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Wandi urges Zambians not to take pride in stolen wealth

Wandi urges Zambians not to take pride in stolen wealth
By Patson Chilemba
Sunday July 27, 2008 [04:00]

ANTI-Corruption Commission (ACC) acting director general Rosewin Wandi has said Zambians should not take pride in temporary stolen wealth. Addressing the press at the ACC head offices on Friday, Wandi urged Zambians to change their mindset towards corruption. Wandi appealed to Zambians to take a personal stance against corruption because it affected everyone in the nation.

"It is time to turn around the current state of condoning corruption as a way of life to a point where we begin to see a notable reduction in its levels in the various sectors where measures to prevent it have been instituted," Wandi said. "The law shall surely catch up with perpetrators of corruption as we together, sustain the fight against the scourge, whose consequences can be devastating."
Wandi said the ACC continued to face some challenges in its operations.

She said the law against corruption still remained problematic.
Wandi said there was need to review the ACC Act so that it could take into account various international protocols on corruption. She said in the current provision, whistle-blowers were not protected.

"There is also a need to critically look at the definition of corruption. If you look at some provisions of the law of the current legislation especially on offences to deal with possession of unexplained property, we need to define them and make them more user friendly," Wandi said.

On the operations of the Commission in the first and second quarters of 2008, Wandi said the Commission received 1,170 corruption and non-corruption reports.
She said Lusaka recorded the highest number of reports with 676, while Mongu recorded the lowest at 32.

Wandi said 418 reports were categorised as corruption complaints while 752 were non-corruption related complaints and were treated as information received.

Wandi said from the 418 complaints, only 246 cases were authorised for investigations while 172 were not authorised as they were deemed not pursuable.

"The total number of cases closed in this period including those brought forward from the previous year is 192. The reasons for closure range from lack of evidence to non-availability of witnesses," she said.
Wandi said the Commission recorded 26 arrests for various offences of corruption.

She said within the same period, eight convictions were secured while four acquittals were recorded. Wandi said the number of cases before the courts of law now stood at 105.

She also said the Commission would launch a new strategic plan because the current one was mandated to run from 2004-2008. Wandi disclosed that the Commission would conduct a diagnostic corruption survey to determine the levels of corruption in the country. On the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index, Wandi said although it was a perception index, ACC could not ignore it.

Labels: ACC, CORRUPTION, ROSEWIN WANDI

posted by MrK @ 4:02 AM