SACK CORRUPT CUSTOMS OFFICERS

CORRUPT customs officials should be dismissed for embarrassing the government by allowing mukula logs to be illegally exported via Namibia where the consignment was eventually intercepted by state security, an opposition leader has demanded.

The Citizens Democratic Party (CDP) has called on the Ministry of Home Affairs to dismiss customs officers who are purportedly engaging in corrupt practices at border posts.

This follows revelations that a Chinese resident in Zambia was convicted and fined over illegal export of mukula logs which were impounded on the Namibian side of the border.

The Namibian Anti-Corruption Commission observed that a network of customs agents on the Zambian side and Namibian side were facilitating forged paperwork to aid the illegal export.

And CDP president Robert Mwanza said customs officers who are corrupt must be dismissed as they were embarrassing the government. Mr Mwanza said that investigations should be carried out into the matter as it raised suspicion on how customs officers failed to detect forged documentation even when it had the same serial number as two earlier confiscated loads.

He said it was illogical to assume that the customs officers were unaware of the alleged illegal export as it was not the first time the border post was used to transport mukula logs.

Mr Mwanza said it was unfortunate that a contraband of such a nature could easily slip through the hands of the Zambia Revenue Authority ZRA) only to be captured in a foreign nation.

He said there was need for the Ministry of Home Affairs to quickly intervene as such corrupt activities had the potential of labeling the entire customs and border security as being corrupt and porous.

“Such matters should quickly be addressed, because what is solely individual greed by some officers can be construed differently, and it paints a bad picture of the country, and the government? Such corrupt elements need to be flushed out of the system,” Mr Mwanza said.