Maravi

Blame it on Levy

Blame it on Levy
By Editor
Thursday January 10, 2008 [03:00]

Although no single individual can assume the role of Messiah, President Levy Mwanawasa has to take full charge and responsibility for the fight against corruption. As President of the Republic, it is Levy's responsibility to ensure that government business is conducted in an efficient, effective and orderly manner. It is also his job to ensure that public resources are as far as possible utilised or used in an accountable way and to the maximum benefit of our people.

It is the President's duty to ensure that there are adequate controls over the use of public funds and other resources. And to achieve this, he must ensure that honest and competent people are appointed to government jobs.

When things don't go well, when public funds are misused, abused or stolen, it is him who ultimately should be answerable.

Answerable in the sense that it is him who should ensure that there are adequate and effective controls in place that make it easier to detect and bring to book corrupt elements within the government and state systems. If he fails to come up with systems that secure public funds and resources, then he should be considered a failure in his job and be fired by his employers, the Zambian people.

And similarly, before he is fired those he has appointed to be controlling officers and other responsibilities who have failed to deliver should go before he goes.

For instance, if the Inspector General of Police fails to play a meaningful and positive role, to do his part in curbing the theft of public resources, then he should be fired by the president. We are not saying that the current Inspector General of Police, Ephraim Mateyo, should be fired because there's still a lot of corruption in government.

Actually this man has done exceptionally well. Since his appointment as Inspector General of Police, crime in the country has really gone down. Maybe what is needed is to see in which way he can help in the fight against corruption.

What we are saying is that if those appointed to manage the Anti-Corruption Commission and help curb corruption are failing to deliver, Levy should fire them and replace them with more competent people. And if those running the Drug Enforcement Commission are failing to curb money laundering and other similar or related crimes, they should be fired.

This also applies to the Secretary to the Cabinet, permanent secretaries and their directors who as controlling officers fail to stop the stealing, misuse, mismanagement or abuse of public funds and other resources. If as controlling officers they are failing to do their job, what does it profit the people of Zambia to keep them in these jobs?

We say this because there is no way Levy can meaningfully deliver on his obligations, duties and promises to the Zambian people if public funds are being stolen, mismanaged, misapplied, misused or abused. And of what use or value will Levy be to the Zambian people if he can't deliver on his duties as President of the Republic. It shouldn't be forgotten that there is nothing which makes people more appreciative of a government than that it should be able to deliver services.

But the question is: how can a government deliver services to the people when the money that is supposed to be used to procure these services is being stolen by corrupt officials?

Clearly, Levy's job is not an easy one; it is one which demands a lot of thinking, creativity or innovation. This means we cannot continue to run public affairs with the same system, the same internal controls that were designed for a very small and simple government of 1964.

Things must change. The ways in which we will achieve our goals are bound by context, changing with circumstances even while remaining steadfast in our commitment to our vision. Belief in the possibility of change and renewal is perhaps one of the defining characteristics of governance and politics.

Trying to curb or eradicate corruption will never be a small fight; it will always be a big and very complicated fight; it's actually a war. And like any other war, it needs strong, committed, resolute and intelligent leadership that can inspire the whole population to rise to the challenge.

And like in any other war, there is need for mobilisation of all the forces that hate corruption, that don't benefit from corruption. But hating or not benefiting from corruption does not automatically make one enlist as a soldier in this war; they have to be mobilised.

And this mobilisation requires political leadership and that leadership has to be provided by Levy himself. We are not talking about political will to fight corruption; here, we are talking about political leadership to fight corruption. Of course where there's a will, there's a way - but that way to be travelled needs people to be mobilised to do so.

There's also need for a political leadership that can effectively and efficiently agitate against corruption. This also has to be provided by Levy. And like in any other war, political education is of great importance. Again, this has to be provided by Levy. If he fails on these issues, the fight against corruption will not go far and very little will be achieved.

It is for these reasons that we agree with those who are saying the buck stops with Levy. But this is not to say Levy alone can single-handedly wipe out corruption from the face of our country. He can't; it's not possible for him to do so.

But he can help us win this fight, win this war by providing the right leadership, by mobilising us, educating us and agitating us to take up arms and enlist as soldiers in this noble war. If he fails to do this, the failure to curb corruption should be blamed on him.

After all, it is his government, his political party and members of parliament that are supposed to pass appropriate laws to help fight corruption; it is his government and officials that are supposed to execute these laws in the fight against corruption; and as head of state, it is him who appoints judges and allocates resources to the judiciary to ensure that it does its job efficiently. So the failure in our fight against corruption should be to a very large extent blamed on him.

He can blame whosoever he wants, whosoever he appointed, but as far as the Zambian people are concerned the primary responsibility lies with him.

Labels: CORRUPTION, TIZ

posted by MrK @ 1:44 PM