By Isaac Zulu
President Hakainde Hichilema did not show leadership in encouraging his ministers and members of parliament to declare their assets, says Transparency International Zambia (TIZ) president Sampa Kalunga.
And Kalunga said the fight against corruption must not be a vindictive tool, saying the President simply waved off corruption allegations against Foreign Affairs minister Stanley Kakubo and issues of single sourcing in the procurement of fertilizer.
But Kalunda added that not all was gloomy as President Hichilema has given autonomy and leverage to the Anti-Corruption Commission in its quest to fight corruption.
Speaking in with Daily Revelation, Kalungu observed that there have been some allegations of single sourcing in the procurement of fertiliser in the UPND administration and other corruption allegations which have not been given the required attention.
“The fight against corruption is a dicy question. We have seen that the fight against corruption is one sided and is concentrated on fighting corrupt activities that happened in the past. They are targeting those that served in the previous regime and their associates, ignoring corruption of today. Remember the minister of foreign affairs was accused of receiving a bribe from a Chinese construction company, but the President waved it off with a simple hand saying he had talked to his minister. We think that that is not the way it should go. We have also seen allegations of single sourcing in the procurement of fertiliser, but again this has not been given the attention that it requires. According to the UN statistics, one out of eight government events there is corruption. And you can’t say that in the whole one year that the new dawn has been in government there has not been a corrupt activity,” explained Kalungu. “We don’t want to view the fight against corruption as being a vindictive exercise. We don’t want the Anti-Corruption Commission to be used as a vindictive tool. The President is on record of saying that the UPND administration wants to fight corruption – past, present and future – and that is what we expect. We have also noticed that there are a lot of summoning, but we have not seen convictions. We have also seen that the lawmakers themselves have abrogated the law by not declaring their assets, their incomes and liabilities as per Constitutional requirement. Some of them only declared after eight months and nobody talked about that. For us, the President didn’t show leadership in terms of coming out and encouraging members of parliament and ministers to declare their assets. He didn’t show commitment and political will on this one.”
But Kalunga said it is gratifying that President Hichilema has given autonomy and leverage to the Anti-Corruption Commission.
He explained that the Head of State has appointed people with integrity to head the ACC, who cannot be compromised and has given them a lot of space in the execution of their duties.
“There are a number of positive things that the UPND administration has scored in the fight against corruption. For instance, they have increased the budgetary allocation to the Anti-Corruption Commission and the Drug Enforcement Commission. Secondly, they have hightened the fight against corruption such that everyday there’s something being done on the fight against corruption. Apart from that, there is commitment by the President himself to fight corruption. And he is encouraging everyone to get involved in the fight against this scourge,” said Kalungu. “And if you look at the appointments of the board, which comprises of prominent people with integrity like Musa Mwenye, who once served as Attorney General,is now the chairperson of the ACC. But you also have the substantive director general in the name of Gilbert Phiri. Again, you cannot doubt the integrity of Gilbert Phiri. This is a man with demonstrated commitment to offer pro bono (free) legal services to clients at the National Legal Aid Clinic for Women. And it is gratifying that the President has given them a lot of space to do what they want in their daily operations. The Head of State has given them the autonomy.”
