Hakainde’s ACC board dissolution

By Daily Revelation Editor

President Hakainde Hichilema yesterday dissolved the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) board, pursuant to Article 20 of the Republican Constitution Section 26 of the Interpretation and General Provisions Act Chapter 2 of the laws of Zambia.

Hakainde claimed that he took the decision in order to renew the ACC’s sacred mandate in spearheading the fight against corruption aimed at implementing necessary reforms to ensure the continued effective operations of the commission.

Two days earlier, Hakainde had accepted the resignation of Thom Shamakamba from the position of ACC director general, following irreconcilable differences between the board and their former director general, over what they viewed as alleged questionable immunities he was churning out topeople that were under the commission’s investigations, without consulting anyone.

The board also differed with Shamakamba for failing to act on resolutions to pursue senior government officials whose cases they thought Thom was sitting on.

The boardroom arguments eventually spilled over and into public view, when information started getting to the media first on the fights that were going on, heightening after one of the board members, University of Zambia (UNZA) lecturer Dr O’Brien Kaaba, came out strongly against Thom and those at the state chambers, accusing them of covering up, while at the same time facilitating corruption.

While the decision by Hakainde to accept Thom’s resignation is understandable given that he is the one who was in charge of the operations and management of the institution, the public has however, been left with unanswered questions on his decision to dissolve the entire board. At least it’s understandable if you are going to remove one or two people here and there, but to dissolve the entire board is a bit too extreme. Something must have really elicited the ire in the President to have taken such a drastic step.

However, every reasonable Zambian agrees that within that board, there were capable people who were going to help Hakainde in his ‘intended renewal of the commission to serve its sacred mandate of spearheading the fight against corruption.’ People like Musa Mwenye, State Counsel, newly appointed Jack Kalala, Irene Chongo Lamba, Tommy Namitondo and even Dr Kaaba, just to mention a few, are people of integrity and excellent repute, that any President would wish to have them heading a critical institution like the ACC.

We certainly hope Hakainde will find a way to make good use of the people he has fired from the board. It is our considered view that the corruption fight in the country would have been better served having them around. These are not yes men. These are people who can actually stand up to the President any time and tell him to his face that which he doesn’t want to hear, like Musa telling him to declare his assets as often as others are required to do so. We hope Hakainde did not hold any grudge that a junior of his, his appointee actually, was telling him to do the right thing. We hope this ‘renewal’ is not being used as an opportunity to remove people of integrity and bring puppets of his to head the ACC, using the pretext of ‘renewing the ACC.’

Otherwise, we are left to speculate. Has this decision been made after sieving through the documents the ACC were asked to submit about some investigations they have been conducting about some serving government officials? Has Hakainde dissolved the board because of the issues Kaaba has been raising about Thom and other state agencies? Did he go overboard in his write-ups, or simply revealed too much which made the President uncomfortable? Because if what Kaaba has been asserting is true then the President is guilty of firing a whistleblower, and by implication a board that was a shoe-in in the fight against corruption, but felt hindered to achieve its goals.