Banda can stop corruption if he wanted to – Sichinga
By Mutale Kapekele
Sat 06 Mar. 2010, 03:40 CAT
PRESIDENT Rupiah Banda can put an end to corruption within the government if he wanted to, economic consultant Bob Sichinga has said. Speaking when he appeared on Muvi TV’s Matter at Hand program, Sichinga said President Banda had the power to end corruption in the country.
“If the President wants to, he can stop this corruption,” Sichinga said on Monday.
“But the question is, does he want to? By the stroke of the pen he can do so. He can call a Cabinet meeting and ask his ministers, the permanent secretaries and responsible officials and say this should stop! All it takes is political will and commitment.”
He said corruption was endemic because there was no political will to control it.
“How do you fight corruption when politicians drive government vehicles with government fuel to political campaigns?” Sichinga asked.
“In fact, corruption is mainly perpetuated by politicians and civil servants below the permanent secretaries. That is why I am saying the President can easily put an end to this.”
Sichinga, who is former public accounts committee chairperson and Kafue member of parliament, charged that civil servants had seen a weakness in the public accounting systems and took advantage of it.
“Every fund that the government has introduced has been abused. That is why the country is losing billions and in some cases trillions to corruption,” Sichinga said.
“Houses in Chalala have been built on this kind of money. There is clearly a failure in accounting systems. People in the civil service have seen the weakness in the system and are stealing.”
He said those who witnessed abuse of public funds in the civil service did not report for fear of exposing other officers.
“If one person is revealed, there is fear that they will tell on the others who are doing the same. They are scared that that person can say how about directors, permanent secretary or that officer?” he said.
“Clearly there is a failure in the financial system. Permanent secretaries should take their time to study cheques before they sign. If they are in a hurry, they will make mistakes of signing for things that are not verified and certified.”
He also urged Zambians to get interested in how public funds were being managed.
“As Zambians we should be interested in our money. The government raises taxes because they need money to develop the country, Zambians should be angry enough to demand action when the money is stolen,” Sichinga said. “Some of the money is used by the MMD for campaigns.
The vehicles that are sometimes used have public fuel when campaigns are not government business. I am not saying this for political capital. I am pained by poverty because resources are available. We should be asking for accountability. We are not a poor nation, our resources are just poorly managed because Zambians choose wrong people to lead them.”
He said “crazy” things had taken place in the country and wondered how the police would enforce the law when some of their senior officers were culprits of alleged abuse of public resources.
“The police are also culprits of abuse of our resources, how do you expect them to go and arrest others?” he asked.
“Is the fight against corruption lost? Why should officers involved be demoted instead of prosecuting them? There is deliberate stealing.
The government has not put guidelines on how funds should be used but people should know that public funds are not pocket money. We don’t need the Executive that does not act to protect their friends.”
He said the government should account for the money that was spent during the illness and subsequent death of late president Levy Mwanawasa.
He said names of ‘thieves’ should be published because they were given every chance to explain themselves by the auditors at the times of auditing.
“If names are published, we may reduce the AG’s report by half,” said Sichinga. “We need accounting systems that are compliant with the law.”
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