JCTR slams govt’s corruption fight

JCTR slams govt’s corruption fight
Written by Kabanda Chulu
Saturday, September 19, 2009 5:10:36 PM

JCTR programme officer for debt monitoring Privilege Haang'andu yesterday said the current government's fight against corruption is an erroneous belief or fire-fighting mechanism because theft has been "legitimised" due to weak enforcement laws.

And Haang'andu has advised the government to devise its own debt sustainability analysis system, saying Zambia's debt situation is worrying and the country is slowly getting back into the debt trap.

During the Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection (JCTR) media day in Lusaka last Thursday, Haang'andu said fighting corruption would be meaningless unless the government takes action against culprits mentioned in the Auditor General's reports.

"In this country we have legitimised theft due to weak enforcement laws because how can we allow a minister coming back from abroad but failing to retire imprest or failing to repay a loan?" Haang'andu asked.

"So the current government's fight against corruption will remain an erroneous belief or fire fighting mechanism unless government takes action against all those culprits mentioned in the Auditor General's reports."

He said the government should not listen so much to the international financial Institutions - the International Monetary Fund and World Bank - but must devise its own debt management framework.

"Zambia's debt situation and policy framework is worrying and debt cancellation required a lot of effort by many stakeholders but without a solid system to handle debts, we are slowly getting back into the debt trap especially that there is plenty of money to borrow and the IFIs will continue telling us that 'our debts are sustainable' so we can borrow," Haang'andu said. "But government should devise its own debt sustainability analysis system with legal backing so that we can only borrow for productive purposes."

He explained that allowing the minister of finance to contract loans was not good and must be stopped.

"Government borrowing should be done by Parliament and the fears that this idea will curtail executive powers is erroneous since Parliament will just set a ceiling every year and the finance minister can still go back to Parliament to ask for more if need arises and it is happening in many African countries and it also helps to avoid situations where we have seen a minister goes to China or India for summits but contracts loans in form of TATA or hearse vehicles respectively," said Haang'andu.