CORRUPTION has been endemic in many African countries depriving people of the much-needed resources for development to help reduce poverty which has been haunting most African countries for decades.
Even in Zambia, the country is now emerging from what would have been described as rampant corruption administrations.
However, the country has put up a concerted effort against corruption under the current administration.
In Africa the effects of corruption are more severe on the poor who cannot afford alternative public services and rely on public services since they cannot manage private services, which are usually costly.
Corruption has robbed many nations of resources meant for provision of services to people or business entities and they end up with shoddy and sometimes dangerous services.
In the previous government after Zambia introduced multi-party politics, corruption started emerging on a higher level to an extent that some donors threatened to withhold aid.
It is therefore encouraging to see the current PF leadership under President Sata waging a concerted fight against corruption since coming into power.
This is why we welcome Director of Public Prosecutions Mutembo Nchito’s call that we should fight against graft, which he says has the ability to cripple nations in Africa.
As he put it, “Corruption is a tax on the poor. We are all deeply concerned on the spread of corruption, which is a virus capable of crippling governments, discrediting public institutions and having a devastating impact on human rights.”
He said this when he addressed the third International Association of Prosecutors’ conference that was looking at the role of prosecutors on corporate crime.
Corporate crime has become a growing menace to many developing countries including developed countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
Multinational corporations in poor countries use tax evasion, corruption and other mechanisms to rob Africa of its revenue which should be used for development.
Therefore the advice from Mr Nchito that we should fight corruption must be taken seriously so that resources can be used for development.
But the fight against corruption is not easy because this is a complicated crime which requires skills and patience since it poses challenges to prosecute.
We have seen this in some cases against corruption going on in the courts, but despite this hurdle, with determination, justice can be delivered to people so that corruption is curbed.
President Sata is spearheading the fight against corruption and it is important that all stakeholders come on board so that the scourge is curbed to reserve resources for development.
Zambians have witnessed a lot of plunder of national resources previously and this is why we have had so money cases of corruption amidst losses of huge sums of money.
To avoid going backwards to a similar quagmire which had worsened Zambia’s poverty situation, every stakeholder must up their game against graft.
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