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Rupiah and the fight against corruption

Rupiah and the fight against corruption
Written by Editor

Fighting corruption will continue to be a difficult subject for Rupiah Banda because he got into office on the back of corruption.And when Rupiah talks about corruption, he doesn’t seem convincing, and few take him seriously because of his background.We welcome his pronouncements on the fight against corruption but we don’t believe that Rupiah is committed to fighting corruption because he has never denounced or repudiated his own corrupt deeds.

So when Rupiah advises controlling officers to take note of irregularities reported in the Auditor General’s report and ensure that measures are taken to bring the culprits to book, we wonder how this should be so when he himself has not been brought to book for his corrupt deeds in the run-up to last year’s presidential elections. Rupiah says those found wanting should be dealt with accordingly. But he himself was found wanting last year and nothing happened to him, he has not even shown remorse or contrition for his corruption.

The fight against corruption cannot have meaning until those at the helm begin to live and lead by example. And the possibility of graft in government is one of the main challenges facing our country today. Our fight against corruption lurks perfectly behind any other success we have scored in other areas of human endeavour. The success in the fight against corruption would beget success in other areas of national life. The imperative of winning the fight against corruption in Zambia is now and it’s widely agreed to by well-meaning Zambians. This underscores the urgent necessity to wipe out corruption. And we have seen that every one of us, including the President, can be corrupt. Very few believed, at that time, that a man like the then president Frederick Chiluba who was all the time invoking the name of God, presenting himself as a devout Christian, could be stealing and abusing public funds. So there is need for eternal vigilance on this score. There is urgent necessity to wipe out corruption in every nook and corner of our country. And Rupiah must be made to work diligently to curb corruption because signs of corruption are appearing everywhere in his government and that has permeated the fabric of our society. And in terms of abuse of public resources, Rupiah is leading. We saw how he abused public resources in his campaign last October. We are also seeing how he is squandering public resources on his family and friends. Look at the contingent he took to Mfuwe for Christmas! Yet Rupiah is today telling us that there should be promotion of accountability and transparency in the utilisation of public resources.

Interestingly, the first step in fighting corruption is cleansing leaders of corrupt culture and vestiges of corruption. Leaders must lead by example; they should be devoid of corruption and venal tendencies, especially with the realisation of the enormous impact of corrupt culture on governance, education, health, investment, economy and development programmes.

And based on the realisation of the jinx of the culture of corruption and the fact that the fight against the ugly gremlin must start with the leaders themselves, we urge Rupiah to show some seriousness in the fight against corruption by his own example. Rupiah is today not the example of a clean and honest leader.

But Zambians are yearning for credible leaders, honest leaders. Rupiah should try to show a superior character and lead Zambia by personal example. The successes of Levy Mwanawasa on this score were as a result of his own example which unwittingly put other public officials on notice about his temerity to fight corruption in the country. Levy’s example became a moral burden and challenge to other politicians and public officials to do the same.

We undoubtedly know that corruption is a curse that drains our country’s institutions and impedes the economic foundation for sustainable economic growth. We also know too well that corruption warps the crux of rule of law; it undermines people’s aspirations and commitment to building democratic structures and equitable economy. Rupiah’s public declarations alone about fighting corruption are not an antidote to corruption. There has to be his personal example.

Zambians need to be assured that Rupiah will ensure that the country’s resources are utilised efficiently. But with his extravagance, with his unbridled abuse of public resources, we don’t see how Zambians can be sure of him ensuring the efficient, effective and orderly utilisation of public resources. It is only his leading by example that will begin to restore Zambians’ confidence in Rupiah’s leadership and indeed in our whole political system.

Corruption is a serious threat to good governance and deters investment. Therefore, fighting corruption is essential to the development of our country for the benefit of our people. And the areas to critically look at when it comes to this are government procurement and contracts. Monopoly in these areas needs to be reduced by limiting and clarifying discretion and enhancing transparency. Single sourcing for contracts based on the discretion of ministers must be avoided at all costs because we have seen in the past that ministers can be corrupt. If a president can be corrupt, what more a minister or some civil servant? And this is why it is necessary to take a very critical approach to this so-called public private partnership (PPP) which is increasingly becoming a conduit for individuals in the private sector to connive with public officials to steal public funds. There are so many schemes they are coming up with in the name of improving efficiency when the real driving force behind them is corruption. And this whole PPP thing is nothing but a corrupt scheme that is being used to loot public resources.

Time will tell if Zambia will make further progress in its fight against corruption under Rupiah!

But it’s worth noting that Anna Chifungula has done very well as Auditor General and needs the support of all. She has in her own way made the work of the Auditor General’s office more transparent. And for the first time, the Auditor General has allowed the Zambian people to publicly discuss the reports her office produces.

The Press Freedom Committee of The Post has received good co-operation from the Auditor General’s office and have held public discussions in various parts of our country on issues that have been raised in the Auditor General’s report. And officers from the Auditor General’s office have always been on hand to explain and answer questions from the public. This is commendable. This is how things should be. This is what transparency means. And this is what involving the people in the fight against corruption means.

Labels: RUPIAH BANDA

posted by MrK @ 5:37 AM