By Mubanga Mubanga
Some Civil Society Organisations (CSO’s) have demanded to be included on the ongoing United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) review process currently taking place in Zambia.
In a joint statement read by Transparency International Zambia (TI-Z) acting executive director Raymond Mutale stated that the UNCAC, which began on August 13 and ends on the August 15, 2024, has not included CSO’s despite engaging with representatives from the government on the need for them to be included.
“Now, as the review process is underway, it is key that civil society is consulted to further develop on these and other recommendations. To date, however, Zambian CSOs have not been involved in the said review process, despite multiple engagements with representatives from governments’ agencies such as the Zambian Anti-Corruption Commission,” Mutale stated.
“ We, the undersigned Zambian CSOs perceive the government’s limited transparency and facilitation of civil society participation as deeply problematic and potentially symptomatic of – at best – an underlying lack of interest in promoting the active participation of civil society in the fight against corruption, or – at worst – of a proactive attempt to exclude civil society from the review process.”
Mutale stated that the practice worldover for transparency sake was that they include CSO’s adding that since the UNCAC Review Mechanism was adopted in 2009, there had been many positive examples from around the world on how to conduct the country review process in a transparent and inclusive manner.
“Some countries have led the way by proactively publishing their self-assessment checklists and full country reports, while others have enabled civil society input at various stages of the review process and supported its participation on the international stage, as was the case in Nigeria and Togo,” Mutale stated.
He stated that if Zambia wanted to improve on the Corruption Perception Index (CPI), there was need to perform actions that promoted transparency such as including CSO’s in the constitution review process, but failure to which, would undermine the whole process.
“Zambian CSOs emphasize that such a stance is fundamentally at odds with Zambia’s engagements prescribed by it being a State Party to the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC). Further, research findings from recent years, such as the 2023 Corruption Perceptions Index, indicated that Zambia needs to implement actions to improve transparency in order to improve the CPI score in future,” Mutale stated.
He stated that the recent CPI score improvements risked being undermined if civil society was restrained from participating in preventing corruption and monitoring mechanisms such as the implementation of the UNCAC.
“We therefore, join voices to demand that Zambian CSOs be meaningfully included in the UNCAC review process,” Mutale stated.
The joint statement was signed by TIZ, ActionAid Zambia, Alliance for Accountability Advocates Zambia, Alliance for Community Action, Chapter One foundation, PANOS Institute Southern Africa, Christian Churches Monitoring Group (CCMG), Gears Initiative Zambia, Jesuit Center for Theological Reflection, MISA Zambia and Zambia Council for Social Development.
