Wed, 02 Nov 2016 09:02:31 +0000
GREEN Party president Peter Sinkamba has commended President Edgar Lungu for taking a firm stance against corruption. Mr Sinkamba said in Kitwe that President Lungu’s warning to his ministers engaging in corrupt activities was welcome. He said it was immoral and wicked for a minister to receive huge daily bank deposits in their personal accounts when the Head of State had publicly called on the people to sacrifice, embrace and endure the austerity measures that Government was putting in place to resuscitate the economy.
Mr Sinkamba said it was shameful that corruption in the Government was on the increase and systems such as the Anti-Corruption Commission and integrity committees that had been put in place to stop the rot had been rendered useless. He however hoped that the President would go beyond just expressing concern over the daily cash deposits and threaten to fire the culprits but constitute a foreign-led probing team in collaboration with the Auditor General for a detailed forensic investigation on corruption covering State institutions and officials.
“The ongoing gross corruption especially in the pricing system in Zambia is appalling. The gross corruption entrenched within the oil cartel system, for example, is excessively exploitative and gravely hurting the economy,’’ Mr Sinkamba said. President Edgar Lungu has warned that he would not hesitate to fire ministers found engaging in corrupt activities.
The President said he had received reports linking some ministers to corrupt activities and that once found wanting, he would not hesitate to relieve them of their duties even before they were investigated by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).
