ACC launches 5-year strategic plan on fight against corruption
Written by Kabanda Chulu and Masuzyo Chakwe
Tuesday, January 20, 2009 6:58:51 PM
THE Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) yesterday launched a new five-year strategic plan aimed at broadening the fight against corruption.
During the launch of the strategic plan that will run from 2009 to 2013, ACC chairperson justice Valentine Chileshe said the commission had repositioned itself to intensify the fight against corruption in the country.
"Under the new vision, the ACC will now become a lead institution of a broader sector alliance for combating corruption in Zambia and this new strategic vision aims at embracing as many stakeholders and people as possible so that the fight against corruption is broad and has deep commitment by all," justice Chileshe said.
He said during the last strategic period covering 2004-2008, the ACC recorded progress in improving its management and operational capacity to meet the mandate and in promoting national integrity and good governance.
And permanent secretary for Management Development Division at Cabinet Office George Kawatu said the effective implementation of the Strategic Plan or lack of it would impact significantly not only on the ACC's capability to fight corruption but on the wider concept of governance as outlined in the Fifth National Development Plan.
"It is therefore important that ACC Commissioners, management and staff take full ownership and provide full organisational commitment to the plan to ensure its successful implementation to the satisfaction of all stakeholders and the nation as a whole," said Kawatu.
And British High Commissioner to Zambia Tom Carter said Zambia was increasingly being seen by the international community as a model for the fight against corruption.
High Commissioner Carter said the British government was ready to provide continued support to the ACC through funding from the Department for International Development (DfID), which had since 2000 provided support amounting to seven million British pounds.
"We hope the Zambian government will join us by adding more of its own money to fund this important work and soon approve the National Anti Corruption Policy as well as move in to bring appropriate domestic legislation from the ratified international covenants relating to corruption," said High Commissioner Carter.
Labels: ACC, CORRUPTION, VALENTINE CHILESHE
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Report corruption, justice Chileshe urges Zambians
Written by Chibaula Silwamba and Gloria Siwisha
Friday, December 12, 2008 4:23:58 AM
ANTI Corruption Commission (ACC) chairperson justice Valentine Chileshe has challenged Zambians to report anybody involved in corruption, including their relatives to the ACC.
And Transparency International Zambia (TIZ) executive director Goodwell Lungu said the failure by law enforcement agencies to take quick action on corruption cases has compromised the fight against corruption.
In an interview ahead of today's commemoration of the International Anti-Corruption Day, justice Chileshe said all Zambians should be open to report corruption to law enforcement agencies regardless of the individuals involved.
“The problem we have is that you can see someone corrupting another person but you keep quiet just because of the culture or being related or something like that…but if all Zambians are open and they don't want corruption, they could help us by reporting corruption,” justice Chileshe said.
However, justice Chileshe noted that corruption levels in Zambia were reducing and hoped more could be done to eradicate the vice.
“The worldwide report indicates that at least there is reduction in corruption in Zambia. We are doing well and apart from that, we need support from the donor community so that we continue fighting corruption and be mobile,” said justice Chileshe. “We are reducing and we have reduced corruption. That is an indication that we are making headways.”
The ACC and TIZ have organised a programme to commemorate the International Anti-Corruption Day today, which will involve a march past from Northmead's Total Filling Station to Mulungushi International Conference Centre in Lusaka.
The fight against corruption has led to several high profile people including former president Frederick Chiluba, former intelligence chief Xavier Chungu among others, being prosecuted on corruption-related charges, and abuse of public resources and authority of office.
Chungu returned to Zambia last week from an over four-year self-imposed exile, avoiding prosecution in a corruption-related offence. Chungu was arrested upon arrival at the Lusaka International Airport.
And Goodwell Lungu said law enforcement agencies should ensure they acted speedily when handling corruption cases as laxity was compromising the progression made in the fight. He said the Auditor General's report had revealed gross misappropriation of funds by foreign missions, which needed quick action.
