Levy's letter to Nyirongo
Levy's letter to NyirongoBy Editor
Monday March 19, 2007 [02:00]
Reading President Levy Mwanawasa’s letter of dismissal to Reverend Gladys Nyirongo, it is clear that he was very irritated and upset that the Reverend reported Frighton Sichone to the ACC and DEC without following procedure. According to him, the procedure is that Reverend Nyirongo should have either reported the matter to Secretary to the Cabinet or himself who in turn should have decided how and where to report the matter should need arise.
We are mindful that there are very serious investigations currently going on in this matter and it is not our intention to prejudice these investigations.
Our concern, however, is the issue raised by Levy in that letter, where he is suggesting that it is onlyhe or the Secretary to the Cabinet who is supposed to report any member of government from the position of permanent secretary and above to investigative wings of the government for action. We are not sure if this position is supported by the law or it is just some unwritten rule.
Whatever the case, if this position is sustained, we feel that it will hold back the fight against corruption in that it is only the President or Secretary to the Cabinet who will be the whistle-blowers in corruption cases to do with permanent secretaries and ministers and all those who are directly appointed by the President.
But this is a contradiction of what Levy said recently when he suspended the use of the term “zero tolerance on corruption”. He said he was suspending the term until the fight against corruption yielded the desired results, especially in the civil service where corruption is daily increasing instead of reducing.
Levy said on his part, he will not shield anyone who deserves to be visited by the law including ministers and other politicians. He further called upon all those with information that can lead to the prosecution of culprits to report to the Anti-Corruption Commission and the Drug Enforcement Commission for action.
He said if the reporters are not satisfied with the Anti-Corruption and the Drug Enforcement Commission, they will be free to contact him or the Director of Public Prosecutions to ensure that justice is done because all culprits will be brought to book.
Levy further said: “But I must hasten to add that I will not be sympathetic to malicious reports against individuals. I want genuine complaints because I am not available to fight other people’s battles. If the complaint is genuine, I will allow it.”
Now we ask the question, assuming Rev Nyirongo’s complaint to the ACC against Sichone is genuine, is Levy in order to fire her just because she did not follow the procedure in bringing that genuine complaint before the ACC and DEC?
Is there no other administrative action that Levy can take against her for that breach? Isn’t the dismissal of a whistle- blower who has not followed procedure in reporting a genuine complaint likely to have a chilling effect on would-be whistle-blowers?
And if Levy’s procedure has to be rigidly adhered to, what will happen in a case where a minister with a genuine complaint against a permanent secretary reports to Levy but then Levy decides to ignore the complaint or forgets about it owing to his busy schedule?
We feel there is more than meets the eye in Levy’s fierce reaction to Rev Nyirongo’s action against Sichone. Is he suggesting that the complaint against Sichone is not genuine but because the complaint is already before the ACC and DEC, there is nothing he can do to stop it? Is this the cause of that irritation that was very visible on ZNBC television when he announced Rev Nyirongo’s dismissal?
Why was Levy so generous with Sichone when he is also accused of corruption? Levy said very little about Sichone but went to town on Rev Nyirongo’s matter.
Levy merely said he was suspending Sichone to pave way for investigations on the complaints against him while he went to town explaining in detail how Rev Nyirongo approached the Vice-President, home affairs minister, the Secretary to the Cabinet, among others, soliciting them for Sichone’s removal as acting permanent secretary because she had information that he was involved in acts of corruption.
If Rev Nyirongo had valid complaints against Sichone, we don’t see anything wrong with her explaining those details to the Vice-President and the Minister of Home Affairs who we know are much more senior and probably have more access to the President.
If the only reason Levy fired Rev Nyirongo was that she did not follow procedure in reporting Sichone to the ACC and DEC, the point he is belaboured in his letter, we think the decision was too harsh. We are not in any way trying to question his prerogative to hire and fire ministers but we are just looking at the reasonableness of that decision.
Levy has to be careful the way he proceeds in his fight against corruption. A lot of people have complained against selective prosecution in this anti-corruption fight. It is acts like this that strengthen people’s suspicions that certain individuals are shielded from prosecution by the powers that be.
Labels: ACC, CORRUPTION, EDITORIAL, GLADYS NYIRONGO, LAND, MWANAWASA
posted by MrK @ 5:03 AM
4 Comments:
A necessary disclaimer is that I do not consider Nyirongo to be an individual of even marginal intelligence or distinction (her 'reverency' notwithstanding). Nevertheless, one cannot help but pity these pathetic government officials as they tread ever so daintily and unobtrusively, in a bid to avoid the erratic and schizophrenic wrath of the impulsive ogre. Small wonder the current administration is replete with boot lickers and patronage.
" A necessary disclaimer is that I do not consider Nyirongo to be an individual of even marginal intelligence or distinction (her 'reverency' notwithstanding). "
That has everything to do with the hiring practices of who qualifies as a minister in the MMD's cabinet.
Vera Chiluba, anyone?
You can't escape the feeling that the MMD came to power in 1991 on the wave to restore multi-party democracy, but then didn't know what to really do with power once they got it.
It is time for a leader who knows how to put real development on the front burner of all issues.
In the main, the pedigree of governmental appointees is bordering on the preposterous and needs to be addressed immediately. As for Vera, her appointment was indubitably the low water mark in our absurd appointment history. If we are serious about economic development, We need to devise a mechanism that facilitates even a crude amount of quality control. It dgoes without saying; incompetence at the rudder spells mediocrity all through.
the truth is that to be minister one has to be MP elected or nominated.
Right now in Zambia there's a culture of politics apathy by the supposedly leanerd elite, as a matter of fact they look down upon anyone intending or on the road to politics, we literally have people doing seconds and seconds of the same Jobs like VJ, he was a politician at 30, where are the young able men and women, busy propounding theories of how things could be done on the net for vera who thinks the net is ebay, am sorry to say until that apathy is done with and we genuinely and publicly engage ourselves in the development of our own country nothing will change. has anyone asked who changes the school curriculums and how is it done, but we make our lot and send our children to where it sounds familiar and forget about everything.
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