Maravi

Extend Task Force to Rupiah’s reign, urges Norwegian envoy

Extend Task Force to Rupiah’s reign, urges Norwegian envoy
Written by Chibaula Silwamba
Tuesday, January 20, 2009 6:57:47 PM

NORWEGIAN Embassy deputy head of mission Gunnar Boe has said the mandate of the Task Force should be extended to the time of late president Levy Mwanawasa and incumbent President Rupiah Banda’s era.

Boe, in an interview, said the Norwegian government was afraid that the competences of the Task Force on Corruption to expose and document high profile corruption could be lost if the institution was closed down.

“It should be extended to address possible corruption in the period up to now,” Boe said.

Boe said the Task Force on Corruption must be maintained to continue supplementing efforts of the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) in fighting corruption in the country.

“Working with the Task Force on Corruption, we think it has been able to show and document corruption at high level and in that process it has developed a lot of competences that Zambia need,” Boe said. “We would like Zambia to uphold the Task Force as a supplement to the ACC and possibly extend its mandate; not only in time but also when it comes to what type of offences it can address.”

He said some donors had not renewed their contracts to support the Task Force because they were uncertainties on whether the institution would remain operational or not.

“We have been supporting the Task Force with other donors but as you know, the mandate of the Task Force has been very unclear whether it would be expanded and extended,” he said. “We are now waiting for the government’s anti corruption policy to come on the table which we expect to come in fairly soon, we hope and based on that we are certainly ready to continue supporting the Task Force.”

He said Norway was ready to continue supporting the Task Force on Corruption.

“We have not stopped supporting the Task Force but the contract ended and we haven’t entered into a new contract and we are waiting for the clarity on the anti corruption policy and mandate of the Task Force,” Boe said.

And Boe has indicated that Norway would provide between US $60 million and US $70 million as budgetary support to Zambia this year.

“The international depression will not influence our level of support to Zambia. [This year] we will give US $60 million (about K299 billion) to US $ 70 million (about K349 billion) which is a lot of money from a small country like Norway,” said Boe.

Labels: GUNNAR BOE, TASK FORCE

posted by MrK @ 6:46 PM