Pay attention to Milupi's committee

Pay attention to Milupi's committee
By Editor
Friday August 24, 2007 [04:00]

The Public Accounts Committee, chaired by Luena independent member of parliament Charles Milupi, has been raising a lot of important issues that need to be followed up by the whole nation. In the work they have done so far, Milupi's committee has revealed many abuses and the inefficient, ineffective and disorderly utilisation of public funds. But very few citizens, including the most critical ones, seem to be taking a keen interest in the very valuable work of these honourable members of parliament.

Why? Why are we not interested in the way politicians and other government officials are using our money, our taxes, the money our government borrows and the donations or grants it receives from other peoples on our behalf? There is something seriously wrong somewhere that needs immediate correction. If we don't remedy this, we will be resigning ourselves to continued underdevelopment and poverty.

Where one is using other people's money, accountability should be at the fore. Government has no money of its own. Government uses our money as taxpayers and money which it borrows on our behalf and donations it receives on our behalf from other generous people in the world. This being the case, every ngwee, every cent or penny needs to be accounted for; needs to be used in an efficient, effective and orderly manner and in our best interests as the ultimate owners of that money.

Truly, there's so much stealing, abuse and wastage of public funds. And as Milupi's committee has correctly observed, some of this wastage arises from lack of capacity on the part of those managing the affairs of government. It also arises from a deliberate attempt on the part of government officials to swindle the people of Zambia. In short, corruption has much to do with what is going on. If the cases going on in our courts of law are anything to go by, it is clear that there's a lot of corruption in the way government contracts are being awarded and implemented.

There's clear connivance between government officials and the 'contractors', who, as we are today seeing or hearing in the courts of law, are often one and the same people. It is very clear that the interests of government which are supposed to be the interests of the people are not being properly or adequately represented. And because of this corruption, the cost of running government has become very high. A project that should normally cost government say K1 billion, is usually being completed for not less than say K30 billion.

And this may probably explain why most government projects are not being completed. How can they be completed when the money that is supposed to be used to complete them is simply being stolen by government officials and their bogus constructors, or indeed by the government officials themselves who invariably are the contractors?

Where there's corruption there cannot be accountability. We saw under the Chiluba regime how impossible it is to have accountability in a system that is absolutely corrupt; where almost everyone from top to bottom is corrupt. Let's admit it, painful as it may be, we have a corrupt public service. And this is no lie. And as long as things continue like this very little will be achieved in terms of development. Whatever money we pour into development projects will end up in a bottomless pit of corruption. Honourable Milupi and his colleagues have been very generous in their description of what is going on.

They have avoided being very categorical in their analysis of what is going on. What is going on is nothing but naked corruption. The whole system is reeking with corruption in every pore.

Clearly, corruption remains an anchor keeping our country from progressing. Yes, we have very limited resources. And that in itself should be a good reason for not allowing any bit of our public resources from being stolen, abused or mismanaged in any way. The less resources one has, the more he is required to manage them in the most efficient, effective and orderly manner.

We believe that corruption is the first thing we must tackle if we are to make any progress in bettering the lives of our people by providing them the services needed in an organised society. Nothing will be achieved if whatever goes into government coffers ends up lining the pockets of corrupt officials and their conspirators in the private sector. Without leaders of integrity, however, this will continue for a very long time and will be very difficult to eradicate.

Corruption can only be tamed when government agencies are set up to make corrupt behaviour difficult by opening government to public scrutiny, carrying out bidding for government contacts transparently, paying government officials decently, investigating public officials who seem to be living beyond their earned income, cutting red tape and restructuring government offices to remove opportunities for bribery. We cannot continue to have a system where people can own anything, even what appears to be beyond their means, without being made to account. Today civil servants and other public workers are the richest people in the country; they own most of the large houses and farms in and around Lusaka without any loans anywhere.

We are aware that Frederick Chiluba tried to explain this phenomenon through travel allowances. But that doesn't make sense and it's a lie. The true source of this wealth is unearned income; corruption. Unearned income or one living beyond his means is a prima facie case of corruption. Corruption benefits leaders and government officials personally.

It rewards supporters and greases the political machinery. Many times we have heard people say they are joining the ruling party because they don't want their businesses and themselves to suffer, to miss out on government business and contracts. How? What does this amount to? Corruption!

And anyone who really tries to fight corruption makes a host of inconvenient and perhaps dangerous enemies. It needs a permanent source of political pressure from citizens - not just general disgust, but advocacy for specific reforms or changes.

Corruption always carries its own powerful lobby. Look at how many people - politicians, pastors, members of parliament, chiefs - hired themselves out to defend Chiluba and the corruption of his league. Honest government needs one as well. Lives will change for the better when people can rely on earned income rather than corruption and when competence replaces nepotism as the basis for employment and awarding of government contracts.

Let us not forget that where corruption is present the nation at large suffers. It debilitates the judicial and political systems that should be working for the public good by weakening the rule of law and silencing the voice of the people. As a result, citizens' trust in government officials and in national institutions dwindles. Corruption is not only an endogenous matter, but is also and mostly exogenous.

The necessity to take measures against it is every day increasingly becoming evident and everyone has a role to play in stopping corruption. We shouldn't forget that government is more than the sum of all the interests; it is the paramount interest, the public interest. It must be the efficient, effective and orderly agent of a responsible citizen, not the shelter of the incompetent and the corrupt.

Let's start to pay a lot of attention and develop a lot of interest in the work of honourable Milupi's committee and give it the support and the voice it needs to make the resources of our country work for the people.