Maravi

Rupiah’s Anti-Corruption Day speech

Rupiah’s Anti-Corruption Day speech
By Editor
Fri 04 Dec. 2009, 04:00 CAT

It is easier said than done. This is the only honest way we can respond to the speech read by Rupiah Banda on Wednesday night to mark the commemoration of the International Anti-Corruption Day.

Rupiah said many correct things, things no decent human being can disagree with. But that was the work of the speech writers. It was not Rupiah’s words; it is not something that came from his feelings, his consciousness. We say this because what Rupiah said is totally the opposite of what he does. Rupiah said his government will remain steadfast in its resolve to rid this country of the scourge of corruption.

And that in this regard, his government shall continue to strengthen the Anti Corruption Commission and other institutions involved in fighting the scourge. But there are many questions that can be asked about what Rupiah is saying in the light of what he is doing.

How can Rupiah’s government remain steadfast in its resolve to rid this country of the scourge of corruption? We ask this question because at no time has Rupiah and his government been steadfast in fighting corruption. From the very beginning, Rupiah’s politics were premised on corruption. At the beginning of last year’s presidential election campaigns, Rupiah was involved in electoral corruption in total violation of the Electoral Code of Conduct. Rupiah was personally dishing out sugar and mealie-meal to voters in Katete’s Vulamukoko area. An observation was even made by the Attorney General that such practices were not good and must be avoided. Rupiah has not changed and he still engages in electoral bribes of one form or another. Rupiah’s campaigns in the by-elections that we have held since he became President are all characterised by the MMD distributing mealie-meal and other commodities, including money, to win votes. This is corruption.

Rupiah says corruption weakens democratic institutions, perverts the rule of law and undercuts public confidence in government, breeds inequality and disenfranchises large segments of the population. He is right. He is correct. But this is what his electoral bribes do – they weaken democratic institutions, they pervert the rule of law, they disenfranchise large segments of the population. But it seems where electoral corruption is concerned, Rupiah will never stop, cannot be redeemed. Why do we say this? We say this because as far back as 1991 when Rupiah was a parliamentary candidate of UNIP in Munali Constituency, he was involved in bribery and a record of this is there and was correctly reported by the Times of Zambia.

Truly, corruption undercuts public confidence in government. And we can see this with Rupiah’s own government which has lost public confidence. It is very dangerous for a country to be run by a government that has lost public confidence, that has no credibility. We say this because government is very important in the life of any nation. The government is the instrument by which people co-operate together in order to achieve common good.

And if people have no confidence in their government, how can they be expected to co-operate in order to achieve the common good? And what happens to a nation when this is absent? There is need for a conversion of heart and for the transformation of social structures in order to build our country. A credible authority, an authority which enjoys the confidence of the people, is needed to guide the energies of all towards the common good. And this is why politics need people with high credibility.

We also agree with Rupiah when he says that corruption perverts the rule of law. Where there is corruption, justice will always be very difficult to find. And a country that runs on a weakened rule of law is a very dangerous one.

Under Rupiah, there is no rule of law; the rule of law has been weakened to a point where it is very difficult to see it or recognise it due to deformities. Under Rupiah, the most corrupt individual or politician in this country, who happens to be his friend, has been allowed to go scot-free. And that person is no other than Frederick Chiluba. Even some people close to Rupiah who one thought would be realistic or rational in their thinking believe that by helping Chiluba escape jail, he will deliver to Rupiah the votes of Luapula Province.

And they don’t see anything wrong with that. To them, winning the next election is more important than anything else – all values can be sacrificed for that. Who in this country doesn’t know that Chiluba’s acquittal was procured for that purpose? Rupiah is on record saying he stopped the appeal against Chiluba’s acquittal. This is in the belief that if Chiluba has been saved from the lion’s mouth, allowing an appeal will be like putting him inside the belly of this beast where he will have no chance of escape and will be devoured. This is their thinking. But this thinking is corrupt.

This decision and act is corrupt and cannot be defended in any other way, in any way that is honest. But contrast this with what Rupiah is doing to his political opponents! Look at the malicious prosecution of Chansa Kabwela over trumped-up pornographic charges that did not exist anywhere in our statute books but only in Rupiah’s head and evil mind – a mind that sees pornography where there is pain and despair, a really sick mind.

But Rupiah and his friends are doing all this with the full knowledge of what the rule of law means, of what the rule of law entails. The right to equality before the law, or equal protection of the law as it is often phrased, is fundamental to any just and democratic society. Whether rich or poor, political ally or opponent of those in power, of Rupiah – all must be entitled to equal protection before the law. But under Rupiah, his friends can steal millions of dollars or billions of kwacha from public coffers and are allowed to go scot-free. A person who supports corruption is also corrupt because there can be no other explanation of their support for such evil deeds.

