(LUSAKATIMES) Re-introduction of INDECO is long overdue – Chitala
Time Posted: January 4, 2014 9:37 pm
Political activist Mbita Chitala has observed the reintroduction of the Industrial Development Corporation (INDECO) in the country by government is a long overdue venture.
Dr. Chitala says government’s idea to reintroduce a parastatal company such as INDECO to coordinate government enterprises is progressive as it will help mange companies that were left in abeyance and uncoordinated after the state privatized some of the public institutions.
Dr. Chitala has told Qfm in a telephone interview that INDECO will bring about the professionalization of management of government business the reason why people in the country should support government’s plan as it is progressive.
The Political activist says this is also why government should quickly and properly implement its idea of bringing back a new INDECO as it will also help the public sector to strive as much as the private sector is currently growing.
He says what government should however first do is to ensure that it comes up with a legal framework by taking a bill Parliament on which INDECO should be established.
Dr. Chitala says a good legal frame under INDECO should exist will further bring about good governance in its operations.
However Lusaka business man Maurice Sokoni has said that plans by the Patriotic Front (PF) government to re-establish the UNIP parastatal, the Industrial Development Company-INDECO will not economically benefit Zambians.
Sokoni said that the move to re-introduce INDECO is aimed at taking the country back to the Kaunda era of authoritarian control of socialist economies.
Sokoni told the Daily Nation that pronouncements made by President Michael Sata in his New Year address to the nation that it will help create jobs is far from the truth.
Sokoni said that the government wants to destroy everything that Zambia had built in the past 20 years by re-establishing INDECO.
He said re-introducing INDECO was the same as re-introducing inefficiency in the private sector.
Sokoni said the plans would only promote patronage adding that it would kill individual initiative which private companies have enjoyed in the past 20 years.
Sokoni further said the plan should be condemned by all well-meaning Zambians who understood how INDECO failed during the Kaunda reign.
He said it was unfortunate and surprising that some economists were supporting the government’s plans of the re-establishment of INDECO.
Labels: CAROLINE SOKONI, INDECO, MBITA CHITALA
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Government to decentralise Commission of Investigations
By Fridah Nkonde in Ndola
Sun 19 Feb. 2012, 11:59 CAT
COMMISSION of Investigations Investigator-General Caroline Sokoni says the number of complaints received from the Copperbelt against public institutions has reduced over the last three years. And Sokoni says the government will decentralise the Commission in all provinces and districts in the country within the next two years to increase its accessibility.
During a meeting with heads of departments at the end of the commission's sitting in Ndola on Friday, Sokoni said the commission would also be restructured and upgraded so that the case resolution rate is improved countrywide.
Sokoni said during their sitting in Ndola, the commission had dealt with 48 complaints, adding that 15 cases had since been concluded, five transferred to relevant offices while 28 cases were still pending.
"The commission will embark on a sensitization exercise to inform people about its existence because few people know that they have a body to complain to if they are not happy with the services they are receiving from a particular public company. Copperbelt could have recorded a reduction in the number of complaints because there is minimal maladministration in the province," she said.
Sokoni said they received more complaints from the civil servants than members of the public because they had little or no knowledge about the commission.
She said most complaints were related to non-payment of retirement packages, salaries and overtime, which she related to some officers not knowing their entitlements.
"My advice to you heads of departments is to find means and ways to pay workers monies that is owed to them so that it does not accumulate. It is important that public service workers are appraised annually which would help district and provincial offices to identify and monitor the progress of their officers for purposes of promotions and retirements," she said.
Sokoni said the existence of the commission was to investigate acts of maladministration and abuse of office in public institutions constituted under article 90 of the Zambian Constitution, except for the office of the President and the Judiciary.
"Government will make the decentralisation of the Commission to all provinces and districts a priority within the next two years. The case resolution rate is being addressed through the restructuring of the commission later this year and the computerisation of the case management system," said Sokoni.
