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PAC's revelations a clear manifestation of corruption in MMD -Hichilem

PAC's revelations a clear manifestation of corruption in MMD -Hichilem
By Mutuna Chanda and Noel Sichalwe
Monday November 19, 2007 [03:01]

THE Public Accounts Committee revelations of abuse of public resources are a clear manifestation of corruption in the MMD government, United Party for National Development (UPND) president Hakainde Hichilema has charged. And Transparency International Zambia (TIZ) president Reuben Lifuka has demanded that appropriate criminal sanctions should be taken against all officers found wanting and that there should be no sacred cows.

Commenting on revelations by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) that government lost K26.6 billion through corruption in 2005 during a press briefing in Lusaka yesterday, Hichilema said the report showed a clear manifestation of corruption in the MMD government.

“When you add the figures of public funds that have been abused between the year 2001 and 2005 which coincides with the rule of the new deal government, this adds to a staggering K14.7 trillion. This corruption was there even before the new deal and now in the new deal,” Hichilema said.

“The biggest problem this country is faced with at the moment is not the lack of money or resources per se; it is the lack of good management practices by those in government.

Until we resolve the leadership question for this country, such excesses will not stop while our people continue to suffer. The new deal government must stop this nichekeleko (corruption/bribe) business. It is destroying the moral fibre of our country. No country can move forward and develop with this kind of mischief.”

And Lifuka said government lacks a comprehensive plan to deal with corruption in the public sector.

"We bemoan the fact that there have been a number of alleged cases of corruption involving ministers and other public officers and yet no meaningful sanctions have been taken against them," Lifuka said.

"Further, we demand that permanent secretaries as controlling officers should be held accountable for such losses."

He said Zambians should start demanding that leaders and public officers that have failed them in the fight against corruption should step aside to allow committed persons to take over.

"It is also time that ministers took personal responsibility for ensuring that their assigned ministries are corruption free. And we would like to see a time when ministers will be prepared to step down if they fail to instill discipline and professionalism in fighting corruption," Lifuka said.

"It is time that we tackled the loss of public resources in a serious way and such open and public disclosure will go some way to restore confidence in the public sector."

Lifuka further said the PAC report vindicated TIZ’s Corruption Perception Index (CPI) on Zambia.

He said government's reaction to the CPI has always been negative and yet such revelations in Parliament confirmed the existence of systemic corruption.

Lifuka said it was unfortunate that government was seemingly not moved to urgent action by the astonishing revelations.

"How many times have we heard of such revelations in Parliament? We have not forgotten the revelations by President Mwanawasa that K36 billion had been lost by government. Neither have we forgotten the revelations by deputy minister for finance Jonas Shakafuswa that K100 billion had been lost by government. The question is, what strategies has government put in place to stem these losses?" Lifuka asked.

Lifuka said there was need to move to the next step of finding permanent solutions to the problems.

"In our assessment, government lacks a comprehensive plan to deal with corruption in the public sector and in the last five years, the strategy in fighting corruption has been one-dimensional i.e. investigation and prosecution of cases of corruption and economic plunder," he said.

Presenting a report of PAC on the report of the Auditor General for the year ended December 31, 2005 before Parliament last Tuesday, PAC chairman Charles Milupi said about K26.6 billion was reported misappropriated and misapplied in 19 public institutions that were audited by the Auditor General (AG) in the year under review.

Labels: HAKAINDE HICHILEMA, PAC, TIZ

posted by MrK @ 7:21 AM