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Govt may be losing battle against corruption – TIZ

Govt may be losing battle against corruption – TIZ
By Speedwell Mupuchi
Saturday February 10, 2007 [02:00]

CONTINUED revelations of stolen money are a clear sign that government may be losing the battle against corruption, Transparency International Zambia acting president Reuben Lifuka has said.

And Lifuka said government was taking a pedestrian approach to fighting corruption. Commenting on President Mwanawasa's revelation that civil servants had stolen K3 trillion, Lifuka said the revelation vindicated TIZ's position that the fight against corruption continued to be narrowly focused and poorly managed. Lifuka said Zambians had become too familiar with revelations by the Mwanawasa administration of incidents of corruption and misappropriation of funds but were yet to see meaningful actions to redress the situation.



He said finance deputy minister Jonas Shakafuswa recently revealed that over K100 billion has been lost. "As Transparency International Zambia, we strongly believe that the amount of money this country continues to lose is even higher than K3 trillion. The President mentions only Public Service workers but surely politicians who are Cabinet ministers have been cited in some of the Auditor General's reports for misappropriation of funds," Lifuka noted. "The question is how many ministers have obtained imprest and are yet to retire the same? How many ministers continue to obtain funds beyond their entitlements? Transparency International Zambia demands that the President gives this country a holistic picture of how much this government is losing in terms of public funds and we need a clear statement on the actions that this government is going to take."

Lifuka said it was pointless to threaten arrest when one knew that they had no capacity to deal with culprits. "This issue is serious and should not be trivialised and treated as a sound bite for public rallies," Lifuka said. He also urged government to deal with the continued national wastage of resources. He said previously, President Mwanawasa revealed that some of his Cabinet ministers were corrupt and it ended as just another media story.

"Again President Mwanawasa revealed that the Ministry of Lands is the most corrupt and yet to date corruption is rife in that ministry. We are equally told that the President has 'suspended' the slogan 'zero tolerance for corruption'. The continued revelations are a clear sign that government may be losing the battle against corruption and it calls for immediate and urgent action," he said. He called on President Mwanawasa to provide appropriate leadership and ensure all loopholes were sealed, culprits brought to book and that his government lived above board. "This issue of the loss of K3 trillion is a disaster and we demand appropriate and urgent action and answers as soon as possible," he demanded.

He also called on members of parliament to play their roles as elected representatives by debating the national budget with consideration on ways and means of sealing all loopholes. "The last challenge also lies with permanent secretaries who are controlling officers to ensure that they are in control of public funds and not merely learn about such financial disasters," Lifuka said. "It is unimaginable that such colossal sums of money have continued to be stolen, mismanaged and misappropriated to the detriment of the ordinary Zambian who desires to receive basic social services."

Lifuka said it was criminal that in a country with over 68 per cent of the people living in extreme poverty, Zambia could allow the loss of K3 trillion which was almost one third of the total national budget for 2006. "It is not enough for the President to merely feel sick about this theft - he should be moved to immediate action," he said.

Labels: CORRUPTION

posted by MrK @ 7:22 AM