Members of the recruitment panel which is chaired by the deputy city clerk is accused of hiring relatives and friends as counsellors. Some council employees claim it is no accident that only relatives of people in the recruitment panel and certain council officials qualified for the job. They accused Chiliwa and some human resource officers of serving personal interests in the recruitment exercise. Detractors say members of the panel and council officials who had relatives among applicants should have declared their interests.
“We don’t expect these people to be fair in the execution of their duties as they have certain vested interests to serve at the expense of reality. There is no way these people can be fair, as long as they continue to recruit their relatives,” said a council employee.
Chiliwa confirmed yesterday that he has heard accusations of favouritism and nepotism by some council staff but dismissed them as unfair and misleading. “As far as I know, nothing like that really exists. What you should appreciate is that employment recruitment is an open exercise that is open to those that qualify for certain positions advertised,” he said. He indicated that no one was given preference in the recruitment of lay counsellors and the right procedures were followed.
Chiliwa said that they invited about 45 people for interviews and those with vested interests or relatives declared their stand before anything could be done.
“For example, there was a relative of mine who had applied for the job without my knowledge. On realising that I had a relative coming for the interview, I declared my interest so that I could be excused from being part of the recruiting panel.” He indicated that it was other members of the panel who insisted that he should remain and chair the proceedings because he would not influence their decisions. He denied ever influencing members of the panel to employ his relatives. “Recruitment is done purely on merit and there is no way that we could sacrifice that. In previous recruitments, I had relatives that tried their luck but did not succeed.
