Anti-corruption drive hits difficulty

The Zambian government's crusade against corruption has suffered a major setback with the collapse of a court case against two key suspects, former intelligence chief Xavier Chungu and his co-accused Attan Shansonga, the former Zambian ambassador to the United States. Charges against Chungu and Shansonga were dismissed last week when it was ruled that they were beyond the jurisdiction of Zambian courts after they jumped bail and fled abroad. Chungu's whereabouts are unknown, but Shansonga is in Britain where he is a citizen by virtue of his marriage to a British woman. Chungu faced more than 100 counts of corruption and theft of public funds, on many of which he was jointly accused with former Zambian president Fredrick Chiluba and other top civil servants and corporate executives. Assets amounting to US $40 million are believed to have been plundered during Chiluba's 10-year rule. Transparency International Zambia president, Alfred Chanda, told IRIN the collapse of the cases against Chungu and Shansonga was a setback to the anti-corruption drive. "Those fellows are principal players in the scam and prosecuting and convicting them would have been a boost to the anti-corruption campaign," said Chanda, a law lecturer at the university of Zambia. "The whole thing has eroded public confidence in the taskforce [on corruption] and that's why people are calling for its scrapping. Many people are definitely not amused." President Levy Mwanawasa launched an anti-corruption drive on being elected to office in 2002, aimed at winning the confidence of donors, who had periodically frozen aid to Zambia citing issues of corruption and governance. "Corruption has increased the cost of doing business and endangered national stability by creating widespread poverty among our people. I am determined to rid this country of this scourge," Mwanawasa told a regional anti-corruption meeting attended by 13 southern African countries in Zambia's resort town of Livingstone two weeks ago. The dismissal of the case against Chungu was the fourth time the former intelligence boss had avoided major corruption charges since he was first arrested two years ago. He spent 14 months in jail on car theft charges because, under Zambian law, any kind of vehicle theft attracts a custodial sentence. On his second arrest, he spent another six months on charges of theft of a tractor, but the case was dismissed for lack of evidence. The prosecution of Chungu has proved especially difficult because, as head of Zambian intelligence, he reported only to the president, who determined whether his actions were in the public interest. Chiluba, being mostly jointly charged with Chungu, has not sought to incriminate himself. Throughout the corruption investigations Chiluba has maintained his innocence, claiming that he was the victim of a political witch-hunt. The born-again Christian and former trade union leader has accused Zambia's first president, Kenneth Kaunda - a close ally of Mwanawasa - of influencing his prosecution. To date only one former official in the Chiluba government, Richard Sakala, Chiluba's former press aide, has been convicted of graft. He is serving a prison term of five years with hard labour. The prosecution has been marred by several techincal failures and a lack of witnesses. A multi-agency taskforce on corruption, appointed by Mwanawasa in 2002, has often come under stinging public criticism for lapses in the handling of cases, and for its alleged waste of tax payers' money. Director of Public Prosecutions Mukelebai Mukelebai was fired earlier this year on allegations that he was compromised by Chungu. A judicial tribunal appointed by Mwanawasa later cleared him of any wrongdoing, but he was nevertheless retired in the "national interest". Analyst say the crusade against graft has shown signs of fatigue, and civil society groups, which supported the drive, are losing confidence because of the lack of convictions. "The whole issue is clearly that the government must get its act together in terms of its investigations, and the prosecution team must strengthen its cases," said Sam Mulafulafu, head of the Foundation for democratic Process, an NGO promoting democracy and governance. "These are highly emotive issues over which people's expectations are very high." Watchdog groups also claim that Mwanawasa has been selective in pursuing corrupt officials, ignoring those from the previous administration who are now in his government. Among those still under investigation are former finance minister Katele Kalumba and the three heads of Zambia's defence forces.