Maravi

Levy's anti-corruption fight on trial

Levy's anti-corruption fight on trial
By Editor
Thursday April 19, 2007 [04:00]

It is said that tiredness is not the same as laziness. If a person is not performing a task because he is tired, it does not imply that he is lazy. Today, cases of corruption and theft of public resources have reached unprecedented levels in the face of the fully fledged Anti-Corruption Commission, Drug Enforcement Commission including the Zambia Police Service.

The biggest question is, have our law enforcement officers or the investigative wings of government gotten tired or they are being lazy? Or what is the problem? Why are we having civil servants stealing huge sums of public funds with impunity?

In our view, our investigative wings are not tired neither are they being lazy. The problem is corruption has now become part of life, it is a way of living. We are seeing, without concern, people - our neighbours and friends - dubiously accumulating wealth. We are not asking why people who only a few years ago owned almost nothing now have massive investments and fat bank accounts with big fleets of luxurious cars just because they are working at State House. We are not questioning how the lowly paid civil servants are able to build mansions around Lusaka and other areas.

And the anti-corruption talk has become like a house of a person who talks too much. A person who is so passionate about talking neglects essential duties like repairing his house. When it rains, such a neglected house will not escape leakages. And such a house owner will not fare well during a time of trial. His big-talk attitude will be revealed.

What we are witnessing today is big talk about the fight against corruption which is not producing results. President Levy Mwanawasa has done a lot of talking on this matter since 2002 and we got the impression that he had managed to at least instil fear in thieving civil servants.

But this is not the case. We shudder to realise that the thieves in our civil service are working in such a co-ordinated manner that it will take a lot of efforts to overcome their manoeuvres. They are working like grey jackals that know each other because of their speckles. They are comfortable with only those that are similar to them. The few honest-hearted civil servants who are trying to do a good job are fiercely fought at every turn, they are victimised and made to look like they are the bad eggs in the basket.

But we should not forget that God is a great eye, he sees everything in the world. As God sees all that one does, one is encouraged or urged to choose good rather than evil.

We know the negative effects that corruption has on the wellbeing of a country and its people. Because billions of our taxpayers' money are stolen or misapplied, there is no money to repair our roads, build schools and buy drugs for hospitals. There is no money to pay our health workers and teachers so they are leaving for the Diaspora. In short, the government will not be able to provide any services to its people.

This is why we need to fight corruption. It's for our own good. If public resources are protected, our people will be assured of improved conditions of living. Now government officials keep telling us that this or that will only be done when money is available. But this money will never be available because it is stolen or misappropriated by these same government officials.

At least Levy has shown some goodwill in fighting corruption. Today, the Public Accounts Committee, albeit its shortcomings, is revealing much more than the same committee did during Frederick Chiluba's time. We remember how the committee chairperson then, Robert Sichinga, had difficulties exposing scandals surrounding the privatisation of ZCCM in 1997/8. He was intimidated and threatened by the powers that be although he stood firm and brought out those glaring irregularities.

Now that there is political will, there is every need for our people to capitalise on that and take over this fight. Levy cannot be expected to firmly deal with every corruption case because even his ascending to State House is riddled with corruption. He might want to push but he will only push to a point. He can't go further than certain points for fear of entangling himself in a corruption web created by Chiluba and his tandem of thieves.

How can we expect Levy to push further when he is reminded that the same Moses Katumbi he is pursuing for theft of public funds is the one that facilitated or paved his way to State House through the provision of cheap mealie-meal on the Copperbelt, Luapula and Northern Provinces? How do we expect Levy to prosecute Joe Huweiler when he is reminded that his company supplied MMD with campaign vehicles in 2001 and which vehicles were paid for using state funds?

How do we expect the Public Accounts Committee to firmly deal with the matters before it when some people involved seem to possess more powers than the Auditor General, more powers than ministers?

We think the fight against corruption is the people's fight, not Levy's. Levy is just a goodwill ambassador of the people in this fight. So we make a clarion call on our people to rise to the challenge and put the necessary pressure on Levy and his administration for them not to pay lip-service to this fight. Let our people exert pressure on the government to ensure that our public resources are protected and all those involved in corruption are brought to book.

This can be achieved only when our people are determined to do it. It has been done before. It can be done again. We remember how our people recently rose to the challenge when Levy and his good friend George Kunda wanted to dubiously forgive Kashiwa Bulaya even when there was overwhelming evidence to show that he had stolen. Where is Kashiwa Bulaya today? Isn’t he in Chimbokaila serving a three-year jail sentence?

This same pressure can be brought to bear on Levy and his administration for them to ensure that all the thieving civil servants are nailed to the cross.

This is the only way to ensure that public property and resources are protected from vandalism by the selfish civil servants.

Labels: CORRUPTION, EDITORIAL, PAC

posted by MrK @ 3:48 AM