Maravi

Danish minister urges Zambia to tackle fraud

Danish minister urges Zambia to tackle fraud
By Masuzyo Chakwe
Wed 20 Jan. 2010, 04:00 CAT

DANISH minister of foreign affairs Sus Ulbaek has expressed hope that there will be no reduction whatsoever in the fundamental right of freedom of expression whatever the outcome of the discussions on media regulation.

According to a statement from the Danish Embassy in Lusaka, Ambassador Ulbaek who was in the country for a two-day visit from January 14 to 16 to familiarise herself with Danish Zambia development cooperation also expressed concern over the problems of fraud in the health sector and various irregularities in the road sector which had led donors to freeze funds for road construction and maintenance.

She urged Zambia to deal firmly with these problems so that road construction could be resumed.
Ambassador Ulbaek said US $8 million from Denmark was not disbursed last year because of these problems.

She praised the establishment by the Zambian government of a new serious fraud unit as well as a financial intelligence unit and the national anti corruption strategy.
Ambassador Ulbaek said these steps once brought into operation could be important weapons in the fight against corruption.

The minister, who met with the ministers of finance, commerce, works and supply, foreign affairs permanent secretary, representatives of the office of the Auditor General, the chairman of the public accounts committee as well as representatives from various countries and organisations, congratulated the Zambian representatives on the positive signs of economic recovery and prosperous economic development.

She underscored the importance of promoting economic growth leading to employment and poverty reduction.

Ambassador Ulbaek welcomed the new initiatives to promote private sector development.
According to the statement, there was agreement that the future of diversification of the economy and job creation for the youth as well as economic empowerment for the poor must come from a strong and growing private sector.

This is also in line with the recommendations promoted by the Africa Commission led by the Danish government.

She found the plans for further regional economic integration encouraging and urged Zambia to also seriously attack poverty through benchmarking progress in this respect in the coming sixth national development plan.

According the statement, the Danish delegation looked forward to continuing cooperation with Zambia on building on the Copenhagen Accord to achieve an ambitious agreement for addressing climate change and ensure the efficient functioning of the United Nations Human Rights Council to promote universal human rights standards.

Labels: CORRUPTION, DENMARK, FRAUD, PRESS FREEDOM

posted by MrK @ 5:23 AM