“The lack of action taken on corruption cases by enforcement agencies to us has been a major challenge because as TIZ we strongly believe that our sensitisation campaigns were intensified and a lot of people are aware about corruption but if action is not taken, then we are going backwards,” Lungu said.
He commended Auditor General Anna Chifungula for carrying out her duties diligently despite the failure by investigative agencies to take quick action on corruption cases.
Lungu urged all stakeholders to use the International Anti-Corruption Day to reflect on past successes and challenges to ensure that the country forged ahead.
“Leaders should also step up to the challenge because they are the ones who appoint, for instance, these people in foreign missions. Their commitment to the fight is important,” said Lungu.
Labels: ACC, GOODWELL LUNGU, TIZ, VALENTINE CHILESHE
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Start with yourself
Written by Editor
Today as we commemorate the International Anti-Corruption Day, there is need for us to reflect and meditate deeply over this issue. We need to clearly understand what constitutes corruption and its effects on us, on our country today and tomorrow.
When we talk about corruption, we shouldn’t just think about what is called grand corruption. We need to look at corruption at all levels, in all its manifestations or forms.
If we ignore what we may today consider small corruption, it will grow and tomorrow, it will become big and more difficult for us to fight it. So there shouldn’t be anything like small corruption. Big or small, it’s all corruption and it shouldn’t be tolerated.
And we invite everyone, the entire nation, to take part in this great battle, the battle against any and all forms of corruption. We all need to be involved in this battle against vices. Today, we have tens of thousands of parasites that don’t produce anything, that don’t work hard, yet are getting rich. How? By stealing, deceit, manipulation – by corruption.
In a society where those who don’t work hard live better than those who work hard, respect for work is bound to decline. And if this happens, then productivity goes down and with it the economy sinks. In a society where those who are dishonest live better than those who are honest, corruption gets entrenched and with it the economy sinks.
It is said that it is not what we are given that sets us apart from the next person, from the next community. It is how we deal with what we have that determines our progress. There are many examples of this. It is this that makes a country like Nigeria poor when it is an oil-producing country. Corruption in that country is entrenched and will take many years to address. It doesn’t matter how much a community or nation has, if it doesn’t manage its resources in an honest, transparent, accountable, efficient, effective and orderly manner, it will not achieve much.
And when corruption starts in a nation, it spreads to all its parts like a cancer. No part of a nation where there is corruption comes out unaffected. All institutions of society become contaminated. It is not only state and government institutions that become corrupt. Even institutions like the Church in a corrupt nation become infected or affected.
Nations where corruption has taken root cannot even be expected to organise free and fair elections because the corrupt elements will manipulate things and buy the result they desire.
Every time you pay more than you should for a service, you are not only encouraging corruption, you are engaging in it. And you should consider yourself corrupt. Most things start small. And as the Chinese say, a journey, no matter how long it may be, always starts with a first step. Corruption starts in the same manner.
Whenever we start to live on unearned income, we are embarking on a path that leads to corruption. We say this because living on unearned income is prima facie evidence of corruption.
And today in our country, corruption is seen everywhere. In a government office, it starts with the office orderly who makes tea, the cleaner who cleans the office. The office orderly takes home part of the sugar and tea bags for the office. He stops buying sugar and tea because he is feasting on the office supplies. The office cleaner stops buying detergents and other cleaning materials for his home because the office has become his supplier. In the meantime, the costs of running the office go up. This type of corruption is even extended to the home. If this office orderly or cleaner has an aid helping him at home, he also feasts on the sugar, tea bags or detergents he has stolen from the office. There is a chain here and corruption gets entrenched.
Managing a business in Zambia is today not an easy thing because of theft, pilfering. Every day, huge volumes of stocks are being siphoned by workers from their employers. Every day, cash is being stolen from sale proceeds. Phones, fuel and other facilities are being abused for personal purposes. The cost of this on business enterprises at the end of the day is gigantic and crippling. But we tend to look at it as small things, petty abuses. These are not small things, this is big corruption that should be fought with all the tenacity we can marshal. But it won’t be easy to deal with this type of corruption because most of our people have accepted this as normal. This is because of a lack of deep economic awareness that we have failed to inculcate in our people.
