Maravi

Corrupt oil deals

Corrupt oil deals
By The Post
Wed 11 Apr. 2012, 13:30 CAT

WYNTER Kabimba, the chairman of the commission of inquiry into the Energy Regulation Board and oil procurement, yesterday disclosed that the government lost K2 trillion through corruption in the oil procurement process between 2007 and 2011. This is alarming! It is frightening! Imagine how many schools could have been built from this money! Imagine how many clinics could have been built from this amount of money! Imagine how many lives could have been saved by our doctors with this amount of money! Imagine how our road network would have been improved with this amount of money! Imagine how better equipped our police and other law enforcement agencies would have been with this type of money! The list is endless.

There are a lot of things we could have done with this amount of money. But greedy people, very selfish people misappropriated this money, stole this money.

Wynter says officers in the Ministry of Energy and Water Development, the Zambia Public Procurement Authority and the Energy Regulation Board were involved in this corruption. Wynter further revealed that some of the companies that were involved in this corruption have this year put in bids to supply the country with oil.

This is how callous they have become. Probably they think that everyone has a price and the new administrators of this country will also be put in their pockets. Probably they are also encouraged by the fact that the same people they were dealing with in the Ministry of Energy, at the Zambia Public Procurement Authority and the Energy Regulation Board are still there - they have not been moved, they have not been fired, they have not been arrested and are not being prosecuted.

So all is well and as it was before. Of course, a few people have changed - there is a new minister and a new permanent secretary. But the rest has remained much the same. And if things remain the same, more trillions of kwacha will continue to be lost in all procurement contracts.

These corrupt practices, as revealed by Wynter, have been going on for a long time - for over five years. But no one has been arrested. No one has been prosecuted. No one has been convicted and sent to jail. Why?

There is need for action - urgent action for that matter - on this front. The country cannot continue to lose such gigantic sums of money and hope to develop and be able to supply our people with the necessary services required in an organised community.

If the country continues to lose money in this way, Michael Sata's government will not be able to deliver on its promises to our people. This money is needed by government. And all those who were involved in this corruption, regardless of their social status, need to be brought to book, need to be made to account and give back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar.

And we agree with the observations made by Reuben Lifuka, president of Transparency International Zambia, that this government's fight against corruption will become a mockery if they went ahead to consider bids for the supply and delivery of oil products from companies associated with unethical business practices.

We cannot continue to give business to companies that are making this country lose such huge amounts of money through corruption. And moreover, as Michael used to repeatedly point out, Zambians are paying high fuel prices because of corruption. If corruption is stopped in the supply of oil, our fuel prices will certainly go down. And with it the prices of many things will reduce, improving the lives of our people, especially the poor, in so many ways.

This is where the biggest money is being stolen. And this is where the biggest fight against corruption should be initiated. The benefits have been gigantic to those involved in oil procurement corruption. So they will defend these huge benefits with everything they have. They will attempt to buy some weak souls so that they can continue to steal from the Zambian people.

It is clear that Michael wants this corruption to stop. But there is a limit to what this brother can directly do. He needs our help - the co-operation of every Zambian of goodwill - to fight this corruption. There is need for more action from Transparency International. We want them to continue talking. But they should combine their talk with action.

Michael has brought the fight against corruption in the open and is providing the opportunity for every Zambian of good will to join this fight. Let's not give excuses for failing to enlist in this crusade against corruption. Michael once remarked that "Lesa tapela kuminwe, apalamika fye". The fight against corruption has been brought to our door steps. Let's join it and fight without respite.

Of course, in every fight, leadership at all levels is needed. Michael is providing leadership at the political level. The Anti Corruption Commission and other law enforcement agencies need to provide efficient, effective and orderly leadership to the nation at the operational level.

The entire judicial process needs to be mobilised for this very important undertaking. If personnel need to be changed, let's change them. If money needs to be spent, let's spend it because any amount of money spent on fighting corruption will always be money well spent.

Corruption and other evils have to be fought regardless of the present case. It may appear that more money is being spent to fight corruption today than what is being recovered. The cost of fighting corruption cannot be measured in this way. This is so because today's expenditure on fighting corruption is not only about recovering what was stolen yesterday; it will have an impact, a positive bearing on tomorrow's corruption.

If we fight corruption well today and win, the benefits tomorrow will far outweigh whatever costs we may incur today because the benefits of living in an honest, transparent, just, fair and corruption free society endure for a very long time. Fight corruption today to save tomorrow's public funds!

Labels: CORRUPTION, MMD, OIL, PROCUREMENT SYSTEMS, REUBEN LIFUKA

posted by MrK @ 3:11 PM