Transparency kills fear of corruption

THE procurement and distribution of Pfumvudza/ Intwasa inputs to more than 2,6 million households is a major logistical undertaking that needs to be done exceptionally well, very honestly and very openly.

There are openings for corruption, although the system has been designed to catch this when anything untoward happens, and if you cannot get away with a crime then criminals do not commit the crime in the first place.

So we have that system that ghost farmers cannot exist, since the farmer has to physically attend training and must dig the required planting holes on a plot, with these being physically checked.

This system of qualifying for inputs should also end the problem of farmers collecting and selling inputs, since once you have done all the hard preliminary work it does not make sense to sell inputs when you can make more money planting the crop and selling the harvest.

Agritex has been properly staffed, so the officers are on the ground, and the Grain Marketing Board has been cleaned up.

As we have seen in a couple of court cases, it is possible to divert inputs at the depot level, but the system means that just one honest person on the staff can blow the whistle.

That again is a deterrent. Whistle blowers are protected, but no one, regardless of their status, can be protected from investigation.

Generally most observers feel that a good job is being done, and that the small-scale farmers are registering, accepting training, doing the preliminary heavy work and benefiting as they should be.

But it appears that the farmers want to make sure that no one is cheating.

Earlier this year the Zimbabwe Anti- Corruption Commission started making tours to find out just what people thought about the processes, part of the commission’s efforts to be open to the people and to make more direct contact.

One meeting reported by The Herald found that many were worried that there could be corruption. They had no direct evidence, or at least none given at the meeting, but raised concerns that an Agritex officer could add non-farming relatives to the list, or that people who were not digging holes were getting inputs, or that the person responsible for distribution was making money out of transport, charging farmers.

There were other concerns raised. ZACC recorded details. So far no one has been arrested although presumably ZACC did some checking, looking at records and lists to see if any of the worries of that community had a basis.

Presumably nothing definite has been found, and we would like to think people were worrying unnecessarily.

But the easiest way to overcome fears and to avert suspicion is to do everything right out in the open in front of everyone. And this is exactly what the GMB is now doing.

There are also practical issues, but the solution the GMB has chosen is to have local committees to help with the distribution.

We note the stress on “committee” rather than a person, in other words a lot of people are going to have access to the lists and records and so a lot of people are going to have any fears they might have allayed.

At the same time the final leg of the distribution can be speeded up significantly, and with early rains this season this is needed.

The GMB have given an indication of who they would like to see on these committees: police officers, Agritex officers, traditional leaders, school heads and others presumed to be of integrity.

More importantly these are hardly groups who are normally close friends or work together, so creating criminal combinations to cheat the farmers will be impossible.

Those who think that local communities of farmers are overdoing their concerns should stop and think a bit.

These farmers have seen the unjust flourish in the past, and there have been attempts to extract money off farmers that they had no needed to pay.

It is no problem to have everything out in the open in public, and this does not only allay fears, but also creates more efficient systems.

It is like the old saying about the courts, that justice must not only be done, but must be seen to be done. Secret and closed courts are simply not permitted. Anyone can sit in a court and watch and listen.

To a degree the battle against corruption, in either the public sector or in the private sector, needs to be directed intelligently.

Rumour and fear can create suspicions that have no basis in fact, yet investigators have to follow these up just in case, and so cannot concentrate on those who might need to be looked under the brightest possible spotlight.

The ideal is to have systems where corruption is simply impossible, and the GMB appear to have found one way of doing that.

The number of packs each family gets are based on the number of plots dug out, and neither figure can be secret. Any neighbour can see the work done in the field, and anyone walking by after a month or two of rain will see the crops growing.

So making the lists public is not handing out confidential information, and having a local committee that will include independent people, those who neither allocate nor benefit from inputs, makes a lot of sense, will calm fears and will ensure that those hired by the GMB to deliver the packs will in fact deliver.

Pfumvudza/Intwasa is a huge programme, easily the largest economic programme in Zimbabwe and the major programme to fulfil the Government policy of moving everyone out of poverty and onto the ladder where by their own hard work they can climb to prosperity and a decent life for their family.

It can also show how such huge programmes can be run, with the maximum openness and transparency so that everyone can see if it is well administered and if it is delivering.

The GMB comes in for a lot of static at times, but it appears to be able to learn from feedback from those it serves, and then do the right thing.