Corruption prevention measures needed

Global anti-corruption NGO Transparency International (TI) has described the Zambian system of governance as "rotten" in its latest report. The "National Integrity Systems TI Country Study Report - Zambia 2003", delves into the conduct of the executive, legislative and judicial arms of government. The report provides a "devastating analysis of how a government can loot its treasury, corrupt key agencies, distort privatisation and banking processes, and use the resources of the state to fund its dominance of the election process and pay for its retention of power", TI said in a statement. The report itself alleges that "during the past 10 years corruption has become part of Zambian culture. Corrupt politicians and public officials can only thrive if the public does not see anything wrong with corruption". There was a need to raise public awareness of "the evils of corruption so that there is zero-tolerance for corruption", the TI report said. Coupled with this was an absence of political will to fight graft over the past decade, noted Dr Alfred Chanda, the author of the report and chairman of TI Zambia. "A culture of impunity has developed and corruption has permeated government structures from the Presidency down to the lowest-ranking public service workers," he was quoted as saying. The report pointed to the recent resignation of the Chief Justice after allegations emerged that he had been receiving irregular payments from former president Frederick Chiluba through the Zambia Intelligence Service from 1998 to 2001. The government's anti-corruption commission was under-resourced and under-skilled, Members of Parliament lacked the capacity to discharge their functions effectively, and the offices of Auditor-General and Ombudsman "are effectively moribund", TI said. This was attributed to deliberate under-funding and failure to punish those exposed as being corrupt during Chiluba's 10-year rule. "In particular, the report calls for improvements to the legal infrastructure, including protection of whistleblowers, monitoring mechanisms for gifts to ministers and public officials, strengthening of conflict of interest rules, and an enforceable code of conduct for public officials," TI noted. Jeremy Pope, Executive Director of the TI Centre for Innovation and Research, said in a TI statement that: "The development agencies delighted in Zambia's transition from one-party rule to multi-partyism in 1991. Unfortunately, the attention span of the development agencies is all too short. Most simply declared Zambia to be a 'democracy' and went their own ways, leaving Zambia to flounder and its systems of governance [to] effectively collapse. "The lesson is plain: democratic institutions are not built overnight, nor are they secured by a single free and fair election. If we are to be serious in our endeavours, we must stay in for the long haul." President Levy Mwanawasa's "New Deal" government and its crackdown on graft had "breathed new life into the anti-corruption fight. Its emphasis on good governance, the rule of law and zero tolerance of corruption has provided the necessary will to galvanise the anti-corruption institutions," observed Dr Chanda. Given the magnitude of corruption in Zambia, the report recommended that priority be given to prevention of corruption. Measures such as the strengthening of the rules for public procurement and blacklisting of individuals found to be involved in corruption were advocated. The full TI report