TIZ praises Sata
By Roy Habaalu
Tue 17 Dec. 2013, 14:01 CAT
TRANSPARENCY International Zambia has praised President Michael Sata saying the head of state has shown that he has no selective justice and that he can act against members of the Patriotic Front.
President Sata yesterday during a caucus meeting with Cabinet ministers and Patriotic Front members of parliament at State House dropped Ronald Chitotela and Rogers Mwewa after Auditor General Anna Chifungula cited them in the irregular purchase of "written-off vehicles" as ambulances for their respective constituencies.
Meanwhile, Efron Lungu, who was fired as foreign affairs minister several months ago, took time to give tips to Chitotela on how to deal with a dismissal.
Commenting on the dismissal of the two, TIZ president Lee Habasonda said the decision sent a strong signal to all public officers that abuse and demeaning of executive offices such as that of the Auditor General was unacceptable.
He said the dropping of Chitotela and Mwewa as deputy ministers of labour and agriculture respectively shows that President Sata will not shield the corrupt.
"We called upon His Excellency the President to do the right thing and he's done it; we hope other MPs (members of parliament) occupying public offices will take a leaf from this, that there is no sacred cow in the fight against corruption. Many people have believed that there is selective justice but the President has shown that he can act against his own members of the party," Habasonda said.
Habasonda said President Sata's decision renewed the vigour in the fight against corruption.
"It's really sad that within two years of being in office, people who are supposed to be leading in the fight against corruption are in the forefront engaging in corruption. It was too early to do these kinds of things. President Sata must re-look at his team because he has some people many of whom don't share his vision to fight corruption. He must adjust his team because he has people that don't understand the fight against corruption," he said.
African Parliamentarian Network Against Corruption Zambia chapter chairperson Cornelius Mweetwa said the dismissal of the duo would give them an opportunity to clear themselves.
"As APNAC chairperson, this gives my colleagues an opportunity to clear their names without operating as though they were using their positions to influence investigations. This will make investigations clear and fair for my two colleagues," he said.
Mweetwa said comments by Chitotela and Mwewa cast aspersions of incompetence on the office of the Auditor General.
"The attacks on the Auditor General were not only out of order in terms of parliamentary etiquette but unacceptable in the fight against corruption. They used unparliamentary language and went ahead questioning the levels of stupidity of the Auditor General, who is an appointee of the President," said Mweetwa.
President Sata said he would not shield anyone involved in corruption.
"I have dropped comrades (Ronald) Chitotela and (Rodgers) Mwewa because anybody who is practicing corruption means that we are not in the same direction; so until they clear themselves, they are no longer my deputy ministers," President Sata said, and Chitotela was seen shaking and shedding tears.
Later, Chitotela said he had no comment other than praising President Sata for giving him an opportunity to serve Zambians as labour deputy minister.
He pledged to remain loyal to President Sata and the Patriotic Front, adding that the head of state would continue to inspire him as his 'political idol' and also to the PF.
He said he had trust in the law enforcement agencies that they would clear his name but stated that it was not time for him to show how innocent he was.
Asked about PF cadres who on Friday demonstrated in solidarity with him, Chitotela appealed to the cadres to respect President Sata's decision to drop him.
"That is not a right course to take for the cadres to take to the streets. Let them keep calm. I appreciate their support for me and President Sata and they should continue, but it's not time to fight," Chitotela, who now sounded relaxed, said.
And Mwewa thanked President Sata for appointing him deputy minister.
"I would like to thank His Excellency the President for showing confidence in me by appointing me deputy minister. I learnt a lot and I remain loyal to him and the party," Mwewa said.
Meanwhile, President Sata urged members of parliament to speak on behalf of the people in Parliament.
He said some members of parliament would return to Parliament in 2016.
"…and what you must bear in mind is that 2016 is not very far away. Me I have reached the top but you, some of you will be one-term MPs. Go back to the people, go and tell them what the government is doing. If you can't go back to the people, speak in Parliament and you've the media and if you don't speak, the media won't follow you. That's why I called you here," President Sata said.
And in apparent reference to Kabwata member of parliament Given Lubinda, President Sata said he was not working in his constituency.
"There is an MP in my constituency who has not gone even to Lilayi. Don't worry, some of you I'll come for you. You Given, go to Kamulanga and see the people," President Sata said.
During a question and answer session mostly from members of parliament, President Sata ordered justice minister Wynter Kabimba and his defence counterpart Geoffrey Mwamba to go and campaign in Vubwi together.
"Where is the rivalry because the two are looking at each other? Go back and dispel rumours of divisions in constituencies; both are ministers and the party is intact," responded President Sata to Kaputa member of parliament Maxus Ngonga, who wanted to know if there were camps in the party.
Chungu Bwalya (Lupososhi member of parliament): Your Excellency, you've the key to stop these demonstrations in the party.
President Sata: "Where there are demonstrations, it means the party is alive. If you are not telling people what you're doing, they will demonstrate. Demonstrations are an eye-opener. Even Dr (Joseph) Katema needs to be demonstrated against because there are no welfare schools. People will demonstrate against what you've not done."
Edgar Lungu (home affairs minister): "Sir, I would like to assure you that there will be no more use of pangas (machetes)."
Esther Banda: Those being suspended…
President Sata interjects: "If your colleague demonstrates against you, I'll suspend her. If you find something wrong against your friend, you must complain to me; that's why I suspended Elizabeth Phiri."
After the caucus, Efron Lungu joined other deputy ministers in encouraging Chitotela to be strong following his dismissal.
Lungu held Chitotela's hand and pulled him aside, where he tipped him on how to deal with his dismissal.
"Be strong, you will clear yourself soon... Let me tell you what to do when something like this happens; you know, people expect you to be annoyed and say many things, but just be humble. Don't even switch off your phone; answer it and say that you have no comment," he said as reporters approached the duo to solicit a comment.
"No, don't answer them," Lungu advised Chitotela. "They will misunderstand you."
At this point Chitotela looked down and told the reporters that he did not want to say anything about his dismissal.
Labels: ANNA CHIFUNGULA, MICHAEL SATA, ROGERS MWEWA, RONALD CHITOTELA, TIZ
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TIZ urges govt to revise NGO Act
By Moses Kuwema
Sat 19 Oct. 2013, 14:01 CAT
TRANSPARENCY International Zambia has called on the government to cancel the registration of NGOs and concentrate on revising the 2009 NGO Act.
In a statement, TIZ executive director Goodwell Lungu said that his organisation would not register under the Non Governmental Organisation (NGO) Act of 2009.
"In this vein, we call upon the Ministry of Community Development to completely cancel the ongoing registration of NGOs in Zambia. We wish to advise the PF government that the rate at which it's moving to implement the NGO Act has the potential to dent Zambia's reputation internationally, especially that the Patriotic Front in their manifesto promised to review the NGO Act, noting that it was a bad law. On page 49 of the PF manifesto, the Party clearly states that they would review the NGO Act to, among other things, enhance the role of the civil society. On this page, it not stated that the PF will first register NGOs which is contrary to the practice they have u-turned and adopted," Lungu stated.
Lungu described as false and malicious the "wrong assertions" being peddled that the NGOs were refusing to registerfor fear of being scrutinised and accountable.
He stated that this misconception needed to be dismissed with the contempt that it deserved.
"If the same PF government in their manifesto rightly pointed out the inadequacies of the NGO Act and confirmed that it needs to be revised, this is clear evidence that there is something wrong with the Act and the PF rightly condemned this Act and have just made a U-turn now that they are in power," he stated.
Lungu cautioned the Minister of Community Development to desist from projecting a picture that NGOs had not been engaging in dialogue with his office over the matter.
He stated that several meetings had been held, including an NGO
congress at which it was resolved that an NGO Board would not be put in place but rather focus on reviewing/repealing the said Act.
"All our efforts seem to be falling on deaf ears. As far as we are concerned, the NGO Act in its current form is in violation of fundamental civil and political rights to freedom of association and expression, including the right to receive and impart information, as provided in Articles 20 and 21 of the Republican Constitution, and international legal instruments to which Zambia has been ratified. We want to assure Zambians that even at the moment, NGOs are very accountable under existing laws and are required to submit annual accounts to Government, which TIZ is fully complying with," stated Lungu.
Labels: GOODWELL LUNGU, NGOs, TIZ
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'Outsiders fuelling trouble in PF'
By Francis Lungu and Stuart Lisulo
Mon 07 Oct. 2013, 14:01 CAT
INFORMATION and broadcasting services minister Mwansa Kapeya says the confusion and infighting in the PF is being fuelled by enemies of the party. And Transparency International Zambia (TIZ) president Lee Habasonda says there is need for discipline in PF.
