Probing Levy's era

Probing Levy's era
Written by Editor

CORRUPTION in our country continues to pose a serious challenge to development. The vice is still prevalent as evidenced by the numerous reports of corruption and gross abuse of resources both in the public and private sector. There is need for concerted efforts in uprooting this vice, which threatens to undermine political, economic and social development in our country.

And that is why we think that the calls by MMD spokesperson and local government minister Benny Tetamashimba for a thorough probe into the dealings of government officials who served under Levy Mwanawasa should not be dismissed outrightly.

We say this because in any society, corruption is a major obstacle in the path to development and should be fought at all costs. There is no problem with calling for a probe into the dealings of people that worked under Levy and if there is anybody who involved themselves in wrongdoing, they should be held accountable.

We have always said that corruption is intrinsically linked to underdevelopment and affects people's lives in many ways. Corruption is destructive to society because money meant for delivery of social services for people is normally diverted for private gain. This vice leaves people without, for instance, proper health services and infrastructure in that money meant to procure drugs for patients or to improve hospitals will have been diverted, thus threatening the lives of people. In worst case scenarios, this ill trend costs lives.

Corruption should never be tolerated because it is a major obstacle to democracy and the rule of law because institutions lose their legitimacy when they are misused for personal gains. Under a corrupt system of governance, the social fabric is greatly affected because people tend to lose their trust in political systems, in institutions and the leadership. This in most cases leads to disillusionment and frustration among the governed and the stakeholders.

We agree with Patriotic Front (PF) spokesperson Given Lubinda that Rupiah Banda and his friends should take decisive action against corruption and not plead for public sympathy. There is need for Rupiah and his friends to take the fight against corruption seriously because this vice is capable of reversing all the gains that the country has made. Corruption thrives in the absence of institutional checks on power, in the absence of transparency in decision making, in the absence of a strong and militant civil society, in the absence of equality in wealth distribution.

Our political leaders need to understand that they are accountable to the people who elect them, they are not their own masters. The power that our people entrust in political leaders should be used for the benefit of society and not for the personal benefit of the individual who holds it. It becomes a source of worry when people misuse publicly entrusted power for private gain.

There is need to place control measures to prevent people from abusing their power, to prevent people from stealing public resources. An economy that is undermined by corruption has the potential of discouraging foreign investment and donors. A clear case is the suspension of funds by some donors to the Ministry of Health following revelations of corruption. The donors made it very clear that it was unacceptable to abuse their taxpayers' money. The consequences of this withdrawal are grave and one can only imagine how this sector which thrives on 55 per cent donor funding will thrive if that is not reversed. But we all know that our country needs to attract a flow of money for it to develop.

Yes, we need to continue fighting corruption and Tetamashimba's call for people that served under Levy to be investigated is welcome. We are just surprised that Tetamashimba has been quiet for a long time. Tetamashimba served under Levy as deputy minister and he was a senior member of the ruling MMD. He never called for this probe? Has the problem of corruption been brought to Tetamashimba's attention now for him to call for a probe? Tetamashimba is also complaining that many people pocketed public funds on the pretext that they were supplying goods and services to the government and Rupiah is being blamed for these misdeeds.

Yes, Rupiah was vice-president under Levy and perhaps there is no smoke without fire. But who is blaming Rupiah and for what? If Rupiah deserves to be blamed, Tetamashimba should not be his spokesperson. Tetamshimba was a deputy minister and he was never with Rupiah all the time. He doesn't know what Rupiah did. He doesn't know what Rupiah does under the cover of darkness and they are never together for 24 hours for Tetamashimba to be defending him religiously. If Rupiah is being accused of corruption, his day will come because he will not be in power forever. Right now he may enjoy immunity from prosecution but there will come a time when that immunity might be removed and he will be probed. And if there was any wrongdoing by people who served in Levy's government both Rupiah and Tetamashimba should know better since they were in government at the time.

Levy took the fight against corruption seriously and there is evidence to that effect. Whatever cases were brought up during his tenure, they were prima facie cases and they were taken to the courts of law. There is also evidence at the courts because convictions were secured and some of these cases are still going on because there are appeals in the higher courts.

Levy proved his case on corruption and no one was victimised. Even the London judgment against Frederick Chiluba that Rupiah and his friends are trying to register in Zambia is also an example of some of the cases of corruption that were started under Levy's rule. Therefore, if there are any people or those close to Levy who were involved in corruption, let us probe them.

Much as we are welcoming the calls for a probe, we doubt the sincerity of people raising these calls because there are chances of trivialising the noble fight against corruption. It will be dangerous to embark on an exercise just to embarrass and victimise innocent citizens in the name of fighting corruption. At the end of the day, it is the scoundrels who will rejoice over such a development. To probe someone, there has to be prove of a reasonable case. It should not be done for political expediency or just to be seen to be doing something to please the donors. Corruption should be fought on grounds that we are all convinced that it is a terrible vice which needs to be uprooted to ensure political and economic progress in our country. You cannot claim to fight corruption when all your dealings are questionable and always shrouded in secrecy. You cannot claim to fight corruption when those surrounding you are shielded even when guilty of wrongdoing. You cannot claim to fight corruption if on one hand you are secretly perpetuating it. We have always said that no one is above the law and we support any genuine efforts towards curbing corruption.

It is possible to reduce corruption to manageable levels and even eradicate it completely if we all work together, if we promote the culture of honesty, transparency and accountability.