By ADRIAN MWANZA –

DEFENCE Minister Richwell Siamunene has cautioned people planning to apply for jobs in the defence forces to be wary of unscrupulous individuals promising them employment in exchange for money.
Mr Siamunene said it was unfortunate that some crooked people were taking advantage of desperate individuals who needed employment by swindling them of their money.
Mr Siumene’s remarks follow the arrest of a 41-year-old Chila Primary School teacher in Mbala for allegedly swindling 42 youths of Nsokolo Village out of K126,100.
The Zambian defence forces namely Zambia National Service, Zambia Air Force and Zambia Army have advertised a high number of jobs, which have seen both employed and unemployed youths applying.
Mr Siamunene warned the tricksters that they risked being arrested for their illegal activities.
He urged Zambians from all the 10 provinces to apply and assured that the selection process would be on merit as corruption and nepotism would not be condoned.
“I would like to encourage everyone from all the 10 provinces with the right qualifications and age to apply,” Mr Siamunene said.
He said every province had a given number of people to be recruited and that in the near future, the army wings would be going in villages to give people in those areas an opportunity to join the army.
“In the future when funds are in abundance, we will be going in villages in order to find prospective recruits who find it hard to be incorporated due to their locality,” he said.