Quarterly Bulletin

 Corruption remains rampant in Zambia despite the current efforts by Government and some civil society groups. The Auditor General’s reports and the Anti-corruption Commission (ACC) reports continue to uncover abuse of public funds but little action seems to be taken to bring those accused to answer for their actions. Trevor Simumba uses Scripture to contribute to ways of fighting corruption in Zambia.

These words are especially fitting for this discussion, as they were written by the Apostle Paul to a young believer named Timothy. The Apostle Paul was a great fighter. Just as Paul admonished us to fight the good fight of faith, we are all today admonished to fight against the growing evil of corruption and impunity that has seeped into the very fabric of Zambia’s life. His fighting was partly against internal and external enemies – against hardships of all kinds. Five times he was scourged by the Jews, three times by the Romans; he suffered shipwreck four times; and was in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by his own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren. Paul never stopped fighting till his death.

Fortunately, he was a true fighter; and by God’s grace he not only fought, but he won. The human instruments which God uses in great triumphs of faith are not pacifists, but great fighters like Paul himself. It is the same old story today of huge amounts of money being misappropriated or just plainly stolen. For how long will this nation turn a blind eye to this abuse of our resources? Surely, a stop must be put to this impunity in our beloved nation of Zambia. It is time to stand up and fight the good fight against corruption and win!

ACTION, NOT JUST WORDS!

The late President Mwanawasa is credited with having put the fight against corruption high on Zambia’s political agenda, with initiatives such as the constitution of a Task Force on Economic Plunder, the design of a corruption prevention strategy and the reinforcement of institutions such as the Auditor General and the Anti-Corruption Commission. In spite of some progress made, most indicators of corruption and the recent revelations of Grand Corruption within the Mwanawasa regime suggest that these efforts have not yielded the expected results.

Major lessons learnt from recent anti-corruption efforts in Zambia include the importance of adopting a holistic approach to anti-corruption activities that combine both punitive and preventive approaches as well as the need to strengthen the role of non-state actors and focus on actual implementation of anti-corruption commitment. High level political will, prioritisation, sequencing and interagency coordination are important factors likely to facilitate the effective implementation of anti-corruption efforts.

It should be noted that corruption poses a serious development challenge in Zambia with our economic growth stifled due to the large amounts of money siphoned off for personal gain. In the political realm, it undermines  democracy  and  good   governance   by subverting formal processes. In broad terms, corruption is the abuse of public office for private gain. It encompasses unilateral abuses by Government officials such as embezzlement and nepotism, as well as abuses linking public and private actors such as bribery, extortion, influence peddling, and fraud. Corruption arises in both political and bureaucratic offices and can be petty or grand, organized or unorganized.

With the sorts of figures floating around the office corridors and the streets of Zambia, one would hazard to say we are facing serious organized “Grand Corruption” of immense proportions that involves high level criminal business people, politicians and bureaucrats, including donor organizations that are abetting this theft and turning an expedient blind eye to the abuse of resources. Why has it taken so long for these scams to come to light now when all this time donors have been praising the Zambian Government and making it seem like corruption in Zambia only started in 1991?

It should be noted that corruption erodes the institutional capacity of Government as procedures are disregarded, resources are siphoned off, and officials are hired or promoted without regard to performance. At the same time, corruption undermines the legitimacy of Government and such democratic values as trust and tolerance. There is no need for examples as most Zambians are living the effects of corruption on a daily basis with poor water and sanitation, damaged roads, disasters, poor health and education facilities and premature deaths amongst a large segment of our society.

Corruption also undermines economic development by generating considerable distortions and inefficiency. In the private sector, corruption increases the cost of doing business through the price of illicit payments themselves, the management cost of negotiating with corrupt inept officials, and the risk of breached agreements or detection. Where corruption inflates the cost of business, it also distorts the playing field, shielding firms with connections from competition and thereby sustaining inefficient firms. It further generates economic distortions in the public sector by diverting public investment away from education and into capital projects where bribes and kickbacks are more plentiful (e.g., roads, bridges, security projects). Officials may increase the technical complexity of public sector projects to conceal such dealings, thus further distorting investment. From the above it is very clear that corruption is a cancer that if allowed to continue to grow will kill this nation of Zambia. One must wonder whether we have any decent public servants out there that will help redeem this country from failure.

Nigeria when it faced this problem enacted a very sound law, ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL CRIMES COMMISSION (ESTABLISHMENT) ACT of 2004, which established an Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). This body is the designated Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) in Nigeria, which is charged with the responsibility of coordinating the various institutions involved in the fight against money laundering and enforcement of all laws dealing with economic and financial crimes in Nigeria.

WAY TO GO IN THE FIGHT

It is time Zambia enacted a similar law and established the Zambia Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (ZEFCC). This body should take over all the operations of the Taskforce on Corruption, ACC, DEC and the forensic audit team at the Auditor General’s office. It should be reporting to the National Defence and Security Council chaired by the President and also to the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee when it involves a public servant.

It must have strong and wide powers to investigate any Financial and Economic crime no matter the level of authority of that public official. For example, the EFCC in Nigeria was able to investigate the former Vice President of Nigeria Atiku Abubakar, even though it was shrouded in legal and political challenges. In line with establishing such a commission, there should be a National Public Service Code of Conduct that will direct the operations of all public service organizations and employees. It is important for the fight against corruption to be transparent and accountable and not subject to the whims of the Executive alone.

ZEFCC would comprise highly motivated Zambian experts in the fields of law, senior State Counsels, security and intelligence operatives, forensic audit experts, commercial fraud experts, economic analysts, business sector analysts, banking and financial experts, anti-money laundering experts and many other patriotic Zambians that would ensure that the scourge of corruption is removed once and for all, never to see its ugly head again. We can look again at the establishment of the Special Investigations Team on Economy and Trade (SITET) in the First Republic, which unfortunately became a political tool against those seen as anti-Government. However, it initially was very successful before being closed down and disbanded by the Chiluba regime. We could also look at the United States Federal Bureau of Investigations and also the Scorpions in South Africa (which has suffered the same fate as SITET) who have shown good success in the corruption fight.

It is hoped that those attending the National Constitutional Conference (NCC) will consider this humble suggestion and institute a robust legal framework within the Constitution to remove the discretionary power that the President has on these matters. Otherwise, come 2012 we will have even more former leaders and senior public servants attending never-ending court sessions as the People of Zambia will want answers to the many questions they have on how Government is abusing their resources in the name of good fiscal management and zero tolerance to corruption. Let us match our words with our deeds. FAITH without action is DEAD!

Trevor Simumba
Economic Consultant
United Kingdom