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Dear
JCTR Bulletin Readers:
How many times do we hear that: corruption is a sin and has drastic evil effects on the people especially the poor, or those involved in corruption are robbing our nation of scarce national resources, or read in the Bible the command “You shall not steal” (Exodus 20:15), and yet those entrusted with public authority abuse it and use public funds to their advantage? The “evil” effects of corruption on all dimensions in society, though difficult to measure precisely such as erosion of citizens’ confidence and trust in public institutions, are well-known.
Corruption is a serious global problem. Notably, then, the fight against it is inevitably universal as it is intertwined with the promotion and enhancement of good governance anchored on accountability, transparency and integrity. In Zambia, this fight has attracted the participation of diverse groups of people as society wakes up to the fact that the anti-corruption struggle is not for the government alone but all citizens.
Indeed, fighting corruption is more than a political issue, thus attracting political solutions to the problem. It is more a community problem and requiring community-oriented solutions. The fight against corruption cannot be successful if it is left to politicians to settle alone. There must be a realisation that since the source of corruption is within the community the solution to eliminating this scourge lays in community.
No one individual citizen or political party should claim to be the sole champion in the fight (as if it were their creation and problem), but all citizens and including political parties must be seen to fight it beginning with its membership. The success of eliminating corruption lays in a moral change. It requires people’s change of attitude, belief in bribes as norm in accessing public services on one hand and change of public officials’ attitude and perception of demanding or expecting something from those their provide with public service on the other hand.
Complete Letter,
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