Maravi

Decision not to appeal Chiluba’s acquittal will haunt MMD – Lifuka

Decision not to appeal Chiluba’s acquittal will haunt MMD – Lifuka
By George Chellah
Mon 04 Jan. 2010, 04:01 CAT

TRANSPARENCY International-Zambia (TIZ) president Reuben Lifuka has warned President Rupiah Banda that the decision not to appeal against former president Frederick Chiluba’s acquittal will have political costs, which will haunt the MMD.

And Lifuka has described the handling of Chiluba’s acquittal and its aftermath as a classic example of what happens to the judiciary and the Director of Public Prosecutions’ (DPP) office when these revered institutions become compromised.

Analysing President Banda’s fight against corruption, Lifuka stated that most of the actions taken in 2009 vis-à-vis fighting corruption, were self-serving.

“And the most significant one was the acquittal of former President Frederick Chiluba.

The executive took positions on this matter even before the verdict had been read in the court of law and it was not surprising thereafter that President Banda and a number of his ministers continued to do the public relations work for Dr. Chiluba even in the face of strong reaction to the acquittal,” Lifuka stated.

“It is a pity that while a lot was expected from the judiciary and the Director of Public Prosecutions on this case, they have fallen short and simply proved the unfortunate view held by many that Zambia has two judicial systems – one that is for the rich and another for the poor. The reasons given by the executive for not appealing against the acquittal of Dr. Chiluba actually confirms this view.

“The whole handling of the process leading to acquittal of Dr. Chiluba and the aftermath was not only poor but a classic example of what happens to the judiciary and DPP’s office when these revered institutions become compromised, judicial independence and accountability equally become diluted.

President Rupiah Banda has strongly supported the decision not to appeal but he should be warned that whole episode is an ‘elephant in the room’, it simply won’t go away and sooner than later this will have political costs which will come to haunt the ruling party.”

Lifuka stated that the fight against corruption in 2009 could be termed to have been multi-textured.

”The general characteristic of the fight is that there was an absence of a clearly stated vision especially from President Rupiah Banda and his Cabinet. Partly, this can be attributed to a very mild form of political leadership on the matter which simply failed to inspire any meaningful action against those engaged in corruption.

The Banda administration seemingly were content with minor successes and generally failed to focus on the bigger picture of the immense benefits that would accrue to this country if corruption is fought vigorously,” Lifuka stated. “In the absence of high ambition and demonstrated political will, it is our conclusion that there was a lot of motion with limited forward movement.

The actions taken in 2009 by the Banda administration in dealing with corruption especially in the public sector were not adequate to make lasting impact. There was a lot of political rhetoric but with little meaningful action. While acknowledging that President Banda has his own leadership style in dealing with corruption, it is our considered view that his approach to this important scourge is too tentative and not firm enough to secure meaningful achievements.

“The launch of the National Anti-Corruption Policy as well as the marginal improvements on the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index from 2.8 to 3.0. out of possible 10, are heralded as key developments in 2009. While these were important to the fight against corruption, it should be recognised that these are efforts which go back in time and are overshadowed by the numerous failures by government to effectively reduce corruption in the public sector. ”

Lifuka stated that corruption continued to be rampant and systemic and that in 2009, nothing significant has been done to change the scenario.

“The National Anti-Corruption Policy while positive is merely a representation of policy intentions and the measure of its success will be judged in manner that this policy will be implemented.

It can be said therefore that there is no cause for celebration yet as this policy has to be translated into concrete actions. Public procurement continues to be a source of concern and the Rupiah Banda government still has a long way to ensure that partisan political interests do not subsume public interests,” Lifuka stated.

“The manner that government has been handling key procurements, for example, for oil supplies, ZAMTEL valuation, hearses and food supplies among others, all leave a bitter taste in the mouth. The Dennis Chirwa Tribunal set up to investigate alleged misconduct of Hon.

Dora Siliya who then served as communications and transport minister, did allude to a number of such inadequacies in public procurement and it is a pity that to date, the Republican President has not publicly reacted to the Tribunal’s report despite asking for time to study the same report.”
Lifuka also noted that electoral and political corruption continued in 2009 unabated.

“And the accusations of electoral corruption during by-elections grew stronger than before and unless all political parties take strong measures, this form of corruption will grow into a cancer.

The ruling party should lead by example and ensure that they stop the rot of bribing the electorate for their votes,” Lifuka said. “The opposition political parties have equally not done enough to fight corruption in their electoral campaign processes and this is becoming a source of concern because it would seem our political leaders have run out of ideas of convincing the electorate on their strengths without resorting to appeasing, treating and bribing would be voters.

“Corruption in our electoral process does little to promote our democratic standing as a country. Transparency International Zambia is concerned that if electoral corruption is not tackled with the urgency it requires, the 2011 elections will be nothing but shambolic.”

Lifuka said overall, 2009 would remain a year where so much was said about corruption but very little was actually done.

“We witnessed more political attacks on civil society and the media by senior government leaders who are in privileged positions to do something about the high corruption level but elected to spend their energies on trivialities or expressing jaundiced opinions of the media and civil society,” Lifuka stated.

“We hope 2010 will be different and the Banda administration will stop hiding their inadequacies behind the argument that the corruption they are fighting occurred during the Mwanawasa administration. The Zambian people care less when the corruption scandals started but how government is addressing them and ameliorating the severe impacts of this corruption.

Assuming leadership positions means assuming both good and bad and this government will be judged by their timely action and not unnecessary defensiveness and political mudslinging. The time for excuses and shifting blame is long gone and Transparency International Zambia would like this government to rise to the challenge.

“President Banda should provide strong leadership and ensure that meaningful steps are taken to clean the public sector of corruption. All allegations of corruption should be investigated regardless of the political consequences.”

Labels: CHILUBA, MMD, REUBEN LIFUKA, TIZ

posted by MrK @ 4:52 AM