Kapeya said on Saturday that the PF was under siege from the enemies of the party but that the political misunderstandings would soon end.
He said the continued confusion in the ruling party was not sensible and that it had the capacity to derail the government's development agenda because it was very difficult to progress in the absence of peace.
"Our competitors and enemies are the ones fuelling this confusion. Outside forces are at play. Mind you, without peace, there is total destruction. Peace and unity are key to meaningful development. It is important for sensible people to live in harmony. What is happening in the PF is so unfortunate, but we will soon come out of this," said Kapeya, who did not categorically name the enemies of the party and the outside forces.
Kapeya said the tribal sentiments being attributed to some top political leaders in both opposition and the ruling party should be condemned because tribalism was the enemy of peace and unity.
"I condemn the agitation for tribalism. No political leader can rule this country on tribal lines. One must command support from all the 10 provinces. Without our togetherness as a country, we cannot do much," he said.
However, Kapeya said there was no single political grouping in Zambia that had no problems, citing opposition MMD and UPND as parties that had their own share of leadership problems.
He said the most important thing was knowing how to resolve conflicts.
"Mind you, even in a home, there are misunderstandings but people should learn to come to terms and move on," said Kapeya.
And Habasonda He said it was strange to see junior officers attacking senior people.
"It is quite strange that you find a senior minister being answered by a junior officer, and I think Mr Sata owes it to the Zambian people to ensure there is the necessary discipline within the party, whereby seniority matters,'' said.
"We don't want PF as our ruling party to be remembered for infighting. We think that if you have to follow principles of democratic governance, transparency and accountability, they could handle the internal conflict within their structures, rather than what we see whereby junior officials in the party are able to argue and respond to senior officials in the party."
Habasonda appealed to President Michael Sata to ensure he creates order in the PF and ensure that the internal wrangles were contained and did not spill to the larger population.
After two years, Zambians did not expect the high mark of the PF to be internal wrangles. Clearly, we think that the President must bring to a stop the internal wrangles that are going on in the country because they make the work of everybody very difficult in the sense that with the suspicions going on in the PF among themselves, you don't expect any transparency, you don't expect proper channels of accountability and, therefore, you don't expect a party that is riddled with conflicts within itself to serve the public that are so expectant, he said.
Recently, some junior party officials have been calling for the removal of secretary general Wynter Kabimba.
And Kabimba said information and broadcasting services permanent secretary Emmanuel Mwamba was prepared to destroy the public media in order to please his paymasters and their cronies.
But Mwamba said Kabimba should have written to his superiors and that he had officially complained of harassment.
In his letter to Mwamba obtained by The Post dated October 3, Kabimba, who is PF secretary general and justice minister, said he would not sit back and allow the destruction of the public media to continue unabated to the detriment of national development.
"I have a duty to protect the majority interest in this country against turncoats whose objective is to serve narrow personal interests of their paymasters. Your insidious activities since you assumed your new position come against the background when members of the public were beginning to show some confidence in the renewed professionalism of the public media under the PF government. This trend is now gradually going in reverse again," read Kabimba's letter to Mwamba.
Kabimba explained that about two weeks ago, he phoned Mwamba to express his concern about one of his pronouncements as was reported in the print media, regarding what Mwamba referred to as the practice by some ministers being accompanied by preferred reporters while on government duty outside Lusaka.
He explained that he advised Mwamba to remain professional in his execution of responsibilities as information permanent secretary.
But Mwamba said Kabimba had been threatening media heads including himself with unspecified action.
And commenting on government's fight against corruption after two years in office, Habasonda said it had been a 'chequered' fight.
"There have been some high and low points in the fight against corruption. Some high points in that we have seen some convictions have been done, but also some cases have been lost. But more saddening is that the President's decree that ministers of government under investigations from ACC must first be cleared with him did go a long way to undermine PF's commitment towards corruption,'' Habasonda said.
He, however, said that TIZ was 'happy' with the renewed energy to pump more money in the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).
"If one had to look at the record of the PF, it is a mixed record and we believe PF can still do better in the fight against corruption because one of the things that I think has been seen over the last two years is that many people feel that the fight against corruption has been targeted a little more on political opponents rather than those who actually are within the PF,'' Habasonda said.
And Habasonda called for 'holistic' judicial reforms.
"We believe that the piecemeal reforms, the tribunals that are being done, are just components that lead towards a reformed judiciary. TIZ would love to see a holistic overhaul and approach to the reforms in the Judiciary not only involving judges, magistrates and everybody else so that we have a strategy on which there is a reference point to handle these matters rather than where we only have specific instances. In the spirit of transparency, reforms must be based on broad principles rather than based on individuals," Habasonda said.
He said TIZ was worried with developments concerning the legality of acting Chief Justice Lombe Chibesakunda's position as Chief Justice.
"Government must not get into a fight with other stakeholders; they need to redress this matter, do the right thing and put the question of the Chief Justice to rest because she is the custodian of our justice in the country. It is high time the Ministry of Justice, in fact, the President needs to sit down and dialogue with all involved stakeholders and ensure that there is a movement forward regarding the Chief Justice," Habasonda said.
Habasonda further said there was need to reach consensus on whether the Chief Justice stays or leaves office in order to protect the integrity of the Judiciary and give confidence to people to believe in the rule of law.
Labels: LEE HABASONDA, MMD, MWANSA KAPEYA, PF, TIZ
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Rich people shouldn't reduce politics to a commodity - TIZ
By Roy Habaalu
Wed 21 Aug. 2013, 14:00 CAT
TIZ president Lee Habasonda says rich people should not use their wealth to reduce politics to a commodity.
Commenting on Council of African Political Parties (CAPP) vice-president Eastern Region Redwan Hussein Rameto's statement that rich people in Ethiopia are not allowed to be members of the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front as a way of protecting the country's interest, Habasonda said the rich should ensure that politics responds to the needs of the poor.
"And their money should not be used to corrupt the people that are already poor and further create classes in society that ensure that political power does not alternate between the rich and the poor," he said.
Habasonda said if the rich were to participate in the discourse of their country, there was need for a restrictive code of conduct.
He said his organisation was of the view that political financing be monitored.
"So that those with money don't destabilise the normal political function in any society. By virtue of being rich they control politics and we should not allow politics to be captured by plutocrats. In Africa, we need the rich people to sanitise politics rather than debase them. Unfortunately for Africa, the gap between the rich and the poor is big and the poor easily surrender to the rich. This makes the population venal," he said.
Habasonda said as a result, wealth had a bad impact on African politics.
During an executive members meeting on Sunday, Rameto said the decision to bar rich people from being part of the ruling party was a preventive measure for members not to engage in corruption.
"It's possible to get out of poverty and assume renaissance and we still have to fight corruption. Never hesitate to chase out anyone who is found guilty of corruption. In Ethiopia, the first one to go behind bars was our former prime minister before our great leader Meles Zenawi. A month ago, we arrested customs authorities, including their director," said Rameto.
Labels: CORRUPTION, LEE HABASONDA, REDWAN HUSSEIN RAMETO, TIZ
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Corrupt politicians shouldn't stand
By Editor
Fri 26 July 2013, 14:00 CAT
THE proposal being put forward by Transparency International Zambia president Lee Habasonda not to allow any candidate who has been found to be corrupt to contest any election deserves the support of all.
Voting in the election of public officials is the most visible and common form of participation in modern democracies, and also the most fundamental. The ability to conduct free and fair elections is at the core of what it means to call a society democratic. And elections provide a peaceful and fair method by which the citizens of a democracy can select their leaders and have a meaningful role in determining their own destiny. Therefore, fraud or corruption should not be allowed, in any form, anywhere near our elections because it hinders our ability to freely choose our representatives.
It is not really important which candidate or political party wins or prevails in an election. The important thing is that the winners should be the best of us, in the moral, civic, political and integrity sense, regardless of their political affiliations. The future of our country and our people will depend on the integrity of the personalities we elect to our representative bodies.
Those who seek to win elections by fraudulent or corrupt means can never be able to provide the honest leadership we seek. And as Habasonda aptly puts it, "the danger is a corrupt election breeds leaders that corrupt society consequently undermining the whole idea of development and the social wellbeing of our people."
We have leaders who have been found wanting by our courts of law and have had their election nullified for fraud or corruption allowed to recontest the same seats they had been made to vacate.
