Maravi

Who of our MPs support corruption?

Who of our MPs support corruption?
By The Post
Fri 09 Mar. 2012, 12:00 CAT

ELECTION campaign promises need to be honoured. Not honouring election campaign promises is tantamount to obtaining one's entry into public office by false pretences. However, unlike in obtaining goods by false pretences, there is no law that forces one to honour election campaign promises. Honouring election campaign promises is simply a matter of honour and integrity.

It is therefore always pleasing to see politicians honour their election campaign promises. Michael Sata and the PF promised to bring back the offence of abuse of office in their election campaigns. This is a move that may help increase their standing in the eyes of the Zambian people.

Of course, they still have many challenges with other election promises they had made. For instance, they seem to have difficulties to honour their election campaign promise to restore the Barotse Agreement of 1964.

Of course, not every election campaign promise is fulfilled. But when there is a departure from, when there is inability to deliver election campaign promises, the electorate should be informed and explanations should be made. Circumstances change, many things change every day, sometimes making it impossible for one to do as he had wished the previous day.

The bringing back of the offence of abuse of office will help Michael and his government a lot in the fight against corruption. It will also protect the members of this government from temptations of corruption that emanate from the powers vested in the many offices of government.

It is very easy to abuse power if there are no restrictions on its exercise. The abuse of office offence in our Anti Corruption Commission Act protects office holders from getting carried away with powers vested in the offices they hold.

This law will also help to serve as a reminder to those who hold public office that they are simply servants or stewards entrusted to offer humble service to others as opposed to owning the public resources they are managing.

Every asset, every kwacha that is owned by the government belongs to the people and not to the government office bearers. Those who hold public offices are further reminded that they are accountable to the people who own the resources of government, the ultimate employers of all those who earn a salary from holding public office.

With this law back, it will be much easier to catch those who try to cheat or rape the nation. This law will help us not to allow the desire to serve oneself to bloom once again under the fair mask of the desire to serve the common good.

Our people are poor today not because their country has no resources, but simply because those they have from time to time entrusted with the management of their affairs have not acted with sufficient honour and integrity, they have mismanaged, misused, misapplied, misappropriated public resources.

To move this country forward, and to lift the great majority of our people out of poverty, will require prudent and honest utilisation of our country's resources. Yes, we don't have much, we are a poor country.

But if the little that we have is managed efficiently, effectively and in an orderly manner, the problems of our people will lessen and more and more of our people will be able to meet their daily basic needs necessary for a decent human life, fundamental needs will increasingly become satisfied and each individual will have adequate resources to survive, to develop and thrive.

This law gives the government a greater possibility of ensuring that money meant for the provision of the necessary services to our people will be efficiently utilised. Money meant for hospitals and medicines will not be stolen the way it was being stolen under the previous regime.

More and better quality schools will be built from the money so allocated because it will not end up in private pockets the way it was ending up under the previous regime. With limited possibility for abuse of office, even our road infrastructure will improve. And with these improvements, more jobs will be created. And with more jobs created, there will be more money in the pockets of our people in line with the PF election campaign promises.

We therefore urge the MMD and their opposition allies, the UPND, to subordinate their immediate political expediencies to the interests of the nation and of the great majority of our people and support this Bill that the PF government has tabled before Parliament.

Moreover, not very long ago, the UPND opposed the removal of the offence of abuse of office from our Anti Corruption Commission Act. This was a principled position that they need to maintain. And principles should never be traded on the altar of political expedience.

Political expedience will require them to oppose this Bill if the MMD opposes it. A principled position will require them to oppose their political allies on this issue. For the great majority of the MMD members of parliament, the removal of the abuse of office offence from our Anti Corruption Commission Act was foisted on them by a crooked, corrupt and ruthless clique of Rupiah Banda and George Kunda that had come to dominate their party and had to get its way at all times.

They have more freedom now to think and act freely. There is no good reason for them today to oppose the re-introduction of that law that should have never been removed from our laws in the first place. Even for George himself, it will be prudent to change his position and not oppose the re-introduction of this law.

We all now know very well why George and his friends had removed this law in the first place. It was to protect themselves from being made accountable for the rampant abuses of the public offices they were occupying. They will not be able to achieve this and the only sensible thing left for them is to do something that will win them some public respect.

Protecting corruption and abuses will not win them any public support or sympathy - they will instead just be isolating themselves further from the masses of our people.

We therefore expect no opposition to this Bill from all the representatives of our people.

And it will be very interesting to see where each one of our representatives in that House stands on this issue, and which of our members of parliament support corruption.

Labels: CORRUPTION, MICHAEL SATA, MPs

posted by MrK @ 4:44 PM