Maravi

Let’s learn from the Bulaya experience

Let’s learn from the Bulaya experience
Written by Editor

It is clear that our courts of law have joined the fight against corruption. And this is in line with the many pronouncements made by Chief Justice Earnest Sakala against corruption. This is very encouraging because where corruption dominates, justice is threatened. And therefore, those who administer our justice system have to take a very serious attitude towards corruption.

It shouldn't be forgotten that this country lost an extremely outstanding chief justice to corruption. Matthew Ngulube had to resign the position of chief justice due to receiving money from the Zamtrop account he was not entitled to, which was not his due. He was one of the early casualties of the Chiluba corruption.

It is therefore very pleasing to see our judiciary redeem itself and start to play an extremely important role in the fight against corruption.

As we have stated before, a country begins to decline when its political and other leaders, including top civil servants, begin to lose respect or integrity. We'll not make much progress without integrity among our leaders and other public servants. We'll not go far as a country if stealing public funds and abusing public office become the routine of the day with a sense of impunity.

We cannot do without a clean, incorruptible, efficient and trustworthy government.

With the Kashiwa Bulaya judgment, our courts have shown us that they have accepted the call for zero tolerance to corruption by handing him a five-year jail sentence and a total forfeiture of all the assets he had bought with stolen government money.

In the case of Lt Gen Wilford Funjika, the High Court rejected the notion that corruption could be punished by a suspended sentence and imposed a custodial sentence on him. And in the Bulaya case, the High Court has even gone further by ruling that it will not condone corruption and because corruption is a crime committed for financial gain, the court has ordered that Bulaya forfeits all his properties connected to corruption.

This is a very important message that should be understood by every one of us, especially those in charge of or with access to public resources. Even those on bail pending appeal from conviction on corruption charges should try to understand what is happening in our courts of law on the issue of corruption.

We know that so much has happened in the country and sometimes we can forget certain events, events like the Bulaya nolle prosequi. Levy Mwanawasa did a lot of good things but the Bulaya case will stand out as one of the blights on his good records. George Kunda, as justice minister and Attorney General, and Levy tried to do a deal with Bulaya and let him go scot-free. We know they had fears of their own arising from previous personal dealings with Bulaya. And out of such fear they decided to grant him a nolle. And they dragged the Director of Public Prosecutions, Chalwe Mchenga and the Solicitor General, Sunday Nkonde, into their dirty scheme. These two constitutional officers were later embarrassed by their complicity in this unjustified attempt to grant Bulaya a nolle. But instead of admitting their mistake, their poor judgement, they resorted to attacking the people who had been hired to prosecute Bulaya. This didn't happen very long ago; it's only three years ago.

Caroline Sokoni, who was then acting Director of Public Prosecutions, had refused to support Levy and Kunda in their evil scheme. And she had objected to granting Bulaya a nolle. To this very day Kunda and his friends have failed to release Sokoni's letter to them on this issue. That letter probably cost Sokoni the position of Director of Public Prosecutions.

It took several weeks of a protracted editorial struggle by The Post to make Levy and Kunda abandon their senseless attempt to grant Bulaya a nolle. The Post was accused of, and criticised for, all sorts of things including lack of respect for the president, and vindictiveness. But today The Post is absolved and is vindicated. And let us not forget that both Levy and Kunda had categorically stated that they had studied the case record of Bulaya and found no case against him that could stand in our courts of law. And these two men were very senior lawyers - state counsels. Can it be said that their conclusions were an oversight or an error of judgement? No, we don't think so. We think their decision to let Bulaya off the hook was deliberate and conscious. It can actually be said to have been an abuse of office on their part. If it was in other countries, Kunda would today be the subject of an investigation for abuse of authority. This is a potential case of corruption against Kunda and Levy. We say this because corruption is not only limited to stealing public finds. It also extends to the abuse of office and the arrogance that goes with it.

If The Post had succumbed to the pressure and the campaign that was mounted against it and abandoned the fight to ensure that Bulaya was prosecuted, this case would have been buried and Bulaya would today have been enjoying his loot. And we have no doubt he would be an inspiration to many public servants who want to enrich themselves by stealing public funds.

There are great lessons to learn from all this. Today the once rich, powerful and well-connected Bulaya is a prisoner and a pauper. The fruits of his crime have disappeared like morning dew. That which is obtained through dishonesty, through crookedness and banditry, does not last.

But our people don't seem to learn from the mistakes of others. Despite all these prosecutions and long prison sentences, we still have politicians and civil servants, permanent secretaries, directors in government ministries engaging in corrupt schemes. Some of our politicians were not even scared to engage in electoral corruption and fraud. Civil servants were diverting public resources to election campaigns.

Again, our advice is that corruption does not pay. Some may get away with it but it won't be all. The best thing is to do the right thing and do it in an honest manner. And to our people, we urge them to be eternally alert or vigilant against corruption. They should be ready to fight this scourge wherever they see it. No quarter should be left for the corrupt.

As for our courts, we can only urge them and give them all our support as they do that which they should do to stop this rot that is eating away our country.

Labels: ERNEST SAKALA, KASHIWA BULAYA

posted by MrK @ 12:40 PM