By Chinoyi Chipulu
United Kwacha Alliance (UKA ) chairman Sakwiba Sikota says The 2024 Corruption Perceptions Index CPI report highlights the need for continued efforts to combat corruption and promote transparency in Zambia and worldwide.
Sikota said the CPI 2024, published by Transparency International, measured the perceived levels of public sector corruption in 180 countries, based on surveys of business people and experts.
He stated that the CPI was the UPND’s fig leaf which did not hide the obscene gorging of the forbidden fruit, but was not a big enough fig leaf to obscure UPND’s immodesty
In a statement made available to Daily Revelation yesterday, Sikota stated that it was surprising that according to the report, Zambia’s score had increased from 37 to 39, ranking 92nd globally.
He stated that while this improvement was on the face of it encouraging, Zambia still ranked below the global average of 43 and trails behind neighboring countries.
“CPI is not an objective measure but a subjective one. Transparency International will not survey the thousands of university or college students seeking a government bursary or allocation of student accommodation who did not get what they sought but instead saw less deserving students with connections getting these instead,” he stated.
He stated that Transparency International would not survey the thousands of applicants who applied for recruitment as nurses, police or military officers but saw less qualified people getting the jobs.
“Transparency International will not survey the thousands of motorists who have had to negotiate road blocks.
Transparency International will not survey the thousands who have applied for social cash transfer but never make the approved list unless they know a party official,” he stated.
“Transparency International will not survey the thousands of small scale farmers who routinely are not shortlisted for FISP whilst those connected to party officials are continuously shortlisted inspite of being serial defaulters who never graduate from the program.”
Sikota stated that it was essential to note that the findings were based on subjective opinions and may not reflect the actual extent of corruption.
He stated that the CPI’s methodology had been criticised for its reliance on subjective perceptions, which could be influenced by various factors, such as media coverage and public opinion.
“Perception refers to the process by which we interpret and organise sensory information from the world around us. It’s the way we make sense of our environment, people, and experiences.
Perception is subjective, meaning it’s influenced by individual factors that can include interpreting information using personal experience, cultural background, emotions or expectations,” he stated.
Sikota stated that the UPND must be given top marks for their image building and marketing as this was what made them create a positive perception of themselves.
“You have the President saying all the correct and impressive things but not matching the walk to the talk. The talk is ‘ordering’ Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) that they should not arrest someone until and unless they have investigated the allegations,” he stated.
He stated that the walk was however exemplified by the recent arrest of former PF deputy secretary general Mumbi Phiri who was released by DPP after more than a week in custody when according to the Director of Public Prosecution found there was no grounds for her arrest.
He stated that the talk was fronting to the world that Zambians had freedom of expression as defamation of the President would no longer be an offense.
“The walk however is that any criticism or mention of the President leads to prosecution for sedition, hate speech, causing fear and alarm. The walk has alarmingly even turned into a sprint now as we have been told that even asking about the President’s health or whereabouts is a criminal offence,” he stated.
Sikota stated that the talk claiming that transparency had been increased in Zambia since the enactment of the Access to Information Act (AIA) 2023.
He stated that, however, AIA was not operationalised as not a single request granted anyone access to information.
“Refusing to have the President to regularly publicly declare his assets,
keeping the conditions set by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund to be buried in multiple layers of secrecy,
treating the various mining agreement like highly classified top secrets, hiding how much is being paid for the new Zambian currency and even who was given the contract,” stated Sikota.