The rule of law requires that those in power deal evenly and equally with all citizens. But under Rupiah, we have seen the state imposing additional inequalities. Rupiah and those he uses to administer the criminal justice system of our country have abused their power and have used it for tyrannical purposes. In the name of the state, they have allowed Chiluba to go scot-free. And in the name of the same state, they have persecuted Chansa on trumped-up pornography charges just to humiliate her and The Post. No democratic state, no democratic person can tolerate such abuses because they constitute acts of corruption, they are a manipulation of the judicial process to suit the interests of Rupiah and his friends.

And truly, corruption breeds inequality. Those who are well connected get everything they need, including jolly rides on the presidential jet, visits to other countries to watch naked women for pleasure. They also get government contracts for all sorts of things and in the process enrich themselves without merit. This also creates inequality in the sense that this corruption leads to a situation where only those who have stolen money or can corruptly manipulate government resources to their benefit can set themselves a political agenda. We see this in the way Rupiah and his friends conduct their election campaigns. We see it in the way they use money and state resources to win political power for themselves. This is corruption and this is exactly what Rupiah’s speech writers, those who wrote that speech he read to us, were trying to say.

While Rupiah’s speech writers have recognised the need to strengthen the law on assets declarations; strengthen the law on forfeiture of proceeds of crime; and enhancing whistleblower protection, Rupiah is everyday undermining this by doing exactly the opposite. Who doesn’t know that they have been buying properties and acquiring all sorts of things through third parties? How many houses have been bought in Kabulonga or Woodlands without adequate asset disclosures?

How can Rupiah read a speech to the Zambian people talking about strengthening the law on forfeiture of proceeds of crime when he is helping his friend Chiluba to hold on to proceeds of crime? The house Chiluba lives in in Kabulonga is such a proceed of crime. That house was bought with money stolen from the Zambian government and this was found to be a matter of fact by the High Court in London. Rupiah and his friends are doing everything possible to ensure that the London High Court judgment against Chiluba and his tandem of thieves is not enforced in this country so that Chiluba can continue to share with them the benefits of proceeds of crime, of corruption.

And on enhancing whistleblower protection, what is Rupiah talking about when they are everyday harassing whistleblowers? How many people have they fired from their jobs for being whistleblowers or for refusing to do wrong things, to carry out corrupt orders? How many civil servants have they flashed out of the Ministry of Transport and Communications for exposing their questionable dealings with RP Capital? As for us who are media whistleblowers, everybody knows what they are doing to us; everybody knows their hatred for The Post which is the leading media whistleblower in this country! So what is Rupiah talking about?

Jose’ Marti, that outstanding hero and forerunner of Cuba’s Revolution, once said that “Doing is the best way of saying.” For Christians, living is the best way of believing. Faith without deeds is worthless; as James stated, “What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith, but has not works? Can his faith save him?...So faith, by itself, if it has no works, is dead” (James 2:14-17). Similarly, Rupiah’s regurgitation of wonderful speeches written for him is useless if it is not accompanied by appropriate practice.

We invite all Zambians to avoid corruption at all costs and condemn it whenever and wherever they see it because corruption destroys the social structures of our country; corruption is a sin and has drastic evil effects. And as Rupiah correctly read it in that speech, “corruption is a severe obstacle to development and Zambia cannot afford to continue tolerating this scourge”.

What does this mean? This means all corrupt people have to be fought and be defeated. It also means that those who defend corrupt elements, those who protect evil and corrupt deeds have to be fought and be defeated. And here names are not important, what is important is the corrupt act. In a word, what we are saying is that it doesn’t matter who is involved, what position he occupied or occupies in society or where he hails from, if he is involved in corruption in any way, he has to be fought and defeated. We don’t think Rupiah understood it this way because if he did, he wouldn’t have said it the way he did.

What Rupiah said means that he has to be fought just as much as his friend Chiluba for their corrupt deeds. One who abates a crime is also a criminal. For the same reasons, even people like Chalwe Mchenga, the disgraced Director of Public Prosecutions, also needs to be fought and hunted out of the office he has disgraced. This is what the rule of law means. This is what equality before the law entails. The Lozis would say where corruption is concerned, akuna mwana a Mola, neba yena Mola kasibili (literally meaning there are no exceptions or preferences in the fight against corruption).

Labels: CORRUPTION, RUPIAH BANDA

posted by MrK @ 4:46 AM