Maravi

Rupiah cannot continue to callously defend what is wrong

Rupiah cannot continue to callously defend what is wrong
By The Post
Mon 07 Feb. 2011, 04:00 CAT

We agree with Caritas Zambia executive director Sam Mulafulafu when he says that it is strange for Zambia to be selected to the board of the African Union Anti Corruption Bureau when the country is having problems fighting the scourge.

It cannot be denied that Rupiah Banda’s government has no will to fight corruption at all. What little effort it makes in fighting corruption, if it can be called that, is the persecution of perceived political enemies.

Rupiah has reduced the government policy of fighting corruption to using the Anti Corruption Commission and the Drug Enforcement Commission as tools for repression meant to be used to keep his opponents and enemies in check.

Corruption is a serious problem for our country.

We have continuously maintained that in a significant way, it is responsible for the many problems that we face as a country.

Our poverty as a nation is directly proportional to the level of corruption and lack of accountability that characterises our governance system. Patronage and self-aggrandisement for those who hold public office is an accepted part of the ministerial job or such other government employment.

Those who work in government carry themselves with a sense of entitlement to illicitly benefit from their positions.

Rupiah for his part seems to have taken this expectation to the highest level we have ever seen in our country.

We say this because in the over two years that Rupiah has been President, it is very clear that there is a feeling by those in government that corruption pays.

Although corruption was still a problem during the tenure of Levy Mwanawasa, it can be said that there was a clear indication that some of those closest to him, especially the ministers, had begun to realise that corruption did not always pay.

A sense of fear of being found out and consequently punished was manifest in the way they did things.

Indeed to his credit, Levy subjected several high-ranking officials that served in his government to prosecution for their misdeeds.

Prominent among these was his then Minister of Lands, Gladys Nyirongo, who was dismissed from her job and exposed for her corruption and accordingly prosecuted and convicted by two courts – the magistrates’ court and the High Court.

Levy also exposed the then serving Zambia Air Force commander, a man he had appointed to the job, Lt Gen Christopher Singogo, who went on to be prosecuted and convicted for corruption and abuse of office.

Levy also went to show the nation that corruption in our country was not confined to one sector or group of people – it had spread like a cancer to all the parts of our state institutions, including those institutions whose job was to enforce the law and fight corruption.

When allegations of corruption and abuse of office were raised against the then head of the Drug Enforcement Commission, Ryan Chitoba, Levy relieved him of his duties and allowed state institutions to arrest him and have him prosecuted.

To this day, Chitoba is still in court facing charges arising out of Levy’s actions. It is not for us to speculate about whether or not Chitoba is guilty or innocent because obviously, the matter is still in court.

But the point that should not be lost sight of is that a serving head of one of the country’s law enforcement agencies was removed from his office, arrested and prosecuted.

This demonstrated a very high degree of Levy’s government’s determination to confront and combat this scourge of corruption.

The same can be said about Levy’s approach on his predecessor Frederick Chiluba. It cannot be denied that it must have been difficult for Levy to allow his political benefactor Chiluba to be prosecuted.

Indeed it was Chiluba who almost single-handedly engineered Levy’s questionable adoption as the presidential candidate for the MMD and his equally questionable election as president of the Republic of Zambia in 2001.

But Levy did not allow this to stand in the way of the rule of law. His obligations to the people and to the country took precedence over his loyalty and gratitude to his anointer Chiluba.

It is correct to say that the fight against corruption under Levy had many challenges. It is easy to sit in a cynic’s armchair and dismiss it as flawed.

But today, we have, as a nation, the opportunity to compare what Levy tried to do and what Rupiah is doing. Everybody knows that corruption is a bad thing.

Even the corrupt themselves understand this. And that is why not even the most corrupt person will say good things about corruption, admit being corrupt.

Against this background, it is strange that we have a government today that seems to have adopted a policy of defending corruption and corrupt elements whilst taking every opportunity to punish those who try to stand for what is right.

Rupiah’s government shamelessly stands to proclaim how they have promulgated this or that law or how they have created a very good anti-corruption policy and yet these laws and the policy they have brought are more observed in their breach than in implementation.

An anti-corruption policy that is a mere slogan designed to hoodwink gullible donors – assuming there are any who cannot see through this charade – is not worth the paper it is written on.

Rupiah has humiliated the Anti Corruption Commission. We doubt that honest officers of that institution can stand up and say they are convinced that they are doing the right thing consistently.

It is now a well-known fact that cases with political overtones or connections can never be allowed to be handled professionally.

If it is somebody who is favourable to Rupiah, they must be allowed to go scot-free regardless of what they have done.

On the other hand, if a person perceived to be anti-Rupiah, however that is defined, is accused of even the slightest infraction, then you see the Anti Corruption Commission boss loudly promising to investigate the matter.

The inconsistencies of the Anti Corruption Commission are a source of danger to our country.

It is probably this that makes people like Mulafulafu question the appointment of Zambia to the board of the African Union Anti Corruption Bureau.

Anyway, Rupiah and those that surround him should not think that they can continue to abuse the law in this way and get away with it.

Corruption is not a problem that they can afford to sit on and think that everything will be well for them.

We know it is said that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. But still, prudence demands that people stop and think about the consequences of their actions.

Shielding corrupt activities or adopting corruption as official government policy cannot be without consequences for those involved in it.

We again call upon Rupiah and his minions to reflect on what is happening in North Africa. The demonstrations that have led to the upheaval on that part of the world have all begun as a knee-jerk reaction to pervasive corruption.

People have got to a point where, as somebody has put it, they have now refused to accept these decadent autocratic regimes ruled by men who loot their countries.

People will not accept a situation where the man at the top bears dynastic ambitions for his family, uses his incredible access to the treasury of the land and other public resources to disadvantage the majority and expose their people to a level of cruelty and brutality that is unacceptable.

This is the complaint of the people in Egypt.

This is also the complaint of the people in Tunisia. We have to accept that this is also a complaint of the people in Zambia.

Unless corruption is reined in, we should not cheat ourselves; we are sitting on a time bomb.

It is only a matter of time before our people explode and demand justice.

Rupiah cannot continue to callously defend what is wrong.

Labels: RUPIAH BANDA, SAM MULAFULAFU

posted by MrK @ 4:26 AM