Deal with corruption menace, Govt told

Tue, 27 Jun 2017 13:49:57 +0000

By SANDRA MACHIMA

GOVERNMENT has been told to address corruption in the public procurement system to bring into action the commitment by President Edgar Lungu to fight the vice, ActionAid Zambia interim country director Kijala Shako has said.

Ms Shako said the revelation by the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) that   over K3 billion was lost through corruption in public procurement contracts was worrisome and Government must address the issue.

She said the FIC report had vindicated the concerns of many stakeholders regarding corruption in the procurement process but yet no strict measures had been put in place to address the problem.

Ms Shako said it was disheartening that huge sums of money were misapplied while the country was struggling to maintain public facilities such as schools and hospitals that were in a poor state and required urgent financing.

She appealed to President Lungu to quickly appoint a substantive Director General at the Anti-Corruption Commission as means of strengthening the commission’s capacity to pursue its mandate and also to avoid speculation on how corruption cases were handled.

She said institutions such as the ACC must be adequately financed and supported so that it effectively delivered on its mandate.

“The Government wing mandated to spearhead the fight against corruption in the nation has for over a year been operating without a substantive director general and a deputy after the resignation of Ms Rosewin Wandi in 2016, she said.”