Labels: CAROLINE SOKONI, DECENTRALIZATION, INVESTIGATOR GENERAL
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Investigator General
By Editor
Friday June 13, 2008 [04:00]
The revelation by Investigator General Caroline Sokoni that her office has difficulties conducting investigations because it only has two investigators is a serious one. For a long time now, the Office of the Investigator General or the Commission of Investigations can be said to have been inactive because very little is heard about its activities and achievements and yet this is a very important institution in a country like Zambia that has waged a war against corruption.
It is difficult to understand that the government passionately wants to fight corruption in the country but at the same time has neglected the office of the Investigator General or Ombudsman in other words.
The main function of this office is to oversee the government administration and to check the abuses of power by those running public offices. The commission is part of the government machinery to deal with administrative abuse. This is a very serious task. No wonder only those who qualify to be appointed as High Court judges are appointed to serve as Investigator General.
Until the early 1970s, Zambia did not have the office of the Ombudsman or Investigator General. In 1972 when cases of corruption and abuse of power were becoming more rampant, Dr Kenneth Kaunda expressed a wish and desire to set up an institution like that of Ombudsman to fight these vices.
This was at the time that he appointed the Chona Commission of Inquiry to review the Constitution. After the Chona Commission finished its work, the government accepted its report to establish the office of the Ombudsman in Zambia. This office, among other things, was mandated to supervise the work of the executive by checking on its maladministration.
Clearly, this is a very important office which the government seems to casualise, going by Sokoni’s revelations. In her presentation before the National Constitutional Conference public service committee this week, Sokoni said her office receives hundreds of complaints every month or one million complaints per year and yet it only has two investigators countrywide. She also complained of lack of funding, among other issues.
How can the government claim to be serious about fighting corruption or abuse of power in the public service when the very institution that is supposed to play a key role in the fight is neglected?
With this gloomy picture painted by Sokoni, one is not inspired to have any confidence in her office because its existence appears only to be on paper. As things stand today, maybe only Sokoni and President Mwanawasa are the only ones who know the success rate of her office.
Serious attention needs to be paid to the existence of this office. First, there is need to properly fund this office and ensure that it has all the skilled manpower it requires; not those men and women they bake in a desperate bid to reduce the heavy work load.
When this is done, there will be need to look at giving the office of the Investigator General the autonomy that it so much requires. Today, the Anti-Corruption Commission and Drug Enforcement Commission seem to be doing a lot of work largely because of the autonomous status that they enjoy. But even with this autonomy, we still hear of some form of external political interference from time to time.
Currently, the Investigator General reports directly to the appointing authority, the President. This arrangement leaves much to be desired because, like Sokoni rightly observed, the President is too busy to look at one million complaints every year and take action against erring institutions. There is no doubt that the office of Investigator General will be more effective if it is made to report to Parliament because this will also promote transparency in their work as they will know that their work will be for public consumption.
As the situation stands, it is very easy for the President not to act on some complaints because this arrangement makes him the Alpha and Omega. He appoints the Investigator General who receives and investigates complaints and later prepares reports for his action. If he decides not to act, that’s the end.
And because all this work is done in camera, the public will not be aware of it. So far, we don’t know how many cases have been acted on and how many have died a natural death. One cannot be wrong to conclude that this state of affairs puts the office of the Investigator General in the pocket of the party in power.
This has to change. This office is too important to be run the way it is at the moment. The whole country has only one office in Lusaka. There is no presence of the Investigator General in the remaining eight provinces of the country and yet there are public offices in all these provinces. How can two investigators cover the whole country with numerous complaints on a daily basis?
Without doubt, there is a lot of abuse and maladministration going on in our public offices considering the fact that the office of the Investigator General receives one million complaints on average per annum. If this office is properly supported and funded, it will do a lot to promote transparency and accountability in the management of public affairs. There is every need to build institutional capacity of the office of the Investigator General if its well-intended objectives are to be realised.
Labels: CAROLINE SOKONI, INVESTIGATOR GENERAL
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