We have political parties that don't see electoral fraud or corruption as a serious legal or moral issue. And as such, they have no problems fielding candidates who have been found to be corrupt or fraudulent in their politics and election campaigns. Is it because such political parties are themselves corrupt? Or is it because corruption is not an issue that troubles them in any way?
For instance, the UPND adopted Misheck Mutelo, a former MMD candidate who was found to be corrupt or fraudulent in his election campaigns, to be their candidate in the recent Lukulu West parliamentary by-elections. And they are now said to be seeking the candidature of Dora Siliya and Maxwell Mwale for Petauke Central and Malambo respectively. Dora and Maxwell had their election results nullified for engaging in electoral fraud or corruption as parliamentary candidates of the MMD. UPND sees completely nothing wrong with their conduct. Why?
It is not surprising because UPND also lost a seat in Mulobezi for similar reasons - election frauds or corruption. This is also a political party that is defending the corruption of Rupiah Banda and his league which not very long ago they used to expose and denounce. It is therefore not surprising that such things, such evils don't bother them. Corruption doesn't seem to be an issue for them.
It is clear that if the issue of election fraud or corruption is left totally to the political parties to decide, it will continue to be the order of the day and will eventually end up totally undermining public confidence in our electoral processes. We will continue to have election results that do not truly reflect the wishes of the people but of those who are most able to corrupt the electorate.
It is therefore important that we turn to the law to stop the corrupt and fraudsters from be our representatives. We cannot continue to rely on politicians who consistently refuse to see aught that is lofty, and fix their eyes with solemn intentness only on that which is vile and debasing. There is filth in our electoral processes, and it must be scrapped.
There are grave evils in our electoral processes and there is urgent necessity for the sternest war upon them. There should be relentless attack upon evil, corrupt politicians who win elections fraudulently or through bribery and other abuses.
Every politician who betrays public trust by engaging in electoral malpractices deserves no immunity or sympathy. Such a politician, when known through court processes, deserves no second chance. They should be disqualified from contesting any elections in this country for a very long time. There should be a resolute effort to hound every such politician out of the public position they have disgraced and stop them from seeking another chance of occupying the same public offices they have betrayed. There should be no rest in the endless war against electoral corruption. But, of course, that war must be conducted with sanity as well as with resolution.
We as voters should also take responsibility and ensure that those who engage in election fraud or corruption do not get our support and votes because bribery and other electoral irregularities are a violation of our rights as voters. We should use our votes for the good of Zambia, as opposed to the good of a particular political party or individual by voting for candidates who have proved themselves accountable to God and to the electorate. We should also vote only for those candidates who have demonstrated courage in defending truth and justice for all and who are completely honest in fulfilling public and private responsibilities.
Free, fair and constructive elections will become a reality in our homeland when our politicians and ourselves as voters take our responsibilities seriously. Let us use our votes in every election to make sure that the right person is elected; let's vote according to our consciences, in accordance with the highest human values without allowing ourselves to be swayed by bribery, corruption or fraud.
And the starting point in all this is not to vote for candidates who have been found to be corrupt and fraudulent in their election campaigns. If we do this as voters, the politicians will know we mean business and we detest electoral fraud and corruption and they will think twice before fielding candidates who are known or have been found to be corrupt or to be fraudsters when it comes to elections.
The courts, so far, have generally done very well in trying to uphold high electoral standards by nullifying elections where the winning candidates have engaged in corruption, fraud and other malpractices. They have demonstrated the spirit to near zero tolerance for corruption. It is up to us as voters to now give meaning and purpose to these judgments from our courts of law by not supporting, in any way, those who have been found to be wanting when they seek to be elected in the by-elections caused by their own corruption.
Labels: LEE HABASONDA, TIZ
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TIZ wants demonstration against Rupiah's immunity
By Ernest Chanda and Kombe Chimpinde
Thu 14 Feb. 2013, 14:30 CAT
RUPIAH Banda is running away from crimes he has committed by going to the Commonwealth through his proxies, says information minister Kennedy Sakeni. And Sakeni has maintained that former president Banda and his former press aide, Dickson Jere, had travelled to South Africa almost at the same time as UPND's Hakainde Hichilema and MMD's Nevers Mumba.
But Jere yesterday denied travelling with Banda. And Dr Ludwig Sondashi has described Banda as a lame duck who was failing to account for his misdeeds within Zambia. Meanwhile, Transparency International Zambia (TIZ) has asked Zambians to demonstrate in support of lifting Banda's immunity.
Sakeni said it was a fact that Banda was behind the press conference held in Rose Bank where a plea to the Commonwealth to suspend Zambia was made.
"I am wondering how this young man Dickson (Jere) is trying to call me to tell me no I was not there. Who said he was there? I said he went to South Africa together with Mr Rupiah Banda and my statement stands as it is," he said.
"The schedules of all their movement's remains as such and I have no apologies to make. In fact when you look at the Commonwealth itself, 50 per cent of the membership are represented in Zambia at diplomat level and are able to see that the issues our colleagues raised in South Africa were mostly falsities and hold no water."
But Jere dissassociated himself from the press conference saying he had not met Banda in person since last year August.
"I can tell you I am in school (Zambia Institute of Advanced Legal Education). You can ask my classmates. I never travelled with RB. Maybe it is mistaken identity and what I am just saying is the minister should have checked with me before claiming that I accompanied Mr Banda to South Africa," said Jere.
Meanwhile, the opposion leaders said brutalisation of the opposition by the PF had become the order of the day.
They submitted in the report that President Sata had embarked on an aggressive agenda to impose his vision of one party state.
They claimed President Sata was doing this by positioning his family and personal allies at the centre of the economy and rule of law.
They claimed that President Sata had failed to honour any of his promises made to Zambians, for which he was voted.
The coalition said the independence of the Judiciary had been eliminated, while officials in government like justice minister Wynter Kabimba escape accountability.
They further claimed President Sata's relatives and some private sector elites had captured the country's economy which were in their hands while engaging youths to harass and intimidate and attack the opposition.
"We bring this pattern of conduct to the attention of the secretary-general of the Commonwealth Secretariat for referral to the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG), as policies undertaken by the current Zambian government represent serious and persistent violations of the Harare Declaration and the Commonwealth values," it further read.
But Dr Sondashi described Banda as a lame duck who was failing to account for his misdeeds.
"He wants to escape what happened to (Fredrick) Chiluba but this should not worry the PF government. They should go ahead to have his immunity removed. He must be locked up."
"Even Nevers Mumba has got to be investigated for the alleged cases he committed in Canada, when he was ambassador," Dr Sondashi said.
"There is no good reason for running to the Commonwealth when people commit atrocities and corruption in their governance."
He said MMD was not best suited to talk about issues of violation of rights as they were engaged in serious looting of Zambia's resources.
"I don't agree that opposition parties that have been taken to court on the basis of their involvement in corruption-related activities are being harassed, especially not those that were under Rupiah Banda's government."
Dr Sondashi advised the opposition to seek proper channels of communication and dialogue with government.
He also cautioned Commonwealth to be cautious in the manner they handled the matter, so as not to derail government from bringing Banda and his allies to book.
"Although I agree that the PF is making some mistakes in their governance, this does not mean that we can raise an issue with the Commonwealth, at a time when we are dealing with Rupiah Banda's corruption cases, together with his family members and friends," said Dr Sondashi who is Forum for Democratic Alternative president.
Banda recently refused to appear before the Anti Corruption Commission to be interviewed on corruption matters.
TIZ executive director Goodwell Lungu said the nation would be doomed if people became complacent about the matter.
"It will be important for Zambians to consider mounting a demonstration to press for the removal of Mr Banda's immunity once information is made public on his alleged extent of plunder. TIZ also will consider mobilising citizens to demonstrate on this noble cause to press our members of parliament to lift Mr Banda's immunity," Lungu said in a statement yesterday.
Lungu said holding politicians accountable was one of the sure ways of instilling a sense of responsibility in especially elected leaders to serve the people and not to serve private, selfish and criminal interests.
He said Banda's immunity should be lifted in the forthcoming session of the National Assembly.
"We believe that in this way, Mr Banda's lawyers will be more than happy to take their client for questioning on allegations of corruption and criminality."
Lungu stated that TIZ and other stakeholders consistently advised the Banda regime to be more accountable over public funds and resources.
TIZ condemned all those in the habit of sympathising with people that had abused public resources when they were being probed.
"We want to state clearly that stealing from poor Zambians should not attract any sympathy and all gymnastics and antics meant to divert public attention from noble and legal avenues should not be paid attention to. It is a pity that the Rupiah Banda regime paid a deafening silence to TIZ's consistent warnings to avoid plundering public resources as the serious allegations of corruption and criminality against Mr Rupiah Banda do not come as a surprise," he stated.
