Maravi

A corrupt president is a guarantee for a corrupt govt

A corrupt president is a guarantee for a corrupt govt
Written by Editor

Dora Siliya’s dealings with RP Capital Partners Limited amount to corruption. And in defending her, Rupiah Banda and George Kunda were defending corruption. And when we talk about corruption, we include arrogance, lack of humility, abuse of office.

It cannot be denied that Dora was arrogant, lacked humility and abused her office in her dealings with RP Capital Partners Limited and in her defence of her deals with them. And Rupiah and George abused their offices and other public institutions to defend Dora’s corrupt dealings with RP Capital Partners Limited.

They even abused, and continue to abuse, the state-owned and government-controlled media organisations like the Times of Zambia, the Zambia Daily Mail and ZNBC television and radio to defend their corrupt deals. This abuse of state institutions is also corruption on the part of Rupiah, George and Dora.

And Zambians should ask themselves why Rupiah Banda’s son, who is not in any way a government official, was involving himself in this matter. There is no other better explanation than that this was a corrupt scheme. And through this corrupt scheme, the Zambian people will lose US $2 million to RP Capital Partners Limited – although George lied to the nation that this deal only involves US $50,000.

This also explains why Rupiah is having problems dealing with Dora.

Clearly, a corrupt president is a guarantee of a corrupt government. When levels of corruption are high, it is possible to determine a structure of corruption that stretches from the lowliest clerk to State House, and each layer of corrupt officials blames the one above them.

Of course, we are not saying that Zambia needs a saint for a president. We know of many leaders in the world that started with very good intentions, giving anti-corruption work a high priority but, when members of their family or political allies were the target of corruption allegations, their commitment started to fade.

Fighting corruption depends partly on political will and, if the president is personally free of corruption and willing to lead a sustained attack on corruption, there is some good prospect of progress.

When corruption is pervasive and deeply entrenched, no section of society, no business sector and no social group can escape its impact. Corruption is a social and economic problem, as well as a political problem. Its containment requires the mobilisation of social and economic sectors in addition to the commitment of the political leadership.

Clearly, corruption thrives when it is accepted as a norm, when its victims do not protest, when it goes unreported and uninvestigated and when its consequences are not widely understood. We strongly believe that tackling corruption requires the participation of all – us in the media, our believers in the churches, our brothers and sisters in the trade unions, civic associations, non-governmental organisations and indeed those in business.

We have no alternative to fighting corruption if we have to harbour any hope of a reversal of fortunes in this country because corruption delays, disturbs and diverts growth and development. We have been told and reminded, time and again, that eradicating poverty requires macroeconomic stability, economic growth, improving institutional capacity, and investing in services such education and health that particularly benefit the poor.

High levels of corruption can threaten economic stability, slow down growth, weaken institutional capacity and reduce the resources available for social programmes. If macroeconomic stability can be maintained, inflation will be low which is of benefit to the poor and such stability provides a platform for economic growth.

High inflation can erode the tax base and affect the government’s ability to maintain social spending. High inflation is often a result of excessive government borrowing and, where there are high levels of corruption, politicians have personal incentives to encourage high spending levels because it provides more opportunities for them to steal, to be corrupt, to engage in deals like the RP Capital Partners Limited deal. Who knows how many people in Zambia are going to benefit from RP Capital’s US $2 million?

It is the duty of every human rights activist or institution to fight against corruption. We say this because corruption, in all its forms, constitutes a violation of the human rights of the people who experience it. Our politicians, who are complicit in corruption, are failing in their duty to protect and promote human rights. The struggle for human rights and the struggle against corruption are clearly intimately and inextricably linked because corrupt politicians and their governments are no respecters of human rights. Human rights are, by definition, general and universal while corruption, by definition, concerns the few and the particular.

Millions of our fellow citizens are denied their human rights and corruption plays an important role in perpetuating this situation. Corruption is an obstacle to the realisation of their rights; it is a denial of accountability and prevents people from exercising their political rights. When politicians are bought and sold by powerful economic interests, by foreign companies with a lot of money, when they are consumed by their own greedy and vanity, this undermines the democratic process. It also undermines equality before the law as we are seeing in Dora’s case. Imagine how Dora would have been treated if she was not an ally of Rupiah? Compare the way she is being treated with the way we have been unfairly scandalised over the problems of Zambian Airways! Human rights are an expression of a belief in the equality of human beings, of equal treatment by governments and their politicians. But corruption is an especially pernicious form of discrimination. Rupiah’s inability to deal with Dora swiftly and decisively is as a result of the corruption we are talking about.

