GRAFT: ALUTTA CONTINUA
ZAMBIA cannot afford to allow detractors to succeed and hijack the fight against corruption.
Corruption is a vice that all Zambians must commit themselves to fight until the nation achieves its desired aim of zero-tolerance against corruption.
We all realise however that this will not be an easy campaign considering that the enemy appears to be entrenched in the system.
It is in this vein that we understand the seeming frustration that President Edgar Lungu is going through in his drive to drive corruption out.
Mr Lungu yesterday admitted that the fight against corruption has seemingly lost the firm grip it is supposed to have because some people charged with the responsibility of fighting the vice are corrupt themselves.
President Lungu was quite frank to speak about the problems being faced fighting corruption when ambassadors from the European Union states accredited to Zambia paid a courtesy call on him at State House yesterday.
The President said while his government was committed to fight corruption at all levels, some players in championing the fight were a let down.
Mr Lungu complained that some of those championing the fight against corruption were corrupt themselves making it difficult to end the vice.
Indeed, how do you end corruption, for example in the Police Service when it is the officers themselves who demand kickbacks so as to drop charges or stop investigations?
Examples abound of how numerous reports have been made to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and other investigative wings of rampant corrupt practices but nothing comes out.
The case of the 48 houses in Lusaka stands out as one such case where the ACC said it could not proceed with the investigations because it had failed to identify who owned the property.
But the Daily Nation as a newspaper was able to get to the bottom and solve the ownership riddle.
The ACC only took up the case it initially abandoned because President Lungu stepped in and called for a thorough probe.
Is it any wonder that there have been calls from across the nation calling for the dissolution of the ACC due to its failure to investigate and have people accused of corruption convicted?
In cases where cases have gone for prosecution, the courts have been forced to dismiss the cases because of shoddy investigations.
As President Lungu alluded to, it was disappointing that when some senior government officialsare dropped on serious corruption allegations, the investigation agencies were failing to provide evidence in court.
In other instances, allegations involving key opposition figures are seldom probed because they have planted moles in the investigative agencies.
But despite all these frustrations, Zambians must not give up the fight against corruption but must soldier on for the nation to develop and ensure a good life for all citizens.