"Further, it is not a bad precedent to lift a former head of state's immunity to face prosecution if indeed he was involved in stealing from the same people that he was expected to serve. It will always be TIZ's conviction that men and women who elect to become heads of state in Zambia should always be above board and not assume such offices with criminal intentions."
He stated TIZ would consider all available options to ensure that members of parliament do not fail Zambians if availed an opportunity to consider lifting Banda's immunity once a prima facie case is presented to them.
And Lubansenshi independent member of parliament Patrick Mucheleka said he would vote for the motion to lift Banda's immunity if it is brought before the National Assembly.
In an interview, Mucheleka said the issue of National Assembly lifting the presidential immunity of Banda was straightforward.
"I don't even know why we seem to be debating this matter. We know that it is not the first time a former president's immunity is being lifted. The precedence has been set by (late) Levy Mwanawasa," Mucheleka said. "If Mr Banda's immunity is removed, for me really, like many other Zambians, who may want to know what took place during his presidency, I have no problem with that. If anything, it is something that we (members of parliament) must do. It's appropriate that we know what happened under president Banda."
Mucheleka also called for the automatic removal of immunity once a head of state leaves office. "If you're talking about transparency and accountability, even at the level of the presidency, it's only appropriate that immunity is removed. Immunity should only be enjoyed while someone is still in office. So really I have no problem with removing the immunity of the former president," he said.
UPND spokesperson Charles Kakoma, who is also Zambezi West member of parliament, said the party was wondering why the alleged crimes committed by Banda were being kept under wraps.
"I think that it is not in dispute that anybody who is involved in corruption should be investigated and if found guilty, the law should take its course. However, we are surprised with the manner the PF is taking the whole issue of corruption in general," Kakoma said.
He challenged the government to outline Banda's corruption cases to the nation.
"What have they found out? They are jumping the gun and they will find that people are suspicious and reluctant to respond to the calls, because of the way they are proceeding with the case. You see the party cannot make a decision based on hearsay. Let them lay the case on the table," Kakoma said.
Meanwhile, MMD vice-president and Mwandi member of parliament Michael Kaingu said the party would decide on Banda's immunity issue which all its members of parliament must comply with.
Labels: CORRUPTION, KENNEDY SAKENI, RUPIAH BANDA, TIZ
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TIZ calls for action on Auditor General's reports
By Ernest Chanda
Thu 14 Feb. 2013, 15:20 CAT
TRANSPARENCY International Zambia says findings of financial irregularities in the Auditor General's reports have become a ritual because there is no follow up action. And CSPR says the government should formulate a law that will empower the Auditor General's office to summon, question and prosecute controlling officers who authorise misuse of public funds.
Meanwhile, ActionAid Zambia country representative Pamela Chisanga says it is possible for the country to fund its national budget by 90 per cent, going by the revenue collections indicated in the 2011 Auditor General's report.
Giving an analysis on the 2011 Auditor General's Report which has also revealed continued financial irregularities, TIZ executive director Goodwell Lungu advised the government to enforce punitive action on culprits.
"We believe as TIZ that the findings of the Auditor General's report have merely been reduced to academic exercise and mere traditional ritual because year-in, year-out, there is no tangible action that inspire public confidence in the management of public resource," Lungu said in a statement.
"There is therefore need for the PF government to expedite the implementation of the Access to Information Bill that will empower the public to be able to hold public officials accountable during implementation of the budget and not wait to be presented with such ever-worrying public funds losses."
He stated that the Auditor General's report was such an important document that it could not be left without any action.
Lungu stated that if government was not taking any action on culprits, the public would have no confidence in such a report.
"The revelation of the current (2011) Auditor General's report, yet again, involuntarily attracts attention and concerns from all taxpayers by the manner in which public resources are being put to waste by those mandated to put in place stop-gap measures that would minimise if not completely prevent further wastage of national resources," he stated.
"As Transparency International Zambia, we find it rather unbearable that misappropriation of public funds stands at alarming levels of over K1 billion in 2011 … and in 2009 it stood at K3.9billion. On unaccounted for revenue, it is shocking that the figure keeps on growing and now stands at a whopping K530 billion as compared to K1.7 billion in 2010 while it stood at K1.3 billion in 2009. This demonstrates that our revenue systems are breaking down and permitting such huge losses that must be effectively prevented almost immediately."
Lungu stated that it was sad that excess expenditure stood at a massive K456 billion in 2011 as compared to a staggering K87 billion in 2009.
He stated that it was further disturbing to note failure to follow procurement procedures, resulting in an increased wastage of K4 billion in 2011 compared to K2.5 billion in 2010 and K1 billion in 2009.
"It is also disheartening to note that the government continued procurement of air or no delivery of goods and services even after paying huge sums of public funds. In the report we note that in 2011 undelivered materials were paid for a sum of K2 billion compared to K646 million in 2010 and K345 million in 2009," stated Lungu.
"This demonstrates that there is a growing trend in some government agencies to pay for goods and services that are not delivered. We feel as TIZ that such incidences can easily be brought to a stop if law enforcement agencies rounded up and arrested all perpetuators of such schemes most of whom we believe still work for the public sector. The PF success in the fight against corruption will be determined by the amount of effort and measures they put in place to curb such wastages."
And Civil Society for Poverty Reduction (CSPR) programmes manager Isabel Mukelabai said it was not good that irregularities in the report should just end at being highlighted.
"It is thus imperative for government to demonstrate to the Zambian people prudence in managing public funds entrusted to them by sealing all loopholes that allow for ministries, provinces and all spending agencies to abuse public resources," said Mukelabai in giving the institution's analysis of the Auditor General's report.
"This must be followed by stern action and prosecution of those found to have abused public funds to recover these much needed resources. There is also need to have a law in place that will enable the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC), parliament and law enforcement agencies summon, question and prosecute the controlling officers that had authorised the abuse of these resources irrespective of whether they have moved or not."
And Chisanga said Zambia could fund a large part of its budget from local resources.
"In the Auditor General's report we note that despite having collected excess revenue in 2011 amounting to close to K11 trillion (KR11 billion) the report indicate that there were downward revisions to this tax revenue totaling K2.2 trillion (KR2.2 billion) without any explanation, without any documentation as is required by financial regulation number 133," said Chisanga. "This also points to the fact that Zambia is capable of financing at least 90 per cent of the budget from domestic resources, even from the current tax regime."
According to the 2011 Auditor General's report, government incurred an excess expenditure of over KR456 million (K456 billion).
The report further revealed a misappropriation of funds amounting to over KR1 billion (K1 trillion).
Labels: AUDITOR GENERAL, CSPR, GOODWELL LUNGU, TIZ
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TIZ not satisfied with action on corruption
By Cynthia Phiri in Choma
Tue 11 Dec. 2012, 12:00 CAT
TRANSPARECY International Zambia says the political will exhibited by the government in combating corruption in private and public institutions has not been matched with the much-needed comprehensive action plan.
During the commemoration of the International Anti-Corruption Day in Choma on Sunday, TIZ finance administration manager Isaac Mundia said his organisation's assertion is that during the Patriotic Front's rule, there has been positive energy channeled towards the fight against corruption, adding that there were still a few visible hiccups that require extreme attention from all stakeholders.
"There has been some high level commitment from the Republican President exhibited through political will to combating corruption both in the private and public sector. It is therefore our submission that the exhibited political will has not been matched with the much needed comprehensive action plan," he said.
Mundia said TIZ believed that the political will
provided by the head of state should not just mean mere rhetoric but should translate into tangible and visible action.
He further said that the reintroduction of the Abuse of Office clause in the Anti-Corruption Act which was removed by the MMD government is one of the important landmarks that has and will continue pushing the fight against corruption in the right direction.
"We as Transparency International Zambia put our weight behind such a gesture that is aimed at safeguarding public resources. We believe that the reintroduction of the abuse of office clause through the Anti-corruption Bill will enhance the fight against corruption in the country," he said.
Mundia, however, said TIZ was worried that the current government's handling of the procurement processes does not seem any different with the past processes which were influenced by the partisan political interests.
"We have noted serious concern on the lack of full disclosures on the part of government on how the decisions have been made in these procurements to ensure public confidence, transparency and accountability in procurement are considered the most effective deterrents to corruption," explained Mundia.
Labels: ACC, TIZ
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Study judgment before appealing Kapoko's acquittal, TIZ urges ACC
By Allan Mulenga
Mon 05 Nov. 2012, 12:30 CAT
TRANSPARENCY International Zambia has asked the Anti Corruption Commission to critically study the judgment in which Henry Kapoko and eight others were acquitted of theft by public servant before lodging an appeal.
