Maravi

Introduction of public interest disclosure Bill long overdue – PFC

Introduction of public interest disclosure Bill long overdue – PFC
By Ernest Chanda
Wed 03 Mar. 2010, 03:50 CAT

THE Press Freedom Committee of The Post (PFC) has observed that the introduction of the public interest disclosure (protection of whistle blowers) Bill by the government has been long overdue. The bill is aimed at protecting people who give information that is of public interest to law enforcement agencies.

Appearing before the parliamentary committee on legal affairs chaired by Monze Central member of parliament Jack Mwiimbu yesterday, PFC chairperson Chansa Kabwela said if refined, the bill would help fight corruption effectively.

“We need whistleblowers if we have to sustain the fight against corruption because corruption is there both in the public and private sectors. We are convinced that the public interest disclosure (protection of whistle blowers) Bill No 12 of 2010 attempts to deal with the protection of whistleblowers – and this development in our view is long overdue,” Kabwela submitted.

She said there should be political will to enforce various pieces of legislation and the one governing the law enforcement agencies.

She said there were some other good laws in the country that were not enforced due to lack of political will among leaders.

“…as long as party cadres, who are de facto outside civil service discipline, are not only advisors, but also assume the responsibilities of controlling officers of the public purse at permanent secretary level, regardless of the party in power, the nation must expect diversion of funds and huge leakages of resources to serve both political and personal interests at the expense of national development,” she said.

“There are some good laws in place such as the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (Amendment) Act and the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) Act of 2002, but the lack of political will to implement them results in selective justice which protects the strong preying upon the weak. There are thousands of inmates serving sentences for stealing chickens, bicycles, television sets, cows and so on and so forth. But many stealing billions get way with it.”

When asked by Chimbamilonga MMD member of parliament Brian Sikazwe to cite one example of people stealing billions of kwacha, Kabwela referred to various cases of abuse of public resources as highlighted in the Auditor General’s report.

And when asked further by Sikazwe why she singled out the civil service when the bill also catered for the private sector, Kabwela said there was emphasis on the civil service there was an element of taxpayers’ money.

And PFC general secretary Sheikh Chifuwe expressed concern that the bill did not cater for protection of whistleblowers in the offices of the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC), Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) and Investigator General.

He said the officers in these agencies needed to be catered for to ensure that whistleblowers were protected in the event that they exposed wrongdoing.

Chifuwe also bemoaned non-adherence to the general orders in the civil service.

He said there would be no talk of corruption and abuse of public funds in the public service if civil servants followed the guidelines in the general orders.

Earlier appearing before a parliamentary committee on information and broadcasting services, Press Association of Zambia (PAZA) president Andrew Sakala submitted that the ZNBC Amendment Bill 2010 did not meet the interests of media groups.

The bill seeks to broaden the system of collecting TV licence fees and change the word ‘licence’ to levy.

Under the proposed bill, TV levy will be included to the price of a television set in every shop so that whoever buys a TV will also have paid the annual K36,000 TV levy.

Sakala said it was good that the government had realised that what the public paid ZNBC was not a licence but a levy.

“For purposes of correcting the inherent mistake of a ‘levy’, which the ZNBC Amendment Act 2002 refers to as licence, the ZNBC Amendment Act 2010 is well thought out to correct this anomaly.

But generally the ZNBC Amendment Bill 2010 does not meet the expectations of the PAZA and other media interest groups in the sense of that it does not touch on the fundamental principles for which the amendments were sought – transform ZNBC from a state to a public broadcaster,” submitted Sakala.

When asked by Chimbamilonga MMD member of parliament Brian Sikazwe to cite one example of people stealing billions of kwacha, Kabwela referred to various cases of abuse of public resources as highlighted in the Auditor General’s report.

And when asked further by Sikazwe why she singled out the civil service when the bill also catered for the private sector, Kabwela said there was emphasis on the civil service there was an element of taxpayers’ money.

And PFC general secretary Sheikh Chifuwe expressed concern that the bill did not cater for protection of whistleblowers in the offices of the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC), Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) and Investigator General.

He said the officers in these agencies needed to be catered for to ensure that whistleblowers were protected in the event that they exposed wrongdoing.

Chifuwe also bemoaned non-adherence to the general orders in the civil service.
He said there would be no talk of corruption and abuse of public funds in the public service if civil servants followed the guidelines in the general orders.

Earlier appearing before a parliamentary committee on information and broadcasting services, Press Association of Zambia (PAZA) president Andrew Sakala submitted that the ZNBC Amendment Bill 2010 did not meet the interests of media groups.

The bill seeks to broaden the system of collecting TV licence fees and change the word ‘licence’ to levy.
Under the proposed bill, TV levy will be included to the price of a television set in every shop so that whoever buys a TV will also have paid the annual K36,000 TV levy.

Sakala said it was good that the government had realised that what the public paid ZNBC was not a licence but a levy.

“For purposes of correcting the inherent mistake of a ‘levy’, which the ZNBC Amendment Act 2002 refers to as licence, the ZNBC Amendment Act 2010 is well thought out to correct this anomaly.

But generally the ZNBC Amendment Bill 2010 does not meet the expectations of the PAZA and other media interest groups in the sense of that it does not touch on the fundamental principles for which the amendments were sought – transform ZNBC from a state to a public broadcaster,” submitted Sakala.

Labels: CHANSA KABWELA, JACK MWIIMBU, PFC

posted by MrK @ 7:13 PM