We agree with Musa’s remarks on elected officials who refuse to declare assets

By Daily Revelation Editor

Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) chairperson Musa Mwenye says elected officials who refuse to declare their assets, only show that they have something to hide

Musa said this during the International Anti-Corruption Conference,

“Declaration of assets is a financial disclosure mechanisms made by specified individuals which are useful in detecting conflicts of interests, unjustified assets and illicit enrichments. This declarations are an indispensable in fighting corruption, and it is my considered view that the existence of an effective declaration statutory regime is usually a good indicator of the resolve and political will to fight corruption in any jurisdiction. The converse is also true when public elected officials resist the establishment of an effective declaration regime then we can safely assume that the law or nonexistent will to fight among those officials,” Mwenye said.

We agree with Musa completely on his observation that officials who fail to declare their assets have indeed something to hide. Because what would make any public official who is interested in transparency want to hide their assets?

Musa seems to be the lone voice calling out in the wilderness and it is understandable that he seems to be the only speaking over this matter, and we are made to believe that there are many actually in the UPND administration who loath his advocacy on this matter, especially in this country where loyalty or even worship for the President is of utmost consideration beyond anything else for officials serving in government.

We still have failed to contemplate why it should be so had for Hakainde Hichilema for instance to make his assets available for his bosses the Zambian people to see, especially that he is always insisting that he is simply a servant of the people. Hakainde has also been in the forefront advocating against corruption. If he is really interested in fighting corruption wholly let him be transparent so that there are no accusing fingers pointing towards him for failing to declare his assets.

Why should he even require a law to compel him to declare those assets if he is really means what he is saying? Does corruption only qualify to be called so if it involves former leaders? We beg to wonder.

Many have called on Hakainde to lead by example in the corruption he says he is fighting by actually coming out to state how much he is worth so that Zambians can keep track of his wealth accumulation, and raise questions where necessary. It should not be this hard actually to know how much our leader is worth, especially the same leader who promised us transparency if he assumed office.

It should not be lost on anyone that the President of the Republic is a very privileged person who is always coming into contact with people from a wider spectrum of society, including those who may wish to receive favours in whatever format.

We don’t think it’s necessary to keep one’s asset value from the people and hide behind the nonexistent law required for him to do so. If there is absence of that law, you are the President you can easily come up with that law in one day through several instruments. If you are talking about amending the laws for instance, why can’t you consider including this matter as a matter of urgency?