Transparency International Zambia (TIZ) executive director Goodwell Lungu stated that the public expected a better result than what they had seen in magistrate Kenneth Mulife's judgment.
The Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) has indicated that it will soon appeal magistrate Mulife's judgment in which he acquitted Kapoko and eight others were acquitted of theft by public servant involving K1.9 billion, money paid by the Ministry of Health to Kahekam Limited for the procurement of mother-baby kits.
"…They (ACC) shouldn't go into that particular matter a bit carelessly," he cautioned.
Lungu stated that the judgment had a potential to erode public confidence in the fight against corruption.
"…The second thing to note is that the state should urgently appeal that case and in appealing the case they should carefully study some of the issues that the magistrate had read in the judgment in order for them to solidify the case," stated Lungu.
"What we would like to continue in our country is that the Judiciary delivers judgments that would be able to deter would-be offenders. Of course, we are not saying that those people are guilty or not guilty, but what we are focusing attention on is the amount of evidence laid before the courts of law, as a result of that our expectation is a better result than what came out."
ACC director general Rosewin Wandi said the Commission's legal department was preparing itself for an appeal of the judgment.
Lusaka magistrate Kenneth Mulife on Thursday acquitted Kapoko, a former Ministry of Health human resources officer and eight others of offences ranging from theft by public servant, money laundering and issuing cheques on insufficiently funded accounts because the prosecution failed to prove the case beyond all reasonable doubt.
Kapoko and eight others were arrested in 2009 for the offences.
In this case, Abel Katongo, head procurement officer, Anthony Mwila, senior procurement officer, Royd Onde, the internal auditor, Justin Phiri, accountant, Nobert Peleti, assistant deputy director for administration, Zukas Kaoma, principal accountant, Kapoko, Fredy Chileshe, Best Home Lodge operations manager and Christopher Mayenge were alleged to have on an unknown date but between January 22, 2009 and February 28, 2009 in Lusaka whilst acting together with other persons unknown with intent to defraud the Ministry of Health of K1.9 billion falsely pretended that he had ordered and shipped 50,000 mother-baby kits when in fact not.
Labels: ACC, GOODWELL LUNGU, HENRY KAPOKO, TIZ
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Opportunists should not hold PF to ransom - TIZ
By Allan Mulenga
Mon 15 Oct. 2012, 14:00 CAT
THE PF should not be held to ransom by a few greedy opportunists, says TIZ.
And Transparency International Zambia (TIZ) president Rueben Lifuka has urged the PF to state the sources of funds that will be used to pay back its benefactors who are clamouring for government contracts to recoup what they spent on the party's campaigns in the last general elections.
Commenting on PF secretary general Wynter Kabimba´s statement that some senior government and party officials were engaging in corrupt activities to recoup the money they pumped into the party, Lifuka said the PF leadership should deal with the issue.
"It is evident from the statement made by Hon. Kabimba that the PF had a string of opportunists who funded the party in the vain hope of recouping on this 'investment' once the party formed government. This in itself is political corruption and the PF government and the people of Zambia should not be held to ransom by a few greedy opportunists," he said.
"It is incumbent upon the PF government and upon the PF leadership to purge the system of all such malcontents. We would have been happier to hear from the Minister of Justice on the type of sanctions taken against these senior government and party officials which should include reporting such inimical activities to the relevant authorities."
Lifuka urged the government to come up with a bill to prevent political parties from receiving financial support from its benefactors on the understanding that government contracts would be given to them once the party is elected.
"A few weeks ago, President Michael Sata requested those that were claiming that there was corruption in the PF government to provide the necessary evidence, Honourable Kabimba as Cabinet minister is well-placed to provide this to the President.
Further, Honourable Kabimba should use his position as Minister of Justice to take to Parliament a bill to regulate political party financing and stop this trend of political parties receiving financial support from its benefactors on the understanding that government contracts will be given to them once the party is elected. Unregulated political party financing is a source of serious forms of corruption," he said.
And Lifuka urged the PF to state the sources of funds that would be used to pay back its benefactors clamouring for government contracts.
"The question that begs an answer is where has the PF party suddenly found money to repay back its financial supporters including those trying to reap from government contracts? Clearly, the party received financial support because it was not well resourced to meet all its financial requirements and if this was the case then, is the PF saying in the one year it has been in office, it has amassed such wealth to be able to pay back its benefactors who are not clamouring for government contracts?
It will be a sad day for most Zambians if this country goes back to the period where the line between the party and the government was blurred. It will be a throwback to the dark ages if public funds are used to meet party expenses. Our caution to the PF is simple: do whatever you want with party finances but do not use public funds to fulfil your obligations," said Lifuka.
Kabimba last week said some senior government and party officials were engaging in corrupt activities to recoup the money they spent on the party.
Kabimba, who is also justice minister, urged all party members that spent money on the PF with intentions of recouping those monies when the party gets into government to submit their bills, so that they could be paid back.
He was reacting to Mike Mulongoti's statement that all he wanted from the PF and President Sata was a thank you for his time and resources in support of the PF campaign.
Labels: RUEBEN LIFUKA, TIZ, WYNTER KABIMBA
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Kabimba pledges to resign as Justice Minister
By Moses Kuwema, Mukosha Funga and Ernest Chanda
Tue 09 Oct. 2012, 12:00 CAT
JUSTICE minister Wynter Kabimba says he is ready to resign once the Anti-Corruption Commission avails him details of corruption allegations against him.
Transparency International Zambia (TIZ) has asked Kabimba and his defence counterpart Geoffrey Bwalya Mwamba to resign and pave way for smooth investigations against them.
Speaking to journalists yesterday, Kabimba said he would resign from the government as soon as he receives from the ACC the corruption allegations that linked him to some oil deals.
"I can assure you that as soon as I receive those allegations from the ACC, not through the press, I will be the first one to call it quits. I have not received anything from the ACC up to now. I am glad that the ACC itself says the allegations are based on press statements," he said.
ACC public relations manager Timothy Moono last week announced that the commission would institute a preliminary inquiry on Kabimba over allegations of corruption in some oil deals and defence minister Geoffrey Bwalya Mwamba's alleged solicitation of contracts at Zesco Limited.
Kabimba urged the ACC to pursue their investigations vigorously and expeditiously and let the Zambian people know the truth about his wrongdoing.
"I owe the people of Zambia to act in an exemplary manner to step down as Minister of Justice.
I think I am in this position to serve the Zambian people and I can only serve them if they have confidence in me.
Once they lose confidence in me, then whom I am I serving? My appeal to the ACC is that they must serve me with those allegations and take them to the people publicly so that they can tell them what wrong I have done," he said.
And in his letter to the ACC, Kabimba thanked them for their vigilance and alertness which he stated they had exhibited in the matter surrounding his alleged corrupt activities.
"As a strong advocate personally in the fight against corruption and also in the stance taken by our party and subsequently our government, I hereby undertake to cooperate with your officers to the fullest measure as they undertake these investigations," he stated.
Kabimba hoped that the ACC would show the people of Zambia that there were no sacred cows in the fight against corruption.
Kabimba is alleged to have been involved in the award of an oil supply contract to Trafigura, while Mwamba is alleged to have physically solicited a contract from Zesco to supply poles.
Mwamba denied the allegations of soliciting a contract at Zesco, but said there was nothing wrong with him doing business because he had been a businessman for many years.
TIZ president Reuben Lifuka said the investigation process should be de-politicised for it to succeed.
"We do therefore appeal to the two ministers to examine their consciences and determine whether it is appropriate for them to continue to serve in their respective public offices in the midst of the investigations by the ACC.
It is our considered view that in the interest of a free and independent investigation, the two ministers should step aside until after the investigations have been concluded," he said.
"This is a litmus test for the PF leadership and now is the time to demonstrate the seriousness that President Sata and his ministers attach to fighting corruption.
As TI Zambia, we are anxious that the investigations by ACC are not politicised and it is necessary therefore that a conducive environment is created. It will be a serious blow to the fight against corruption if the announced preliminary investigation proves to be nothing but a diversionary tactic and with no real intention to bring to book those who may be found wanting."
Lifuka said if the two ministers continued in office, it would create a public perception of political interference in the work of the ACC.
He said as a result, such perception might have a long-lasting damage to the fight against corruption.
"It is our conviction that Hon Kabimba will not have a problem stepping aside, he was after all one of the leading advocates who called on former Minister of Transport and Communication - Hon Dora Siliya to step down at the time a tribunal was constituted to probe her alleged impropriety," Lifuka said.
