Maravi

Corruption has become more vicious - Milupi

Corruption has become more vicious - Milupi
Written by Chiwoyu Sinyangwe
Tuesday, May 26, 2009 2:09:03 PM

CORRUPTION in the country has become more vicious despite latest corruption perception index indicating a decline in the vice, Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairperson Charles Milupi said on Monday.

And Milupi has disclosed that Ministry of Health will plunge into a 40 per cent financing deficit this year following the announced suspension of financial aid by the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) and the Dutch government following widespread corruption scum involving about K10 billion [about US $2 million].

Milupi who is also Luena Independent Member of Parliament told selected African journalists attending an Investment Climate Facility for Africa (ICF) and Thomson Reuters Foundation joint training seminar.

"The corruption index has shown that corruption has gone down, but I think the corruption which is there in the country is more vicious, when you look at these things like the RP Capital issues, [importation of Genetically Modified Maize] GMO, mobile clinics and so forth, it is a lot more vicious. So, we shouldn't say that because the corruption index has gone down we must relax. I think we need to keep up the pressure," Milupi said.

And Milupi said the recent scam at the Ministry of Health was not surprising as the ministry had continued to exhibit high levels of lack of accountability as has consistently been noted in reports from the Auditor General.

Milupi, who said the donors should not be blamed for withdrawing funding to the Ministry of Health, observed that the recent development would hurt the poorest in the country.

He said the government system of stopping corruption has collapsed.

"If you look at Ministry of Health, the Dutch have withdrawn 13 million Euros [about K92 billion] and Sweden have withheld about K92 billion, and according to the reports in The Post. Why did it have to take the President to issue the instruction, where are our systems," wondered Milupi.

"Being chairman of PAC since 2006, I have said the Ministry of Health every year, we have highlighted very serious issues at Ministry of Health, now those amounts that are being announced by Sweden and Holland amounts to K120 billion, the total budget of the Ministry of Health for this year is about K300 billion. So 40 per cent of the total budget is at risk and it is the poor person on the street who is going to feel it."

The Dutch government last week Thursday announced that it had suspended aid to Zambia's health sector following corruption allegations in the Ministry of Health.

The Netherlands contributes about 13 million Euros [about K92 billion] annually for the funding of rural health care provision, the prevention of malaria, tuberculosis and HIV, and the training of medical staff in Zambia.

The decision by the Netherlands government to suspend aid follows the move by Sida to stop its planned release of funds [about K59 billion] to the Ministry of Health following the alleged K10 billion scam unearthed by the ACC.

Recently, the ACC unearthed a corruption scam in which over K10 billion government funds were alleged to have been corruptly obtained from the Ministry of Health by some public servants.

Labels: CHARLES MILUPI, CORRUPTION, PAC

posted by MrK @ 1:11 PM