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TIZ quizzes govt over weakening the ACC Act

TIZ quizzes govt over weakening the ACC Act
By Chibaula Silwamba
Wed 07 July 2010, 14:50 CAT

TRANSPARENCY International Zambia (TIZ) has demanded that the Rupiah Banda government rescinds its intention to tamper with abuse of office clause in the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) Act.

In response to a press query on government’s manourvers to remove the clause from the revised ACC Act, which is due to be tabled in Parliament, TIZ executive director Goodwell Lungu said if the government would not reverse its decision, it would be another direct act of the current government that lacks political will in the fight against corruption to completely bury the little hope that is there in fighting corruption.

“Transparency International Zambia (TIZ) wishes to advise government to immediately rescind its intention to tamper with section 37 of the current Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) Act number 46 of 1996 if at all they have indeed done such an act,” Lungu said.

“We say so bearing in mind that the current Section 37 of the ACC Act gives powers to the Commission to ‘investigate any public officer where there are reasonable grounds to believe that such public officer is in possession of unexplained property’.”

He said as TIZ, they believed that Section 37 in its current form was very important in the fight against corruption and in ensuring that public officers do not acquire wealth or property to which they fail to account on how they acquired the same.

“If anything, this section needs to be strengthened. We are worried if at all this issue is true that these are the tactics that Dr. Frederick Chilubas regime also did and weakened the 1996 ACC Act by removing a section that provided for the protection of informers/whistleblowers,” he said.

“We are also aware that in terms of Section 99 of the Penal Code, Chapter 87 of the Laws of Zambia, “Any person who, being employed in the public service, does or directs to be done, in abuse of the authority of his office, any arbitrary act prejudicial to the rights or interests of the Government or any other person, is guilty of a misdemeanour. If the act is done or directed to be done for purposes of gain, he is guilty of a felony and is liable to imprisonment for three years’.”

Lungu said much as the offence of abuse of authority of office was provided for in the Penal Code, the provision under the ACC Act was better as it did not only provide for abuse of authority of office but also being in possession of unexplained property.

He said, it was, therefore, TIZ’s considered view that any progressive drafting of the revised ACC Act should not only retain Section 37 of the Act in its current form but also strengthen it.

“This is more so that much as the offence of abuse of authority of office is covered in the Penal Code, this law is enforceable by the Zambia Police Service as provided for in the Criminal Procedure Code, Chapter 88 of the Laws of Zambia,” Lungu said. “We are currently aware that the Zambia Police Service which is supposed to enforce this section has in the recent past come under a lot of attack for unprofessional discharge of their duties.”

He said TIZ wondered if government, by removing Section 37 from the revised ACC Act, was not trying to compromise and weaken further the fight against corruption.

“This action if true needs to be reversed before the Bill is presented to Parliament and if this is not done, this will be another direct act of the current government that lacks political will in the fight against corruption to completely bury the little hope that is there in fighting corruption,” he said.
“We thus wish to advise the government that since this law has not yet been taken to the National Assembly for enactment, it will be appropriate for the Ministry of Justice to retain Section 37 of the ACC Act. This will not only prevent the apparent acrimony that the report of tampering with the Act has created but also prevent citizens from believing that the current government under the leadership of Mr. Rupiah Bwezani Banda has completely no political will to fight corruption.”

Lungu said TIZ also recommended that the draft ACC bill of 2004 needed to be discussed by all stakeholders before being presented to Parliament to avoid presenting a weak bill.

Labels: ACC, CORRUPTION, TIZ

posted by MrK @ 4:30 PM