By IRVIN MUYUMBWA
IT is unprofessional for the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to leak information on investigations because it tarnishes the images of victims who may not be probed fairly, the African Youth Movement has said.
The movement’s executive director, Mr Chanoda Ngwira said it was unprofessional for the ACC to deliberately leak information about members of the public summoned to appear, before the concerned individuals even receive the summons.
Mr Ngwira said it was strange and very unprofessional that the media was being fed information about people summoned before the summoned.
He said this worrying trend should be probed as it was making the fight against corruption to appear as an orchestrated scheme to embarrass people, especially those aligned to the Patriotic Front (PF).
“It is very unprofessional to leak information on investigations because victims may subjected to the court of public opinion before even going through the due process of the law,” Mr Ngwira said.
He said this scenario was played out when former Lusaka Minister, Bowman Lusambo, was summoned to the ACC offices, where he ended up being locked up without a charge.
Mr Lusambo spent a night in the cells at Ridgeway, after being hand cuffed in front of the media, who were conveniently alerted.
This, he said, is not professional and goes to show that there is an ulterior motive for the summoning and generally for the fight against corruption.
He warned that the crusade was losing credibility because of such actions by the ACC officers, and called on government to consider a shakeup of the institution.
Meanwhile, governance activist Mark Simuwe has advised ACC officers to conduct themselves in a more professional manner in order not to be seen to be championing a deceptive fight against corruption.
Mr. Mark Simuwe has expressed concern that the Commission does not come out clear on some of the charges slapped on some of those that are being arrested for alleged corruption.
Mr Simuwe says once investigative wings arrest someone, it is no longer a secret, thus the need to make public the exact charges in order to avoid public speculation.
