Maravi

There'll be no sacred cow in prosecution of political corruption, warns DPP

There'll be no sacred cow in prosecution of political corruption, warns DPP
By Kombe Chimpinde
Fri 13 Apr. 2012, 13:29 CAT

DIRECTOR of Public Prosecutions Mutembo Nchito has warned that there will be no sacred cow in the prosecution of political corruption even among present leaders.

During a conference in Lusaka for the ruling Patriotic Front and civil society organisations to discuss democracy and good governance organised by Hebert Stiftung Foundation, Nchito said political corruption must be dealt with in its entirety or the current efforts to fight the vice will not yield positive results.

"…As I speak, I am sounding out a warning not to people who have left government, but today we have ministers coming out of the present government and those should know that it is corruption to go and collect money and put it in their pocket in the name of funding politics," he warned.

Nchito said one of the areas that needed to be addressed was the question of political corruption which had become a challenge.

"We have to deal with the question of political corruption head on. We have to address it squarely or else our efforts to fighting corruption will amount to nothing. And talking about political corruption, we have to deal with the funding of the system that promises to deliver the development we are looking for, the politics of our country," he said.

Nchito said the rule of law could not be delivered without politics.

"We can't deliver the rule of law without politics…So the politics of a country are very important and we need to think about how we can clean our politics," Nchito said.

He said there were a number of things that were needed to improve the economic development of the country, among them the rule of law and respect for it.

"What that means is that the rule by which we govern ourselves and settle our disputes must be clearly understood and clearly laid down and respected by all, whether we are in government or outside government," said Nchito.

"One of the key roadblocks against achieving benchmarks for development is corruption. The rule of law is undermined because of corruption. Today we have a crisis in our rule of law because many of our people do not believe that we can rely on institutions of justice to determine our disputes and on the other hand, it is not uncommon for our people to believe that the government of the day uses its power, authority to unduly interfere with institutions of justice, and therefore deny its people to justice. These are real problems."

Labels: CORRUPTION, DPP, MUTEMBO NCHITO

posted by MrK @ 3:29 PM