"We wish to take this opportunity to equally counsel the PF government ministers like Hon Geoffrey Mwamba that serving in government is a call to public service and not an opportunity to further business interests.
No one is begrudging Hon Mwamba's family the opportunity do business with government, but what is in bad taste is for Hon Mwamba's family to take advantage of his privileged position to access government contracts."
He requested public servants seeking business from government through their companies to declare interest before doing so.
Lifuka warned that TIZ would invoke provisions of the Parliamentary and Ministerial Code of Conduct Act for ministers who fail to declare their assets and liabilities in a timely manner.
He said the fight against corruption in the country would only succeed if it remained objective and unbiased.
"There should be no sacred cows or untouchables in the fight against graft. The PF government owes it to the Zambian people to run a clean government and as such, there should be no allegation of corruption or impropriety which is too big or too small to be overlooked," said Lifuka.
"Similarly, there should be no minister, senior government official or party leader who is indispensable - all of them should be held to same ethical standards. To this extent, therefore, we welcome the decision of the Anti Corruption Commission to institute preliminary investigations against the Minister of Defence and the Minister of Justice, Hon. Geoffrey Mwamba and Hon Wynter Kabimba respectively."
Meanwhile, Kabimba, who is PF secretary general, says the party decided to adopt Steven Masumba as its candidate in the Mufumbwe by-election as a way of rewarding him for his sacrifice.
Kabimba urged all PF members to support Masumba.
He further urged political parties taking part in the by election to embark on peaceful campaigns.
"We want to see peaceful campaigns, this is just a competition for a seat. We are still Zambians all of us and therefore we cannot start fighting amongst ourselves just to win a seat.
My plea to all PF members and all our colleagues that will be participating in the Mufumbwe by-election is please go in there and campaign and give your message to the people and ensure that the repeat of the 2009 experience does not come around. The people of Mufumbwe need a peaceful life and appreciate competitive democracy," he said.
Kabimba highly rated his party's chances in the by-election saying the people of Zambia and Mufumbwe still had a lot of confidence in the PF.
And officially opening a workshop on the sanctity of life and the death penalty organised by Caritas Zambia, Kabimba said the debate on whether or not to keep the death penalty in the current constitution-making process would depend on what Zambians would say.
Kabimba, however, said President Sata did not want to see people die either from road traffic accidents, domestic violence, murder or execution.
"Government will not interfere with either the ongoing process or the submissions that people are making," he said.
Kabimba said the death penalty was not a deterrent against capital offences but stood only as a moral justification that society could avenge death on behalf of those killed by others.
And Joint Policy Action Support Grants (JPAS) chairperson Bishop Innocent Silwamba said there was need for the country to move from retributive to restorative justice.
"We see a paradigm shift in many parts of the world moving from retributive justice to restorative justice; we ask ourselves why Zambia has not followed suit," he said.
Bishop Silwamba said the death penalty was a violation of a fundamental human right.
Labels: GBM, GEOFFREY MWAMBA, TIZ, WYNTER KABIMBA
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TIZ urges tighter government monitoring systems
By Henry Sinyangwe
Mon 18 June 2012, 13:25 CAT
TRANSPARENCY International Zambia has called on government institutions to strengthen their financial management systems. And Lungu says there is need to also strengthen monitoring mechanisms.
Welcoming the recent resumption of funding by the Swedish government to the Ministry of Health, TIZ executive director, Goodwell Lungu said the health sector was an important institution that delivered hence the need to safeguard resources that save lives.
"Strengthening of the financial management system. This area has also been identified by our research in the health sector, Auditor General's reports, and the Global Fund's Office of the Inspector General. Given that the health sector is one of the sectors where a lot of money is pumped to deliver needed services, history has shown that where there are huge sums of money, corruption and other financial abuses are rife. We therefore propose that this area is strengthened to safeguard the resources that are meant to save lives," said Lungu.
"According to the Global Fund's Office of the Inspector General's report, the audit identified US$4.365 million of unsupported costs, US$1.7 million of ineligible expenditure, and almost US$8 million that could not be accounted for at all."
Lungu said the impact of the freezing of funding to the heath sector was fatal hence the need to put in place strict measures to avoid the reoccurrence of the situation the country found itself in 2009.
"Barely four months after the freezing of funding, the impact, especially in the rural health facilities, was very apparent from the results of our assessment as TIZ. In Mpulungu, for example, a health official revealed that they were unable to deliver the much needed services to the communities due to the withdrawal of funding, they were merely receiving a third of what they used to get in form of grants i.e. K40 million as compared to K120 million. Due to this, they were unable to undertake projects such as TB and HIV/AIDS. In some cases, this resulted in death. This shows that the impact was fatal," Lungu said.
And Lungu said the post contract award monitoring mechanism was so porous that no one followed up on the contractors after being awarded contracts.
"This is one area our research in the health sector and also the system audit undertaken by MOH itself highlights. Some of the scandals revealed that people were awarded contracts but never delivered to MOH," said Lungu.
The Swedish government last Monday released K33.5 billion for the health sector improvement to achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015.
Swedish Ambassador to Zambia Lena Nordstrom said the fight against corruption was an ongoing task and she asked the Ministry of Health to strengthen its accountability structures.
Ambassador Nordstrom said her government was committed to supporting the Zambian health sector following the progress made by the Ministry of Health in recent years to improve accountability and transparency in management of funds.
Labels: GOODWELL LUNGU, TIZ
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TIZ notes slowness in probing plunder
By Allan Mulenga
Thu 05 Apr. 2012, 13:53 CAT
TIZ has urged law enforcement agencies to speed up investigations on plunder cases and bring them to the courts of law. In an interview, Transparency International Zambia (TIZ) executive director Goodwell Lungu observed that there were a number of high-profile cases that had been cited, but had not yet been concluded.
"We implore the law enforcement agencies to ensure that they speedily investigate these cases and bring them to the courts of law because the expectation of the public is that there are quite a number of cases that have been cited that involve billions of kwacha, but those have not been concluded.
We don't want to see a situation like what happened under late president Levy Mwanawasa era, where there were a number of cases that were cited but most of them were not thoroughly investigated and even presented before the courts of law. Our expectations are high, but we feel that time is running out," Lungu said.
Asked on the latest baseline study where it was revealed that certain government institutions were hesitant to give out information on corruption to the public, Lungu described the conduct of some government departments as embarrassing.
"We believe that as we are moving into an era of putting information in the public domain, it will work to the advantage of all government institutions. Even those that are resistant to ensure that they disclose that information to both the Anti Corruption Commission as well as to members of the public so that they can track progress on how they are fairing on issues of transparency and accountability," he said.
Lungu urged government institutions to develop indicators on how best they could fight corruption within their departments.
"We would like to encourage those institutions to ensure that they start factoring the fight against corruption within their rank and file. Also to ensure that they start developing indicators on how best they are going to fight corruption within their particular organisations," said Lungu.
Labels: GOODWELL LUNGU, TIZ
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TIZ urges probe on blacklisted company's Itezhi-tezhi contract
By Kabanda Chulu and Bright Mukwasa
Tue 20 Mar. 2012, 11:59 CAT
TIZ has challenged the government to establish how a French company blacklisted by the World Bank for corruption got a contract to supply equipment worth K135 billion for the Itezhi-tezhi power project.
The World Bank has blacklisted and fined two subsidiaries of Alstom SA, a French engineering company, after the companies allegedly offered a K781 million bribe to an entity controlled by a former senior government official (not named) for consultancy services for a World Bank-financed power-rehabilitation project in Zambia in 2002.
The Alstom subsidiaries, Alstom Hydro France and Alstom Network Schweiz AG in Switzerland, will pay K50.1 billion in restitution and be blocked from bidding on World Bank contracts for up to three years.
Commenting on the matter yesterday, Transparency International Zambia (TIZ) president Reuben Lifuka said it was shocking that in 2011, the MMD government went ahead and awarded Alstom a contract to provide turbines and generators worth K135 billion for the 120-megawatt Itezhi-tezhi hydroelectric project.
"We wonder what sort of due diligence was done given the many investigations that this company and its subsidiaries are facing in a number of jurisdictions. It is absolutely necessary that a procurement audit of this particularly contract is conducted by government, with the involvement of all necessary law enforcement agencies, especially the Anti Corruption Commission. It is our expectation that the Zambian government, through the Zambia Public Procurement Authority, will equally blacklist this company from participating in any future contracts," Lifuka said.
