Maravi

Mulongoti’s argument is nonsense

Mulongoti’s argument is nonsense
By Editor
Wed 28 July 2010, 04:00 CAT

The manoeuvre to remove the offence of “abuse of office” from the Anti Corruption Commission Act is a clear demonstration of the commitment of Rupiah Banda’s government to corruption. No self-respecting government, that is opposed to the abuse of public resources and positions could be found advocating the removal of laws that protect public funds.

But this is exactly what Rupiah and his minions are doing. The comments by works and supply minister Mike Mulongoti are a clear indication of what the official government position is on corruption.

Mulongoti, as Minister of Works and Supply, presides over one of the largest, and probably the most important, spending unit of the government. It is the Ministry of Works and Supply that in most cases facilitates the delivery of government services through the development and maintenance of infrastructure.

This ministry spends a lot of money on behalf of our people. Accountability for those resources, therefore, is of utmost importance.

This ministry gives contracts for the construction of roads, schools, hospitals, bridges and other public infrastructure. It cannot be denied that because of the nature of work that it does, there is great opportunity for corruption and abuse of office.

In the last few months, we have been treated to a debate on what has gone on in the road sector programme, where it is alleged that millions of dollars have been misappropriated. This is a discussion that is current and has not gone away yet. Mulongoti’s ministry and some of the government agencies that operate under his ministry are at the centre of these allegations. It is, therefore, disingenuous for Mulongoti to be at the forefront of calling for the removal of the offence of “abuse of office”. What is he afraid of?

Many of our people know that public servants have been helping themselves to public resources and stealing with abandon. This pathetic excuse, by a minister who is supposed to be in the forefront of defending public resources, shows that he has decided that it serves his purpose of acquiring unexplainable wealth. What kind of nonsense is this?

If a public servant is engaged in legitimate business which does not involve corruption, abuse of office or even money laundering, such a public servant should be able to explain their income without any problems. There is a reason why this law exists. For Mulongoti to dismiss it as he is doing demonstrates why this law is necessary. Why should those who spend money on our behalf refuse to be accountable when they are found with resources that they cannot fully explain as earnings from traceable economic activity?

Mulongoti may today be bragging about how enterprising he and other public officers are. But people know exactly where he is coming from. What businesses did he run before he went into government? How much money was he making from those businesses? What records are there to show what he was doing? We are not asking these questions out of malice. These are legitimate matters of inquiry which our people need to know about. A business that only thrives because somebody is in government is a clear indication of abuse of their position and corruption. Something is going on somewhere which should not be happening.

It is surprising that a government minister should have the courage to defend the ‘rights’ of public servants to have unexplained wealth when the country is reeling from a number of high profile scams perpetrated on the state by public servants.

The Auditor General has continued to issue reports that clearly indicate that there is a huge problem in accountability for public resources by those who are entrusted with the responsibility to spend moneys on our behalf. Almost every report that is produced is an identical duplication of the last one done. The common theme that runs through these reports is how this or that amount of public funds has been misappropriated. What tends to differ are just the amounts. But the principal is the same. No honest person can deny that one of the great challenges that the government has is the ability to ensure that public resources are spent correctly.

Last year, we saw a situation where donor aid to the Ministry of Health was frozen because of allegations of massive frauds carried out by public servants.

Some of the matters that arose because of those allegations are still in the courts of law today. Many public servants are being prosecuted today for offences including abuse of office. How then can Mulongoti claim that the offence that seeks to protect public resources and offices from abuse by public servants is bad law?

If anyone was in doubt as to where Rupiah’s government stands on fighting corruption and safeguarding our resources from plunder, Mulongoti has made it clear.

There is a method in the madness that Rupiah’s government is showing. They do not have any respect for public resources. This is what explains their defence of Frederick Chiluba’s plunder of public resources. If they respected public resources and thought that public servants are not entitled to dip their fingers in the public purse for personal use, they would have had difficulties defending Chiluba.

We have not forgotten that Mulongoti was one of the earliest ministers to defend Chiluba’s questionable acquittal, indicating that people are not necessarily equal before the law. In Mulongoti’s mind, because Chiluba was at one time or the other president of this country, he was entitled to the questionable reprieve. Mulongoti said similar things when MMD national secretary Katele Kalumba was convicted of corruption. Mulongoti’s position was to the effect that Katele’s predicament is excusable. This demonstrates Mulongoti’s, if not Rupiah’s government’s consistent defence of the indefensible.

The single most important function of the government is that of a trustee on behalf of the people. In other words, whatever the government does, it must have the people in mind. A government superintends national resources for and on behalf of the people. The moment public servants begin to superintend public resources for their own interests, they have crossed the line from being public servants to being criminals. This is what Mulongoti needs to understand. Simply saying that public servants also run businesses does not make any sense. What businesses do they run? Why are they public servants if they want to spend time running their businesses? At whose expense and time do they run those businesses? We all know of businesses run by so-called public servants who supply things like paper to government at three or four times the cost. There are also road works that are carried out at inflated amounts with the apparent approval and blessings of those who are supposed to protect public resources.

These are real problems. Billions of kwachas are being lost in this way. Money which could otherwise provide services for our people is corruptly ending up in people’s pockets. This is what Mulongoti is defending when he champions the removal of the offence of “abuse of office”. The excuses and reasons he is giving are nothing but utter nonsense and rubbish. To say that public servants are failing to make decisions because of the fear of the offence of abuse of office does not make any sense at all. Why should an honest public servant who is convinced that his or her actions are consistent with government regulations and are being taken in the best interest of our people be afraid to take such a decision? It is understandable that someone who is not sure that their decision is correct and has followed all the laid down procedures will be scared.

Especially if they know or suspect that this or that minister is interested in this particular transaction, a professional civil servant will be hesitant to take such a decision. Maybe these are the problems that Mulongoti is worried about.

Our people know that all sorts of schemes have been devised by some public officers to scheme money from government revenues and resources. No amount of posturing that people are running businesses will take away this knowledge.

This is why we continue to call for transparency in the running of the affairs of state. Mulongoti and his friends should not behave as though government is their personal kantemba. The jobs they have accepted to do on our behalf come with responsibilities and restrictions. You cannot only accept the benefits and refuse any responsibility. Mulongoti’s argument about why abuse of office should be done away with is nonsense. His comments are a danger to the integrity of public resources. A minister should never say anything that can be interpreted as a defence of wrongdoing. But this is exactly what Mulongoti is doing.

Labels: ACC, CORRUPTION, DOUGLAS SYAKALIMA, MIKE MULONGOTI, RUPIAH BANDA

posted by MrK @ 4:14 AM