Public Accounts Committee welcomes RB's position on Corruption

Corruption is continuously growing in Zambia as more revelations are made of rampant abuse of office by civil servants.The Public Accounts Committee of Parliament has commended President Rupiah Banda for directing Secretary to the Cabinet, Joshua Kanganja and law enforcement agencies to work together and get to the root cause of alleged corrupt practices in Government.

Committee chairperson, Charles Milupi, said in Lusaka yesterday that the president’s move to call for forensic investigations into abuse of public funds was a positive indicator of the Government’s commitment to fight corruption.

Milupi, who is Luena member of Parliament, said in an interview that it was encouraging to note that the president had come out strongly to condemn abuse of public resources. He said the call for forensic investigations into abuse of public funds illustrated the political will which citizens needed from the highest level of the political hierarchy in the country. He said that corrupt practices diverted national resources to selfish personal gain at the expense of national development.

Milupi noted that when a person stole from the Government, it derailed the social and economic development of the country.
He called on the public to develop a culture of zero-tolerance of corruption.

And Youths Against Corruption (YAC) has expressed dismay at reports of misappropriation of public resources. YAC executive director, Rickson Kanema, said the youth in the country were appalled that public resources had been abused by some selfish Government employees. Kanema called for stringent measures so that abusers of public resources could be severely dealt with to deter would-be offenders.