A cup of tea for partisan civil servant: Prepare for the hangover
Chembo Mafuka- Saturday 2nd May 2026
By Chembo Mafuka- Saturday 02.05.2026
Let’s stop whispering and start naming names. To every teacher, nurse, agriculture officer, council worker, police officer simply said Public Officer (Civil Servant) who has formally joined a campaign team for a parliamentary, council chairperson, or presidential candidate you are no longer a civil servant. You are a cadre on government payroll. You sit in strategy meetings at night and sign attendance registers in government offices by day. You wear two hats, but only one will remain after August. And it won’t be the one with a government salary.
Understand this critically: joining a campaign team is not “supporting the process.” It is gross misconduct under the Civil Service Code of Conduct, the Electoral Process Act, and the Public Service Management Division Circulars. You have declared war on neutrality. You have made yourself a legitimate target for every disciplinary committee that will be formed after the polls. When your presidential candidate loses, when your MP is trounced, when your council chairperson is rejected do not call it a witch-hunt. Call it consequences. You were the witch, and you hunted the state first.
Here is what happens next, and I want you to feel it. The incoming government will request a list of all officers who abandoned duty for campaigns. Your rivals in the office have that list already. Your photos at rallies are saved. Your voice notes insulting opponents are circulating. Your travel logs in GRZ vehicles are being printed. You will not be “transferred.” You will be retired in “national interest.” You will be demoted to a rural post with no office. You will be investigated for abuse of authority, use of government resources, and absenteeism. And no union will save you, because you burned the rule book that protects you.
So to those in parliamentary campaign teams you are fighting for a man who will not pick your calls on August 15th. To those in presidential campaign war-rooms you are a pawn, and pawns are sacrificed first. To those running council chairperson social media pages on government time your chairman will not share his gratuity with you when he loses. You will be alone, disgraced, and unemployed, explaining to your children why you traded a pension for a t-shirt.
This is your last chance to resign from those teams. Today. Not tomorrow. Delete your name, remove your face, return to your desk, and serve all Zambians. Because if you don’t, the painful outcome will not be political. It will be personal, financial, and permanent. The state has a long memory, and after elections, it balances its books. Make sure your name is not on the wrong side of the ledger.
Drink this tea slowly. It’s bitter now so your future won’t be.
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