CHORUS ON CORRUPTION ALLEGATIONS: WHEN WILL EVIDENCE BE PROVIDED?
CORRUPTION claims have now become a classic national hymn among some politicians once derailed from the tracks of expediency and supremacy by their respective political parties.
This is characteristic in both the ruling and some opposition political parties.
Whenever some individuals fall out of favour, that is when they are either expelled as party members or sacked as Ministers, they tend to blow up, in some cases revealing glaring accusations of corruption and bad governance within the systems they once served.
Remember when in 2015, Chishimba Kambwili, then Information Minister and Chief Government spokesperson, blasted Rainbow Party chief, Wynter Kabimba urging him to stop issuing what Mr Kambwili termed “unsubstantiated statements insinuating that there is corruption in Government.”
Mr Kambwili said this in an interview in reaction to a story published in the Post newspaper headlined `Corruption is theft, murder.”
“I totally agree with Mr Kabimba that corruption is theft and murder, but he must be the last person to talk about corruption because he has amassed so much wealth in an unexplained manner.
“Mr Kabimba must not talk about corruption. He is not a grassroots person and has no relationship with poor people. How did he manage to fund the Rainbow congress, buying materials for everyone.
“Only recently Mr Kabimba was the most powerful person in the PF, who could organise anything within minutes, and cannot therefore turn around and accuse the PF of being corrupt,” Mr Chishimba was then quoted as saying.
Today the story is different from the Roan Member of Parliament who has since been expelled from the PF and has been pouring out volumes of corruption allegations against President Lungu’s leadership.
He has often times been challenged by the top PF brass and other stakeholders to provide evidence of his allegations to relevant wings of government.
Joining the corruption chorus is Mr Harry Kalaba, who has since resigned his position as Foreign Affairs Minister.
Mr. Kalaba announced his resignation in a Facebook post accusing President Edgar Lungu’s establishment of engulfing in swelling levels of corruption.
But political analysts and stakeholders have been raising wide concerns over the alleged lack of seriousness by the “Whistle Blowers” to come up with tangible evidence.
Forum Democracy and Development (FDD) president, Edith Nawakwi, featuring on 5FM Radio’s Burning Issue programme, was categorical in schooling sacked ministers and others crying foul to back their allegations with proof.
Government has also challe
these people to submit names of suspects to the AntiCorruption Commission (ACC).
Recently, Justice Minister Given Lubinda asked the ACC to summon politicians accusing others of corruption.
Mr. Lubinda said ACC should not only wait for people to report matters to them but should also summon those that had been accusing others in public to swear under oath about their allegations.
He made the remarks during a parliamentary debate on the ratification of the appointment of Ms. Cecilia Mbewe as Clerk of the National Assembly and Mr. Kapetwa Phiri as ACC Director General,
During the same debate, Eastern Province Minister Makebi Zulu questioned why some politicians were accusing the President and some ministers of being corrupt when they were not involved in any government procurement process.
And swearing in diplomats at State House recently, President Edgar Lungu was quoted as saying “I cannot take it anymore, some of my ministers and permanent secretaries are now paralysed on account of corruption allegations.”
He advised his ministers and permanent secretaries not to be scared but continue working as long as they were not involved in illegal dealings.
Still on the pertinent issue of graft, President Lungu recently warned members of his administration not to take advantage of their positions to enrich themselves, saying he would deal with them personally.
Speaking at the commemoration of the international anticorruption day, Mr Lungu noted that dishonesty taps the collective wealth of a country into individual’s pockets.
President Lungu’s administration has shown commitment in fighting graft as was evidenced recently when he prodded investigative wings of government to take to task, people cited for financial irregularities in the Auditor-General’s report.
The President said he expected investigative agencies such as the ACC to do their job in relation to the findings in the Auditor General’s Report on accounts for 2016.
President Lungu said those found wanting should be investigated and brought to book.
The Auditor General’s Report on accounts for 2016 showed that misapplication of funds had increased from about K28 million in 2015 to about K162 million in 2016.
The report also exposed unaccounted for revenue which increased from about K500, 000 in 2015 to about K3.7m in 2016.
The Auditor General’s report also indicated that unaccounted for funds increased from about K190, 000 in 2015 to about K380, 000 in 2016.
And a recent TIZ overview of corruption and anti-corruption in Zambia notes that Zambia had made considerable progress in the fight against corruption in the last decade, as reflected by major improvements recorded in main governance indicators.
The legal and institutional frameworks against corruption have been strengthened, and efforts have been made to reduce red tape and streamline bureaucratic procedures, as well as to investigate and prosecute corruption cases, including those involving high-ranking officials.
“In spite of progress made, corruption remains a serious issue in Zambia, affecting the lives of ordinary citizens and their access to public services.
“Corruption in the police emerges as an area of particular concern (with frequency of bribery well above that found in any other sector), followed by corruption in the education and health services”, the report concludes.
And in an end of year (2017) report, the ACC said it received 250 suspected cases of corruption during the third quarter of last year.
Out of these cases, 163 reports did not contain elements of corruption while 87 reports contained elements of corruption and out of these 58 were authorised for investigations.
Subsequently, 19 reports did not have sufficient details of the corruption offence to warrant investigations and so these were not authorised for further investigations.
It is up to the former ministers and those who have exited to take Ms. Nawakwi’s guidance on their corruption claims seriously so that they see President Lungu’s establishment in a better perspective.
“I cannot take it anymore, some of my ministers and permanent secretaries are now paralysed on account of corruption allegations.”