By Mubanga Mubanga
Transparency International Zambia (TI-Z) president Priscilla Chansa has expressed disappointment with the lack of tolerance of divergent views by the UPND administration.
And Chansa has urged President Hakainde Hichilema to immediately appoint the new director general of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), failure to which he is going to make the work of the commission difficult.
Speaking yesterday at T-lZ third-quarter press briefing, Chansa said there was a growing trend of not respecting divergent views by the UPND government.
“In terms of the governance arena in general, we are concerned about signs of intolerance to divergent views and constructive criticism by the UPND leadership. Most recently, the Minister of Information and Media used a press briefing to castigate and attack TI-Z for commenting on illegal mining following a News diggers investigations,” Chansa said.
“Instead of addressing the concerns raised by both T-lZ and the investigations, the minister targeted the institutional reputation of T-lZ seemingly in a feeble attempt to evade accountability that had been raised over the Senseli issue.”
And Chansa said president Hakainde Hichilema should immediately appoint the new director general of the ACC.
“As you may be aware, the Director General of the Anti-Corruption Commission resigned on 16th July, 2024 and the Republican President dissolved the ACC Board two days later. It is now more than one month since these developments, but no action has been taken to address the leadership vacuum at the ACC,” Chansa said.
“We are cognisant of the fact that the Deputy Director General is currently acting as Director General, but it is our considered view that in the absence of a substantive Director General, it will be impossible for the ACC to operate effectively as an autonomous entity as provided for by Section 5 of the Anti-Corruption Act.”
Chansa also condemned the practice under the UPND government, of concentrating on asset recovery with limited prosecution, saying the same did not deter would-be offenders.
“During their third year in power, we have noted that the UPND administration’s fight against corruption is increasingly characterised by an excessive focus on civil forfeitures coupled with limited prosecution of cases,” she said.
“While we fully support the drive towards recovery of plundered public resources, we are of the view that this should not be the foremost or only approach for fighting corruption, as we believe that it does not provide a strong enough deterrent against future corruption.”
On the public debt, Chansa said the government was not transparent regarding the state of public debt.
“Ladies and gentlemen, the validation analysis indicates that the Zambian government was not transparent concerning the state of public debt, despite calls from stakeholders challenging the escalated debt accumulation. Further, the lack of proactive action in allocating funds to the sinking fund amidst increased external debt unsustainability contributed to the external debt default in 2020,” said Chanda.
