Masebo bemoans high levels of corruption

Masebo bemoans high levels of corruption
Written by Nicholas Mwale
Tuesday, March 17, 2009 2:32:22 PM

CHONGWE MMD member of parliament Sylvia Masebo has said corruption is still prevalent in almost every office in the country.

And Masebo urged the government to improve funding towards the Food Security Pack (FSP) programme being implemented by the Programme Against Malnutrition (PAM).

Officiating at the handover ceremony of goats to beneficiaries of the FSP's Alternative Livelihood component in Chongwe on Tuesday, Masebo said poverty would always continue if corruption was not eradicated in the country.

"As long as we have corruption, poverty will always be there. All government programmes cannot work where there is corruption," Masebo said. "We are being told that no, there corruption at the high level and that is only MPs, only ministers, only directors.

"No, corruption starts from the top to the bottom in Zambia and that is the truth. Almost every office there is corruption and that is the fact."

Masebo said corruption disadvantaged the poor people in society.

"The worst part is that even at the grass root, there is heavy corruption from our leaders at the community level," she said. "You find that even when the government does a programme, these elderly women will just hear that there is fertiliser but will not see it. There is relief food, relief food but will not see it. [Thereafter], you find that those who are in charge even the tummies become big. That is why you should elect leaders that are credible so that whatever comes reaches the intended beneficiaries."

And Masebo said the FSP was a noble programme that needed increased funding by the government.

"It is good to see that women are the ones that are mainly benefiting from the programme as we have seen from the fields we visited," Masebo said. "From what we have seen, we would have hoped that there is an increase in funding. But there is a decrease instead of an increase."

She explained that the reduction could be as result of various reasons that included administrative costs by the implementers, lack of seriousness by the beneficiaries as well as the policy issue by the government.

"In terms of allocation, money is not enough. Government should know that this is a very noble programme and it is where money should be going. Government should ensure that more resources are given to the programme," said Masebo.

"The President said in his inaugural speech that his main agenda is to fight poverty. This is one programme that is right in fighting poverty. Government should consider putting a lot of money in the programme. The number of beneficiaries has reduced due to the continued decline in funding. From 1,200, today we are being told that there are only 117 beneficiaries on the programme.

"This is what serious people would say - it is very a big joke. It’s about time we become real with real issues."