By Sarah Gwetsani
Social media forums have been awash with news of ghost names who have made their way in as successful candidates without attending interviews for the position of Health Surveillance Assistants (HSAs] tenable in the Ministry of Health.
The Ministry of health shortlisted some successful candidates earmarked to start employment in the civil service but to the surprise of many who sat for the interviews, ghost names were picked and have formed part of successful candidates a development which is worrisome to many who attended the interviews and have not been successful.
Districts such as Ntchisi, Chiladzulu, Phalombe, Mzimba, Mchinji, Chikwawa, Blantyre, Salima, Chitipa, Mulanje, Lilongwe, Karonga, Dedza, Dowa and Nkhatabay are appearing on the list with some names that have been asked to start work without attending interviews.
The development is similar to the Aptitude Test primary school teachers under went in October, 2022 across the country for PT3, PT2, and PT1 Grades where successful candidates were being invited in secret through phone calls from the offices of the District Education Managers to sign letters of promotions.
President Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera was voted into office with trust that he will fight corruption in his government but instead of fighting the vice, he has been seen condoning it contributing to rampant corruption which is three times bigger than it was during the reign of the DPP.
Job seekers who attended the HSA’s interviews in Blantyre petitioned the office of the District Commissioner demanding answers and so too, Mchinji where angry youth visited the offices of those who were on the panel of interviewing candidates to explain the criteria used to pick ghost names as successful candidates to start work in the Ministry of Health.
Political activist Bon Elias Kalindo has claimed that only those with names connected to Capital Hill and State House are the ones who are being considered to work in government institutions such as Police, MDF and Immigration, among others.
Kalindo has faulted the ACB for existing on paper while on the ground is zero claiming that its Director General Ms. Martha Chizuma who was entrusted to carryout the mandate of the institution to arrest and prosecute corruption suspects is on holiday with full of scones in her mouth.
Kalindo said if the ACB was alive and kicking, it would have investigated and brought to book many people who have found their way into government payrolls without making formal applications and interviews for various positions in Ministries, Departments and Agencies.
He said this is the time that those without names and connections to Capital Hill and State House to sit down and make informed decisions that never again to vote for President Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera to bounce back into government in 2025.
He said it is sad that everywhere in government institutions, there are family relations similar to what DPP was doing claiming that the Chewas have dominated the Police, MDF, Immigration and all other departments strategizing to rig the 2025 elections.
“Many Chewas are in all institutions and are heading those institutions to make sure that President Chakwera and his MCP bounce back into government in 2025,” said Kalindo.