In this battle against corruption, there should be no quarter given anyone, we should call a spade a spade, and we should appeal to the honour of everyone.
And when we talk about corruption, we are not only limiting ourselves to money or goods. We are also talking about abuse of power, arrogance and lack of humility. All these constitute corruption. We are also talking about general dishonesty, deceit, lies and all other forms of fraud. People have won elections in this country on the strength of their promises which they knew from the very beginning that they were not going to be carried out. And it is true, they have never bothered to carry them out. This is corruption. Deception is always a pretty contemptible vice, but to deceive the poor is the meanest of all forms of corruption, it is the meanest of all crimes. We say this because we cannot think of a more contemptible man than the man who deceives the poor or steals from them.
There is need for all of us to change our attitude towards corruption. No form of corruption should be accepted or tolerated. We will never be able to manage the political affairs and the economic resources of our country if we don’t take corruption seriously. As things stand today, we, as a nation, are too tolerant of corruption and corrupt elements. In this country, a person with a record of electoral corruption has no problems being supported by people who claim to be honest. And these honest people, when challenged, their response is always that of supporting a better devil. And we see this in every election. We saw it in 2006 when the Patriotic Front and Michael Sata were being supported by people who were facing corruption charges in our courts of law. Some of them were even adopted by the Patriotic Front as parliamentary candidates – fortunately they lost. And last October, our so-called honest people, honest citizens never said a word to denounce or criticise Rupiah Banda’s electoral corruption or malpractices. And yet they want to claim they are opposed to corruption. Rupiah was distributing mealie-meal and sugar bought with public funds to woo voters in Eastern Province. Very few raised issues with this. And they want to say they are for zero tolerance on corruption.
This only goes to show how deep the roots of corruption are in all our areas of human endeavour. And it also goes to show how much we have accepted to live with it. But surely, is this a virus we should learn and accept to live with? We thought that type of approach was limited to viruses that have no cure.
The whole fight against corruption should start with oneself, with the man or woman in the mirror, if we are to harbour any hope of defeating this scourge in our country.
Labels: ACC, CORRUPTION, VALENTINE CHILESHE
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Report corruption, justice Chileshe urges Zambians
Written by Chibaula Silwamba and Gloria Siwisha
Monday, December 08, 2008 11:48:55 PM
ANTI Corruption Commission (ACC) chairperson justice Valentine Chileshe has challenged Zambians to report anybody involved in corruption, including their relatives to the ACC.
And Transparency International Zambia (TIZ) executive director Goodwell Lungu said the failure by law enforcement agencies to take quick action on corruption cases has compromised the fight against corruption.
In an interview ahead of today's commemoration of the International Anti-Corruption Day, justice Chileshe said all Zambians should be open to report corruption to law enforcement agencies regardless of the individuals involved.
“The problem we have is that you can see someone corrupting another person but you keep quiet just because of the culture or being related or something like that…but if all Zambians are open and they don't want corruption, they could help us by reporting corruption,” justice Chileshe said.
However, justice Chileshe noted that corruption levels in Zambia were reducing and hoped more could be done to eradicate the vice.
“The worldwide report indicates that at least there is reduction in corruption in Zambia. We are doing well and apart from that, we need support from the donor community so that we continue fighting corruption and be mobile,” said justice Chileshe. “We are reducing and we have reduced corruption. That is an indication that we are making headways.”
The ACC and TIZ have organised a programme to commemorate the International Anti-Corruption Day today, which will involve a march past from Northmead's Total Filling Station to Mulungushi International Conference Centre in Lusaka.
The fight against corruption has led to several high profile people including former president Frederick Chiluba, former intelligence chief Xavier Chungu among others, being prosecuted on corruption-related charges, and abuse of public resources and authority of office.
