Rupiah is not running a clean govt, says Lubinda

Rupiah is not running a clean govt, says Lubinda
Written by George Chellah
Sunday, June 21, 2009 3:30:30 PM

RUPIAH Banda is not running a clean government, Kabwata PF member of parliament Given Lubinda (right) said yesterday. And Lubinda urged President Banda to take decisive actions against corruption like the late president Levy Mwanawasa.

Reacting to MMD spokesperson Benny Tetamashimba's call for a probe into the late president Mwanawasa's seven-year rule, Lubinda said President Banda's administration must not plead for public sympathy in the fight against corruption. He said President Banda had kept quiet on the fight against corruption and had gone to great lengths to support corrupt people.

"There is no one who can convince me that Rupiah is running a clean government. There are many things that can show that he is corrupt, Tetamashimba wants to shift people's attention.

He wants to stop people from thinking that Rupiah is not corrupt when he is," he said. "If you are to compare the fight against corruption championed by Mwanawasa with what is happening now you will see that whilst Mwanawasa publicly spoke against corruption, Rupiah's government is involved in corruption. So Tetamashimba should not trivialise the matter. Why is he appealing for public sympathy?

"In Mwanawasa's regime even the president himself spoke emotionally against corruption but you don't hear Rupiah say that because he himself survives on corruption. Let them not plead for public sympathy, let him take action like Mwanawasa."

He said it was strange for Tetamashimba to today turn round today and make such demands.

"Tetamashimba cannot claim not to have known what was happening in Mwanawasa's rule. He was a senior member of the MMD and minister. He obviously should have been alive to what was happening in Mwanawasa's government," Lubinda said. "Whether the persons involved were in Mwanawasa's regime or are in Rupiah's regime, let them report those people to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC)."

According to the Times of Zambia, Tetamashimba yesterday called for a thorough probe into the dealings of government officials who served under president Mwanawasa's regime.

Tetamashimba said there was need to find out what happened in the seven years that president Mwanawasa served as head of state because many people enriched themselves during that period.

Tetamashimba said many people pocketed public funds on the pretext that they supplied goods and services to the government and that President Banda was being blamed for these misdeeds.

"We have to look through the seven years of president Mwanawasa. We have to find out the wrong that the people did so that our former head of state may rest in peace," Tetamshimba was quoted as having said.

Lubinda said the current practice of cadres, children, personal friends and relatives of those in leadership directing civil servants on who to award contracts to or which supplier to pay must not only be stopped but must be publicly condemned and the perpetrators punished as established by law.

"And if the 'tourist' President is truly affected by the strikes of the civil servants whose conditions are ridiculously poor because of the rampant abuse of the national cake by the privileged few he shall give space to reform the management of public resources. He shall for once be seen to take action as a President, on this crucial issue," Lubinda said.

"If it is not to protect the common well being of current and future generations through upholding and defending the Constitution of the land and all its resources, what are Presidents elected for? While protecting his candidature for MMD presidency at the next MMD convention, RB should demonstrate his ability to do what is expected of the office that he holds."

He said the problem lies deep in the governance style of the MMD.

"The appointment of permanent secretaries - cum - controlling officers - on political patronage rather than on patriotism and professionalism is the entry point of imprudent public resource management. Whereas controlling officers are meant to be answerable to the Secretary to Treasury, the system in Zambia is such that they are answerable to the President who appoints them along with their pseudo supervisors," Lubinda said.

"It is not the civil servants who require sensitization, it is the appointing authority who requires reformation and breaking from the one-party mentality of the party and its government where PSs were appointed for political expediency."

He called for a culture where all public service workers including the Judiciary could publicly avail declarations of their assets.

"The second area requiring immediate and serious attention is developing a culture of public accountability through which all public service workers including politicians and civil servants, the Judiciary, local government officials and all in government and semi-government agencies and corporations make publicly available declarations of their assets, liabilities and incomes at engagement, annually and at disengagement," Lubinda said.

"Besides being available for public scrutiny these declarations should be open to verification by a competent government agency. This will assist in exposing ill-gotten wealth. Zambia is one of the few countries that allow its public service workers to have second or even third jobs all at the same time. It is common in Zambia for a minister or PS to own a company that supplies goods and services to his/her ministry as it is also common for a teacher to use their school classrooms for private tuition at break time, between lessons and after hours and during weekends and school holidays."

He said the MMD government lacked the commitment to manage national resources transparently and reasonably.

He said the recent statements by the Secretary to the Cabinet and Treasury Dr Joshua Kanganja and Secretary to the Likolo Ndalamei respectively expose how the MMD government had failed in its fiduciary obligations.

"The MMD government does not have just the mandate nor the simple responsibility, more than that, it has the obligation to manage the resources of the country transparently, accountably and above-all responsibly and expeditiously," Lubinda said.

"The two secretaries point to the well-known fact that the public financial management system under the MMD is marred with serious weaknesses which have made abuse and outright theft of public resources by public service workers endemic. The facts raised by the two are not new.

"The Auditor General, Parliament, civil society organisations, opposition political parties, and especially the media have been pointing at numerous cases of imprudent utilisation and day-light wanton abuse of public resources over the years. The fact that taxpayers' money, grant money from donors and loan money from domestic and foreign loans is being stolen with grave impunity is not in dispute. Everyone acknowledges that," he said.

Lubinda said what eludes the country is the ability to stop the rot and to plug off the loopholes through which public resources flow into greedy hands.

Recently, Kanganja said the performance of controlling officers entrusted with managing public resources was poor and needed to be improved with a sense of seriousness and urgency to safeguard public resources.