And equally, his malicious accusation of us having stolen US $30 million from state institutions is a result of corruption on his part. There would be no purpose for corruption if all were to be treated equally. Corruption violates human rights because it discriminates against the poor by denying them access to public services and preventing them from exercising their political rights.

And business people shouldn’t cheat themselves that they are benefiting by paying bribes, by patronising politicians and giving them all sorts of gifts which amount to nothing but bribes and corruption. Corruption has a negative impact on the scale, form and growth rate of private sector development. It has both direct and indirect consequences for the conduct of business. It helps distort the market by redirecting economic activity from one sector to another. And in doing so, corruption destroys the structure and pattern of economic development and reduces the efficiency of economic activity. Corruption has fiscal, budgetary and debt effects which collectively damage the economy and make private sector development very difficult.

In its extreme form, corruption can destroy our economy and make business activity for our business people impossible. In principle, when you look at the RP Capital US $2million corrupt deal, it is an unofficial tax on the consumers and producers of this country and those least able to pay, the poor, will suffer the most from its regressive impact.

Corruption is very dangerous because it is divisive and can make a very significant contribution to social inequality and conflict in our country. It separates the poor from the rich, the observers from the players; it helps divide people on tribal or regional lines and promotes rivalries and jealousies. It was electoral corruption that made Rupiah encourage our people to be divided on regional and tribal lines. It was greed and vanity that made Rupiah tell the people of Eastern Province not to welcome but chase away other candidates who did not hail from Eastern Province when they went to campaign there.

Clearly, high levels of corruption help breed a culture of suspicion and distrust. Encounters with strangers, especially those in authority positions, are fraught with difficulty. This can actually lead to social cohesion breaking down in our country. Where there is corruption, it becomes more difficult to persuade people to work together for the common good because corruption encourages and rewards selfishness and denigrates collective action.

It cannot be denied that corruption disempowers people and encourages their sense of alienation, undermines respect for authority and increases cynicism about leaders at all levels of society. Corruption discourages participation in civil society and elevates self-interest as a guide to conduct.

As we have seen, where the belief is widespread that all politicians are crooks, it is bound to widen the gap between the political class and the rest of society. And it will stimulate people with resources to turn away from government and politics and provide their own solutions to problems. Corruption will foster an increasing withdrawal from membership of political parties and other political organisations for fear of being identified with the corrupt political class.

Where there is corruption, values suffer – they are lost; where there is corruption, standards and principles are sacrificed and substituted with personal gain. Where there is corruption, those in government are prevented or find it very difficult to implement and enforce laws and policies. Where there is corruption, the reputation of politicians is damaged and people are encouraged to go into politics for wrong reasons.

When corruption grips a nation, public trust in politicians and political institutions and processes are undermined, international confidence in government is eroded. When corruption takes root, cynicism is encouraged and political participation is discouraged. And this can give rise to political instability.

And as we saw in the last elections, corruption perverts the conduct and results of elections and ensures that the poor remain politically powerless and are forced or manipulated to vote for people they don’t even know, their votes are stolen from them in broad daylight robbery. We have also seen that corruption consolidates political power and reduces political participation. Look at what corruption is doing to the competition for power in the MMD! Those in control of state resources and can use them in a corrupt manner carry the day. Clearly, corruption delays and distorts political development and sustains political activity based on patronage and money. It also reduces the transparency of political decision making and the development of an open political system.

And it certainly erodes the political rights of the poor and reduces their political participation.

There is need for all of us, for all Zambians of good will to tenaciously fight corruption because it is the antithesis of good governance and democratic politics. We have no alternative but to fight corruption with all that we have because for all of striving to create an open, competitive and transparent form of political activity in this country, corruption offers a range of obstacles and imposes significant costs.

This is the way to look at what is happening following the Dora tribunal report. The hesitations or the difficulties Rupiah is today facing over this issue have nothing to do with legal complications as they are trying to project in their propaganda, in their continued abuse of the state -owned and government-controlled media, it has everything to do with corruption on their part.

Labels: DAN GERTLER, DORA SILIYA, PRIVATISATION, RP CAPITAL PARTNERS

posted by MrK @ 5:39 PM