Chungu returned to Zambia last week from an over four-year self-imposed exile, avoiding prosecution in a corruption-related offence. Chungu was arrested upon arrival at the Lusaka International Airport.
And Goodwell Lungu said law enforcement agencies should ensure they acted speedily when handling corruption cases as laxity was compromising the progression made in the fight. He said the Auditor General's report had revealed gross misappropriation of funds by foreign missions, which needed quick action.
“The lack of action taken on corruption cases by enforcement agencies to us has been a major challenge because as TIZ we strongly believe that our sensitisation campaigns were intensified and a lot of people are aware about corruption but if action is not taken, then we are going backwards,” Lungu said.
He commended Auditor General Anna Chifungula for carrying out her duties diligently despite the failure by investigative agencies to take quick action on corruption cases.
Lungu urged all stakeholders to use the International Anti-Corruption Day to reflect on past successes and challenges to ensure that the country forged ahead.
“Leaders should also step up to the challenge because they are the ones who appoint, for instance, these people in foreign missions. Their commitment to the fight is important,” said Lungu.
Labels: ACC, CORRUPTION, GOODWELL LUNGU, TIZ, VALENTINE CHILESHE
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Inspire young ones on corruption, justice Chileshe urges leaders
By Christopher Miti in Chipata
Tuesday June 03, 2008 [04:00]
LEADERS need to ensure that young people are inspired by their exemplary conduct in the eyes of the public, Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) chairperson justice Valentine Chileshe has advised. And Eastern Province minister Charles Shawa said the government had endeavoured to fight corruption in order to achieve a significant reduction in its incidence.
During the official opening of the ACC Eastern Province Youth Festival at Chipata College of Education yesterday, justice Chileshe said young people needed direction if they were to uphold society values such as integrity.
"This festival whose theme is 'Young people against corruption' brings young people together, giving them an opportunity to express their feelings on the devastating evils of corruption. It is also an important occasion because it spells out the various roles that are supposed to be played by all of us in the fight against corruption. It is therefore incumbent upon us to instill such senses in them so that the country can have a better and corrupt-free future," justice Chileshe said.
He urged the young people to take advantage of the festival and become anti-corruption campaigns activists.
"It is from such festivals that the youth can gain as much knowledge as they can for the creation of a sober society free of corruption and other malpractices. The anti-corruption artworks also provide a basis on which the commission is able to assess the levels of understanding of corruption issues by the youth," justice Chileshe said.
ACC director general Nixon Banda said the commission had designed different programmes aimed at inculcating moral uprightness and integrity in the youths.
"This falls under one of the commission's statutory function of educating the community on the causes and evil effects of corruption and so solicit for support in fighting the scourge. From the previous festivals that we have held, we have been very impressed with the way youths think about corruption and its impact on society, and more so on how to curb the scourge," Banda said.
And Shawa, who was represented by Chipata district commissioner Nicholas Banda, said a lot of programmes aimed at fighting corruption had been put in place.
Shawa said the festival was one of the programmes aimed at equipping young Zambians with knowledge for them to avoid and report any form of corruption thereby helping to build a generation that would strive to be corrupt-free.
"This is a welcome initiative by the ACC in helping to shape the character of our youths so that they grow into responsible, caring, honest and accountable persons," Shawa said.
Eastern Province education officer Pilila Jere, who was represented by Chipata District Education Board Secretary Patrick Zulu, said the ministry was happy with the ACC because it was helping in moulding the character of the youths in issues of anti corruption and values such as integrity.
"The ministry has always been faced with serious challenges in this area due to pressures that the youths face in the midst of many social challenges out there. The school may do its best in instilling the moral attributes that are valuable to society but these are soon eroded because of the wider society," said Jere.
The event, which will run for a week, has attracted participants from 20 schools from Chipata, Katete and Chadiza districts.
Labels: ACC, CHARLES SHAWA, VALENTINE CHILESHE
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