Kambwili urges Musokotwane to acknowledge corruption in govt

Kambwili urges Musokotwane to acknowledge corruption in govt
By Salim Dawood
Mon 27 Sep. 2010, 14:50 CAT

DENYING the existence of rampant corruption and abuse of public resources in government is like denying that a human being does not go to the toilet, Roan Patriotic Front (PF) Member of Parliament Chishimba Kambwili has charged.

Reacting to Minister of Finance and National Planning Situmbeko Musokotwane’s statement that opposition MPs should desist from inciting donors to withhold their aid by alleging that there is rampant corruption and abuse of public funds in the country, Kambwili said the best the minister could do was come up with better ways of dealing with corruption instead of issuing irresponsible statements.

Kambwili observed that Dr Musokotwane had been issuing a lot of retrogressive statements ever since he assumed political office.

“That is a very irresponsible statement coming from a learned person like Honourable Musokotwane. You see the problem that I have found is that when people get into these political offices, they lose their integrity. Dr Musokotwane is a man of integrity, he’s a professional, he is a lecturer of high esteem but since he came into politics, he has been issuing statements that are very retrogressive,” he said.

Kambwili noted that corruption and abuse of public resources in government could only be effectively dealt with if the leadership in government acknowledged the existence of the vice.

“You can only correct a wrong if you firstly accept that there is something wrong. To deny that there is no rampant corruption and abuse of public resources in this government is like denying that a human being doesn’t go to the toilet.

The truth of the matter is that there is rampant corruption in government, when you go to Lusaka and see most of the buildings that are coming up, they are being built by civil servants who earn very little money," Kambili said.
"Now one wonders where they get that money from, someone was even saying jokingly that in Zambia the best way to become rich is to work as an accountant or in government and you will get rich over night."

Kambwili charged that it was retrogressive for Dr Musokotwane to deny that President Rupiah Banda had no will to fight graft.

He said no reasonable opposition MP could incite donors to withhold funds from the country saying the donors would only act on what they were seeing for themselves.

“We live with the donors, they live here in Zambia. The situation does not need Chisamba Kambwili to go and tell the donors that this government is misapplying money, the donors themselves are seeing. So it is also irresponsible for Musokotawne to accuse the opposition MPs that they are the ones who are inciting the donors. The best Musokotwane can do is to come up with better ways of resolving the corruption that is in his government,” Kambwili said.

Dr Musokotwane last week accused opposition leaders and lawmakers of inciting aid donors to cease funding to the country on grounds that there was rampant corruption and abuse of public resources in government.

He said government was concerned with the “wrong impression” that was being created by some opposition parliamentarians who claimed that there was a lot of corruption in government saying the allegation would destroy donor confidence,” Dr Musokotwane said.