"We further demand that the Zambian government through the Anti Corruption Commission should immediately commence investigation against the former senior government official who received the bribe that has landed Alstom in this situation of debarment. Clearly, the action of the World Bank is a good beginning but the Zambian authorities should play their role and bring this official to book."
He advised government to seize all proceeds of crime from the official in question in order as a deterrent to all public officers engaged in public procurements.
"It is time that as a country we do everything possible to bring to an end these criminal acts of corruption. The PF government should pursue all those that were involved in this case and bring them to book, regardless of their standing in society," Lifuka said.
"We also demand that the World Bank clearly stipulates how the K50.1 billion restitution fee will be administered specifically for the Zambian situation. It is our considered opinion that these funds should go towards compensating Zambia for the damage caused by this act of corruption by the two Alstom subsidiaries. It is evident that the bribery paid out is a cost that the Zambian government has had to pay in terms of the loans obtained for the Zambia Power Rehabilitation Project."
He further challenged the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the African Development Bank to equally apply the debarment measures against Alstom.
"We are aware that under the Zambia Power Rehabilitation Project, Alstom subsidiaries were involved in different aspects of the rehabilitation contracts for Victoria Falls Power Station, Kariba North Bank Power Station and Kafue Gorge Hydro Power Station and government obtained credit for this project from various funding entities, including the World Bank,EIB, AfDB and Development Bank of Southern Africa. So it makes sense that all these entities effect the blacklisting of the two Alstom subsidiaries for the same misconduct," said Lifuka.
Labels: CORRUPTION, REUBEN LIFUKA, TIZ, World Bank
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Abusing public resources doesn't pay - TIZ
By Moses Kuwema and Agness Changala
Sun 18 Mar. 2012, 12:00 CAT
TRANSPARENCY International Zambia executive director Goodwell Lungu says government leaders should avoid abusing public resources because it does not pay.
Commenting on the Lusaka High Court's decision to uphold the four year jail sentence slapped on former Zambia Army commander Lt Gen Geojago Musengule and former Base Chemicals chief executive officer Amon Sibande's seven-year sentence by the magistrates' court in 2009, Lungu said the High Court's decision was the rightful verdict.
"That is a very rightful sentence to have been administered by the High Court and we want to appeal to all those leaders, former and current leaders facing similar situations, to understand that society and public resources need to be protected and if somebody decides on their own accord to contravene laws against public interest, that will be the end result," he said.
Lungu said there was a tendency by those who did wrong things in the past to claim they were being persecuted when the law visits them.
He said the courts of law as well as the legal system were put in place to implement correctional measures.
"Once these correctional measures are put in place and adhered to, then it will be able to send a deterrent message out there especially for our colleagues who are currently serving in the military that abusing public resources does not pay and it can end up leading somebody into jail," he said.
Lungu said much as TIZ and other stakeholders do not take pride in seeing people going to jail, those who break the law deserve nothing but jail.
Delivering the six-hour long judgment on Friday, judge Charles Kajimanga, sitting with judges Florence Lengalenga and Elita Mwikisa, upheld the convictions of Lt Gen Musengule and Sibande after all the 31 grounds of appeal were dismissed on the basis that they lacked merit.
And Anti-Corruption Commission director general Roswin Wandi says the conviction of Lt Gen Musengule shows that the evidence to prove allegations was there.
In an interview, Wandi said corruption fighters were vindicated when those who were alleged to have engaged in corrupt activities were convicted.
"For us it means that cases of corruption, where evidence is available, lead to a conviction and then it vindicates us the corruption fighters because it means that what we have alleged before has come to pass and the person is convicted," she said.
Wandi welcomed the High Court's decision to uphold Lt Gen Musengule and Sibande's jail sentences, saying the move was in accordance with the due process of the law which her institution had accepted.
Labels: CORRUPTION, GEOJAGO MUSENGULE, GOODWELL LUNGU, TIZ
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TIZ calls for thorough probe of Siavonga District Council
By Allan Mulenga
Sat 18 Feb. 2012, 12:01 CAT
TRANSPARENCY International Zambia has urged local government minister Professor Nkandu Luo to ensure that corrupt allegations over Siavonga District Council are thoroughly investigated and the culprits brought to book. In an interview yesterday, Transparency International Zambia executive director Goodwell Lungu said corrupt practices in local authorities hamper service delivery.
"We call on Professor Luo, just as we did to the former local government minister Dr Brian Chituwo, not to narrow the probe to a few councils as the allegations are not confined to UPND-controlled councils alone, but need to be spread to PF and MMD dominated councils as well," he said.
Lungu urged the government to roll out the implementation of the National Anti-Corruption Policy to prevent the occurrence of such malpractices.
"TIZ recommends a much broader probe into malpractices in local authorities and we call upon all citizens to report such malpractices to relevant authorities in a bid to root out such bad practices. What has been reported may just be a tip of the iceberg. While this is a worthwhile undertaking, we would like to caution Prof. Luo to handle the matter professionally by avoiding the temptation of pursuing a political agenda which will not help to resolve the problems," said Lungu.
On Thursday, Prof Luo suspended Siavonga district council for allegedly corrupt activities with immediate effect .
Labels: CORRUPTION, COUNCILS, GOODWELL LUNGU, LOCAL GOVERNMENT, NKANDA LUO, SIAVONGA, TIZ
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TIZ urges sealing of loopholes in government procurement
By Bright Mukwasa
Mon 13 Feb. 2012, 12:59 CAT
THE current legal and regulatory procurement frameworks are not inadequate to promote transparency and accountability in the procurement process, says TIZ.
Appearing before a parliamentary committee on legal affairs, governance, human rights and gender matters and child affairs last week, Transparency International Zambia executive director Goodwell Lungu, represented by his good governance programmes officer Francis Mwale, said the current legal and regulatory frameworks were not properly enforced.
"The Public Procurement law and the Budget and Finance Act of the government of Zambia require that procurement plans and contract award information is published in public media in the interest of fiscal transparency and accountability. However, information on contract and awards are not in the public domain," Lungu said.
"Access to contract information by stakeholders such as CSOs (civil society organisations) involved in contract monitoring is limited.
Partly this is due to poor disclosure and dissemination of relevant contract details which is compounded by the lack of an access to information Act so as to allow stakeholders to access relevant materials on procurement contracts and works."
Lungu said there was need for the access to information law to help monitoring contract performance.
He said the agreements signed between the companies and individuals with the government tended to give companies incentives to default the contract because they were done in secrecy and that was what had caused increased levels of the misappropriation of funds and corruption in the procurement process over the past years.
Lungu also said there was need to tighten the loopholes in the public expenditure management system which caused government to lose huge sums of money through leakages.
Labels: PROCUREMENT SYSTEMS, TIZ, TRANSPARANCY
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Cancel concession of Zambia Railways – TIZ
TIME PUBLISHED - Monday, February 6, 2012, 8:08 am
TRANSPARENCY International Zambia (TIZ) president Reuben Lifuka has alleged that the Zambia Railways concession was awarded in dubious circumstances and has proposed that the Patriotic Front government should consider cancelling the deal.
Mr Lifuka said it will not help to pretend that all is well with the Zambia Railways concession and the matter should be resolved.
“The PF government should seriously consider cancelling this concession and finding other ways of commercialising the railway sector,” Mr Lifuka said in statement released yesterday.
Recently, Government cancelled concessions and agreements on the operation and maintenance of Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) scanners at border posts and others related to operations of border points at Kasumbalesa and five other borders.
He said TIZ is aware that the railway concession has not proceeded as envisaged and “the company is now nothing but a cash cow for some people”.
Mr Lifuka challenged the Minister of Transport, Works, Supply and Communication to release the reports of the inspector of railways on the performance of the railway concession.
Mr Lifuka said his organisation welcomes the measures taken after the release of the ZRA commission report and prodded Government to thoroughly investigate the issues raised in the report and take legal or administrative action against all erring officers and public leaders.
He expressed disappointment that the Kasumbalesa concession was primarily an unsolicited bid for a project of high national security and importance.
“We find no justification why Government did not proceed to open up the tender to promote transparency in this particular transaction. The manner in which this bid was handled raises more questions than answers,” Mr Lifuka said.
He said it was worrying that Government gave the concessionaire a 14-year lease for 100 hectares of land at Kasumbalesa border and it is shocking that title deeds were issued to the concessionaire, in total contravention of the concession agreement.
Mr Lifuka said it is interesting that the border concession involved primarily one company which was using different names, as reported by the ZRA Commission of Inquiry.
The ZRA commission report revealed that the company used the name Baran for the dry ports and Kasumbalesa bids, and used Zambia (IP) Border Crossing Company Limited during the signing of the contract with Government for the Kasumbalesa concessions.
