Does Fackson Shamenda ever look himself in the mirror? Of course not to reach the inescapable conclusion that his beard needs a major touch up.
But to see the man he is or rather the man he has become beats one’s imagination. Shamenda has in the last 48 hours said things that he could never be proud of long after the 20 years he predicts the Patriotic Front government will be in power has lapsed.
Yes, no one was happy to see the many people lose their lives during the eight day strike by nurses and midwives. We all had a right to grumble about it BUT NOT you sir?
It was your baby to see to it that the strike came to amicable end. BUT you chose to throw missiles in every direction. You chose confrontation tact and now long after the damage has been done and nurses have been fired, Shamenda has not toned down his language, he has followed them in their misery.
Shamenda has conveniently chosen to ignore the fact that he is the one who addressed nurses in October during the first strike, he is the one who conned nurses to go back to work on account that he will ensure he reverts to them in two weeks with their grievances sorted.
After a month the former unionist had not only gone under but had denied ever making the statement of the process that he made before television cameras. Fast forward to part two of the strike and Shamenda had opted to shun meeting the nurses. What has followed has been nothing short of chaotic.
What spiteful things has he not said amidst this crisis? Here below is a peek into Shamenda’s brain.
“We found a huge mess when we took over government and to clean up that mess we will need about 20 years because it is a lot of work,” Shamenda at his arrogant best said.
“What does Roy (Mwaba) mean when he says ZCTU is considering various options in responding to government’s decision to fire nurses? What he is saying is basically a threat to an elected government. Mwaba should not incite the public to turn against this government,” Shamenda a former ZCTU president going for his former colleague who is ZCTU Secretary General.
“I will call Roy to verify the context in which he issued yesterday’s statement because it would be irresponsible for a union leader to use threatening language against a democratically elected government,” he said.
“Roy is saying the nurses should be patient and not reapply pending negotiations with government. When did government start negotiating with ZCTU? Government never negotiates with the ZCTU. The labour movement is misleading its members.”
Mwaba’s crime was to point out that government had gone too heavy on nurses.
Shamenda too has not been hesitant to shift the blame to other people except himself and his government. To him government stands on a very high moral pedestal and has done no wrong.
“Some chap who never even goes to UTH when sick tells nurses that he will give them legal support just to get front page coverage in the newspaper. This chap is talking from an air conditioned office and drinking coffee, when he is unwell or any member of his family is unwell, they all fly to South Africa for treatment, they don’t even know the inside of UTH,” he said in apparent reference to the UPND leadership that has offered to provide dismissed nurses with legal representation.
“The offer by the UPND to offer legal support to affected nurses goes to confirm that Mr Hakainde Hichilema went to UTH last month to incite the nurses to prolong their strike. It is highly irresponsible for the opposition to want to make capital out of this situation. These politicians are hoping this strike will make the PF unpopular, they are wrong because this strike does not have the support of the common man on the street. Nurses today are very unpopular.”
Even when the nurses have been fired Shamenda has not let them be, he wants them further punished by not giving them their benefits. How heartless!
“I cannot say at this stage that they will be paid their retirement benefits or not because remember these are dismissed workers, so government which was their employer will sit and determine what to give them but there is a risk that they can lose all their retirement benefits,”
To imagine this is the man who blasted Shoprite Checkers management for sacking striking workers as absurd is shocking beyond measure. Shamenda ordered that all Shoprite employees be reinstated as government would not allow any Zambian to be thrown out of employment for demanding better wages.
Did not the President threaten revocation of KCM’s mining licence for threatening to lay off over 1000 workers? Did not government announce braggingly that they had increased salaries of public service workers by as much as 200 percent?
Did they not say they were lining public service workers’ pockets with more in their pockets? To quote His Excellency – “for the first time in the history of this country salaries have been increased by as high as 200%.”
And now Shamenda wants nurses be thrown out in the cold. Surely if anyone should be picking up a dismissal letter at this hour, it is the “dis”- honourable Fackson Shamenda and perhaps his filthy beard.
The post Opinion: Shamenda’s Beard Needs Touch Up, Not Nurses appeared first on Zambia Reports.