Maravi

PF government using corruption fight to gain sympathy - Chanda

COMMENT - I think the MMD has to shut up for a couple of years, and re-examine it's own philosophical underpinnings. It is no longer good enough to just repeat whatever the IMF and World Bank say. The country already has another neoliberal pro-transnational corporate party in the UPND. Their only difference is their geographic base.

PF government using corruption fight to gain sympathy - Chanda
By Moses Kuwema
Wed 04 Jan. 2012, 13:50 CAT

MMD losing parliamentary candidate for Kanchibiya Constituency Sunday Chanda says the government is using the fight against corruption to gain public sympathy and cover up for its inadequacies.

In a statement, Chanda said the corruption fight under the PF was nothing but a strategy which is politically calculated at winning the PF a second term of office as well as distracting the general public from the key issues that affect them on a day-to-day basis.

"Now, using the fight against corruption to gain public sympathy and cover up for inadequacies of the current regime will not work because this is an out-of-fashion strategy," Chanda said.

He warned that the fight against corruption under the PF government was likely to fail because the current administration had failed to learn anything from late president Levy Mwanawasa's crusade.

Chanda said the nation had been treated to 95 days of hearing about 'corrupt people' in the media when very little was being done about taking the cases to court.

"The PF government and law enforcement agencies understandably wish to bank on the people's patience in this endeavour due to what seems to be the complicated nature of the cases they have to encounter in getting to the bottom of all the allegations," Chanda said.

Chanda said the fight against corruption was being fought for political expedience and conceived on the misunderstanding that 'one-size-fits-all' and that by doing the same things over and over again, the PF government expected to get different results.

He said the PF's fight against corruption was not about institutions but individuals.

Chanda said only political will anchored on strong institutions could yield good results.

He said only good institutions and not 'good people' could embark on a sustained fight against corruption.

"This is about the separation of powers and less of the Executive being the whistle-blower, accuser and the judge at the same time. The present fight against corruption is full of experiments, simple trial and error. This calls for a comprehensive strategy which will among other things subject leaders in the PF government to account to the nation and institutions how they acquired the wealth they did before assuming office," he said.

Chanda said President Michael Sata should not set up commissions of inquiry to deal with former government leaders only but also those in the current administration.

"Let us have a comprehensive strategy that deals with this cancer holistically. It should be more broad-based and deal with both the past and the present to ensure that cases of corruption do not re-emerge," he said.

Labels: CORRUPTION, MMD, PF

posted by MrK @ 5:31 PM