The company assumed another name – Zambia Kasumbalasa Venture Company during the commencement of operations.
The report says the company was called Zambia (IP) Border Crossing Company when bidding for the five borders but changed the name to Five Border Post Company at the time of signing the contract.
The name changed again to Five Border Post Group, after it took over the construction of Nakonde border post.
Mr Lifuka wondered why the people behind the projects found it necessary to keep changing names and why Government allowed itself to deal with a group of people who were not consistent.
Mr Lifuka advised President Sata to authorise the Minister of Finance to immediately make the ZRA Commission of Inquiry report public, in the same way he did for the Zamtel report.
“The Zambian people deserve to know the full contents of this report. There should be no sacred cows in this process,” he said.
Mr Lifuka said Government should not renege on its decision to cancel all border concessions and warned the PF government to guard against possible corrupt maneuvers by some unscrupulous individuals.
“TIZ is following this case keenly and we will not hesitate to expose and condemn any public officials who will support any unscrupulous activities which impact negatively on the lives of ordinary people,” Mr Lifuka said.
He called on Government to set in motion a process of overhauling the public procurement system, saying it is time loyal and dedicated men and women are given the responsibility of public procurement.
[Zambia Daily Mail]
Labels: REUBEN LIFUKA, TIZ, ZAMBIA RAILWAYS
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Sata has demonstrated political will in corruption fight - TIZ
By Allan Mulenga
Mon 30 Jan. 2012, 14:01 CAT
TRANSPARENCY International Zambia says President Michael Sata has demonstrated political will in fighting corruption by firing Alfred Chipoya. Commenting on the sacking of Chipoya, who was President Sata's senior private secretary, for alleged corruption, TIZ executive director Goodwell Lungu, said senior government officials should be above board and maintain high levels of integrity.
"TIZ has received the allegations of corruption against the President's senior private secretary Mr Chipoya with great sadness. If indeed these allegations are true, they are extremely unfortunate as our expectations of officials who hold such positions is that they are supposed to be above board and maintain high levels of integrity. We bemoan the allegations that Mr Chipoya could have allegedly sunk so low in accepting to be paid to arrange a meeting with people who publicly have been accused of engaging in activities that are detrimental to the economic wellbeing of Zambia," Lungu said.
He said President Sata's sacking of Chipoya had demonstrated his political will of fighting corruption.
"This approach the President has done demonstrates in practice his political will in fighting corruption and acting against even his closest senior staff. This is a very rare phenomenon as others would have opted to shield such alleged wrong doing," Lungu said.
He urged the government officials to refrain from engaging in corrupt activities.
"The President's action also indeed sends the rightful signals to investors who believe in cutting corners that the rule of law in Zambia is being fairly and firmly being implemented," Lungu said.
He appealed to President Sata to remain resolute and not be swayed in the fight against corruption.
"This action has great potential for government officials not to engage in dark-corner meetings or deals or conduct that promotes corruption that is against public interest as the current government has now sent a clear signal that they can be dealt with very appropriate action instantly. We encourage the President and PF government to remain resolute and not to be swayed in the fight against corruption," said Lungu.
President Sata last week fired Chipoya for alleged corruption.
Sources disclosed that Chipoya was relieved of his duties after he tried to facilitate a meeting between President Sata and former operators of the Zambia Revenue Authority border scanners.
Last week the government terminated the contracts given to Bradwell International and Cargo Scan to manage border scanners.
This was after the ZRA Commission of Inquiry recommended that appropriate action be taken against former president Rupiah Banda and 13 former government officials for the fraudulent procurements regarding the border scanners and concession-related contracts.
Sources said officials from the companies tried to arrange for a meeting with President Sata last week, through Chipoya, so that they could explain their position and possibly seek a reversal.
According to the sources, the officials convinced Chipoya to arrange for the meeting and even promised him some money.
The source said that on Wednesday last week, Chipoya was sent a sealed envelope containing US$2,000 (K10 million) from the officials as gratification for facilitating the meeting with the President.
According to the sources, the envelope instead found itself with President Sata, who immediately relieved Chipoya of his duties.
Labels: GOODWELL LUNGU, MICHAEL SATA, TIZ
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Appointments to parastatal boards
By The Post
Sun 22 Jan. 2012, 14:00 CAT
WE need to pay special attention to the management of our parastatal organisations. If managed well, our parastatal companies can greatly contribute to the economic development of our country. There are countries where state enterprises are playing a key role in economic development.
Look at Singapore, a very small country with about 4.3 million people running the biggest airline in the world as a parastatal.
Singapore Airlines is a parastatal. And today, that airline also owns Quantas, the Australian national carrier. One of the biggest telecommunication companies in the world is also a parastatal from Singapore.
And many countries today have parastatals that are run by their intelligence services to advance special national economic interests. But they are run well and in an efficient, effective, orderly and accountable manner. We still have a few parastatal organisations in this country and we have a duty to run them well.
Parastatal organisations should be characterised by their capacity to serve the common good of society through the production of useful goods and services. The sense of responsibility in economic initiative should demonstrate the individual and social virtues necessary for the development. A parastatal enterprise must be a community of solidarity and not a vehicle for promoting cronyism and corruption.
Therefore, those who are appointed to manage these enterprises should be the best among those who are available. Sad things have been happening in appointments to parastatal boards and management. Relatives and friends of those in power, regardless of their suitability, have been put as directors and top managers of parastatal organisations, at the expense of well-qualified and competent Zambians.
The motive of appointments to the boards and management of parastatal organisations should not be to give jobs to relatives and friends or ruling party cadres but to contribute to the common good of society.
The roles of directors and managers of parastatal organisations have a central importance from the viewpoint of society, because they are at the heart of that network of technical, commercial, financial and cultural bonds that characterises the modern business reality.
For this reason, the exercise of responsibility by those in power and the people they appoint to our parastatal boards and management requires constant reflection on the moral motivations that should guide the personal choices of those to whom these tasks fall.
Every effort should be made to make every parastatal enterprise become a community of persons. We must be responsible in the way we run our parastatal organisations. These organisations are today in trouble not because of their ownership but because of the way people are appointed to run them and how those who have been appointed actually run them.
The temptation is very high for those in power to appoint their friends and relatives to parastatal boards and top management positions. But this is a sure way for them to fail because those relatives and friends of theirs will fail to deliver. Political debts of those in power should not be paid through appointments to parastatal organisations.
We know that there are so many people who extended some favours, in one way or another, to those today in power to help them win last year's elections. But the best way to pay that political debt is not through appointing them to parastatal jobs that they are not able to perform efficiently and effectively. The best way to pay that debt is to run public affairs in the most efficient, effective and orderly manner so that the country moves forward.
When this happens, all, including those who had extended some political favours to those in power, will benefit. Let the best among us manage the affairs of our parastatal organisations on our behalf. Much more needs to be said and to be done if we are to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of our public sector to meet effectively the massive problems of human suffering in our country today.
There is also need for accountability in appointments to our parastatal organisations. Those given the responsibility to do so need to account for every appointment they make.
These appointments should be subjected to public scrutiny. Public life is not an opportunity for self-enrichment, it is an opportunity to serve others. Everyone should have the right to equal access to public jobs, regardless of who is in power. What should only matter is their competency.
Those responsible for appointing the directors and top management of our parastatal organisations should not lose sight of the fact that the common good is the reason for the existence of these parastatal organisations. And the best way to fulfill their obligations is by ensuring that every appointment they make helps to contribute to the common good.
The political power they today hold must have as its aim the achievement of the common good. And their powers to appoint directors and top management of our parastatal organisations can only be said to have been exercised legitimately if they are committed to the common good of society. Let them devote themselves to the welfare of all and not to the interests of their friends and relatives.
And there should be a limit to how many boards one can serve as a director. We have some people, especially those in government, serving on many boards of parastatal organisations. There should be a limit to how many boards a person can belong. In the end, their contribution amounts to nothing. They are just there to collect a sitting allowance.
And moreover, why should someone who is using government time to attend a board meeting of a government owned entity be paid a sitting allowance? If these sitting allowances are removed, there will be better representations from government on some of these boards because only those willing to do a good job would offer themselves.
And also one important thing to bear in mind is that those who are appointed by our politicians as directors in parastatal boards are not representatives of the appointing authority.
They are representatives of the organisations on whose boards they serve. And their duty should be to represent the interests of the organisation and not of the political authority that appointed them.
Labels: PARASTATALS, REUBEN LIFUKA, TIZ
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