Maravi

Nkole's thinking is dangerous

Nkole's thinking is dangerous
By Editor
Sunday May 11, 2008 [04:00]

FROM time to time, it is important to reflect on why we do what we do. From the comments coming from the chairman of the Task Force Against Corruption, Maxwell Nkole, it seems this may not be happening in relation to the fight against corruption. We say this because we do not expect somebody who is charged with the responsibility of fighting corruption to so casually declare that those that are charged with offences of corruption or theft will be left off the hook if they return what they stole or received.

This is a careless and worrisome statement coming from a man who has spent all his working life fighting crime. We don’t expect such a casual approach from such an experienced man.

When Nkole was appointed chairman of the Task Force, we welcomed his appointment and said so publicly because although we greatly appreciated and respected the work that his predecessor Mark Chona had done, we realised that this fight is not about personalities but about all those who can make a contribution. Nkole was bringing a lifetime of experience in fighting crime. For that reason, although we knew that the reasons for the removal of Chona were less than noble, we still welcomed Nkole’s appointment because we respected him as a professional who could do just as well or even better than Chona had done.

However, his comments on Frederick Chiluba’s case and the manner in which the Moses Katumbi settlement have come out calls into question Nkole’s understanding and appreciation of the complexity of the fight that he has been called to lead.
It seems Nkole does not understand when he is being successful and achieving the goal of fighting corruption. As a result of this, he seems determined to shoot himself in the foot and destabilise the hard won successes of the Task Force.

The Task Force is where it is today out of the sheer determination of the Zambian people to see corruption defeated. This little body has had to deal with the most complicated crimes carried out by very powerful people with extensive influence and connections within government and outside. The plunderers, as we now commonly call them, have not sat idle. They have fought and have continued fighting to discredit the fight against corruption, and the Task Force in particular.

They have tried to dismiss the Task Force as a mere political gimmick with no real intention of fighting corruption. Their power and influence in the Zambian society has managed to deceive some of our people. The plunderers’ reach has not been limited to media propaganda and misinformation but they have also attempted to form international opinion against the Task Force and the fight against corruption in Zambia. The individuals and institutions who have been involved in this fight have not been spared from attack and sometimes outright defamation.

The plunderers have worked hard to dismiss the prosecutions as lacking in principle and legal validity. They have tried hard to demonstrate that the law is being administered selectively and sometimes with cause.

It is comments such as what Nkole is saying now which give plunderers a sense of justification in their complaints.

We, as a newspaper, have never hidden our position on this matter. We have always been clear and will always strive to remain clear - we hate corruption. We will denounce it; we will expose it and we shall fight it. This is the one vice which has singularly deprived our people of their development and a right to a better life. Corruption has diverted the attention of succeeding generation of leaders from service to self-aggrandisement. People that we employ every five years to think and act for us forget about us and think only about themselves because of corruption. We will never have a better opportunity to set the right precedent for ourselves than we have now.

President Levy Mwanawasa may be an imperfect messenger of the fight against corruption but he is a very important messenger nonetheless. Under his leadership Zambia has managed to begin the process of demanding public accountability from those who were previously untouchable and seemed to exist outside the reach of the rule of law. This may not look like much of an achievement but we must have an eye for history.

For the first time in the history of our country and probably in that of our whole continent a former head of state and those that misruled with him are being called to account with the full due process of the law - and not before a military tribunal or some redemption council of some sort. The message is clear, what the Zambian people want is clear: we must all be equal before the law.

Nkole makes a cardinal mistake if he engages in that elitist and shameful application of the law which says that the rich and powerful can always do a deal while the wretched of the earth, the poor and defenceless rot and die in jail because they stole so that they could eat. The suggestion that Nkole is making is that the plunderers are a special type of criminal suspects who should be accorded deferential treatment which ordinary suspects never get. This is wrong. It is repugnant and must not be tolerated.

It is frightening that the head of a criminal investigating unit can shamelessly and publicly declare: “We would cut a deal...” What is he saying? Anybody who understands corruption and abuse of public office should know that this is a dangerous and an unacceptable undermining of the processes that are now in court. It shows a frightening lack of understanding of what his duty is and an acceptance of the propaganda that the plunderers have sought to feed the people over the years.

During the last five or so years, the Task Force has been investigating and prosecuting these cases, a school of thought has been pushed by many people, including the plunderers, which suggest that the fight against corruption must be about the recovery of assets and not justice and establishment of the rule of law. This school of thought has been accompanied by loud demands and complaints that more money was being spent on the Task Force than was being recovered. And quite cleverly, the plunderers and their sympathisers have wanted to reduce the Task Force to a business undertaking whose credits and debits must result in a financial positive variance in favour of government coffers.

This notion has been very loudly touted by all sorts of people, including government officers and prominent members of the opposition. This seems to be the thinking that bedevils Nkole’s misguided thinking. He is playing politics. Nkole wants to prove that the Task Force is financially profitable in the same way that Shoprite or Game Stores might be - we will recover more money than we have spent; we have made money from the Katumbi deal. What nonsense is this?

The Task Force on Corruption should be about fighting corruption and enforcing the law without fear of favour. If the notion that is being pushed were to be accepted they would be no law enforcement in the world. We have said this before and we say it again, what police force or law enforcement agency is run sensibly as a profit making venture in the world? The answer is a categorical none. Nkole’s statement clearly demonstrates that he himself needs education on the criminality and evil of corruption. It seems Nkole, like many of our people, does not accept corruption and abuse of office as a crime. To him it’s a mere misjudgement that can be fixed by a simple deal, by returning the loot.

What would happen if our police and drug enforcement agencies were to apply Nkole’s criminology? Drug traffickers would be asked to merely surrender their drugs and the cash and go scot-free. Those who have engaged in corruption would be asked to return their bribes and be absolved. This is unacceptable. What type of jurisprudence is this?
If Nkole believes that this is what should happen, why should Funjika be in jail? He has returned the 15,000 pounds bribe he received but still more, the High Court found it prudent and just to jail him.

In jailing Funjika, judge Phillip Musonda made an important point which Nkole should study and understand if he is to fight corruption effectively. Judge Musonda distinguished the bribe from the effect of the bribe. He was sending Funjika to jail not because of the 15,000 pounds he received but also the loss that the Zambian people suffered by being lumbered with an unfair and expensive contract because Funjika had been bribed and could no longer be expected to defend the interest of the public but was instead looking after the bribe.

How could Funjika or any other corrupt public officer pay back the incalculable loss and damage that corruption causes on society as a whole? How can the lives of so many people that we lost because of corruption be returned? Nkole’s simplistic understanding of corruption is dangerous. Chiluba may have stolen 5, 10 or 15,000 dollars but the loss to the Zambian people cannot be calculated in monetary terms. This is why for serious criminal offences people are sent to jail all over the world, except in Nkole’s world. We hope Nkole will take time to reflect.

Labels: MAXWELL NKHOLE

posted by MrK @ 12:45 PM