, I could not help but reflect on the sentiments I made when I was swearing in the board of commissioners of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) here recently,” said President Lungu.

“Let me paraphrase what I said: ‘as President and lawyer by profession, as much as I want corruption to be annihilated in Zambia, I would not like innocent people to be accused of corruption and left to suffer the shame for the rest of their lives.’ Therefore, I am aware of what you went through and yet you were innocent. This is why I always say if the current culture of misrepresentations, and falsehoods continue, civil servants will find it difficult to execute their functions for fear that at best, their reputations will be destroyed! I am confident that you will be up for the job considering your track record. You are an experienced civil servant who has served in rural, peri-urban, urban, and provincial postings.”