ACC, toothless,Compromised

Sat, 01 Dec 2012 16:39:25 +0000

The Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) is totally compromised and has failed, out of fear, to follow up large scale corruption by Public Officers who are perceived to be close to President Michael Sata.

This was the consensus by Members of Parliament who yesterday debated the budgetary allocation for the Commission.

Monze Central MP Jack Mwiimbu who led the attack said that single sourcing based on discrimination which favored cadres and friends of the ruling (Patriotic Front(PF) had become the norm rather than the exception and yet nothing was done by the ACC to rectify the malaise.

He said that companies that had been blacklisted for wrong doing found favour in the new Government and were being awarded contracts without following procedures,.

Mr. Mwiimbu who threatened to reveal the names of companies that had been awarded contracts irregularly, until he was constrained by Deputy Speaker and Chairman of the proceeding s Mr. Mkondo Lungu, said it was very sad to notice that a Government which promised to be transparent was far from being the epitome of probity.

The MPs  protested that cases of single sourcing, abuse of authority and misuse of discretionary authority resulting in nepotism and corruption were not being followed up by the Commission because it was compromised and therefore ineffective.

They proposed that security of tenure should be introduced for ACC Commissioners to ensure that they operated without fear of retribution from the authorities.

They wondered how the Bank of Zambia which had found serious cases of irregularity in Finance Bank was overruled and yet the ACC remained aloof and did not bother to investigate the matter to clear the allegations and concerns that had led to the previous decision to sequestrate the Bank.

Siavonga Member of Parliament Kennedy Hamudulu complained that the Bank of Zambia was a constitutional institution whose decision had the force of authority which could be overruled without cogent grounds.

He deplored abuse of authority and arbitrary use of discretionary authority as represented by alignment of Provinces, creation of Districts, and disregard of findings of Commissions of Inquiry.