The fight against graft and corruption

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Graft and corruption have been scourges that have threatened the progress of Zambia for a long time. Subsequent governments have vowed to fight corruption but it has never been as prevalent as it is now.
The constitution provides for state institutions whose mandate includes detecting, investigating and prosecuting instances of corrupt practices.
The conundrum is, with a great passion to fight corruption initiated by the President and with independent institutions tasked with fighting corruption, why does it keep getting worse?
The Anti Corruption Commission(ACC) is in the forefront of the fight against corruption. Their mandate is not only to initiate, receive and investigate complaints of alleged or suspected corrupt practices but also to examine the practices and procedures of public and private bodies in order to facilitate the discovery of opportunities of corrupt practices. It is also tasked with securing the revision of methods of work which in its opinion may be prone or conducive to corrupt practices.
This means the ACC's mandate transcends mere prosecution but also involves making changes to public systems to ensure instances of graft and corruption are reduced and eventually phased out.
Even though a war against corruption has been declared, the ACC have lacked effectiveness and efficiency in performing their role. Currently, out of the 588 cases they have investigated in the recent past only 85 were prosecuted and a mere 2 were convicted.
The ACC has also shown an unwillingness to prosecute the main perpetrators of corruption insisting otherwise on prosecuting people we would consider 'small fish'. It is not a coincidence that investigations against high ranking officials simply disappear. This poses the question; are they really independent and if not, who sets their limitations?
Another institution tasked with helping in the fight against graft and corruption is the office of the Auditor General(AG). Their role is to perform audits on public accounts of state organs, state and private entities to ensure that public monies have been fully accounted for. Also to ensure that monies have been expended for the purposes for which they were appropriated and, programmes and activities have been undertaken with due regard to effectiveness in relation to resources utilised and results achieved.
The AG reveals all of its findings in yearly reports submitted to the Public Accounts Committee of the national assembly. However, even though the reports have shown serious problems in the operations and control systems of state organs for a long time, very little is done in terms of rectifying these situations.
The last AG's report(2015) revealed outstanding issues from as far back as 2004. This shows that all the alleged willpower to end graft and corruption espoused by public officials is mere rhetoric not backed by real action.
The indecisive bureaucracy which is a mainstay of our institutions has led to a situation where it is not clear what further action to be taken from the findings of the AG.
Our country has the resources to greatly reduce the instances of graft and corruption but this can only be achieved if institutions tasked with the job are allowed to be truly independent and if these institutions also perform their duties to the best of their abilities without fear or favour. Otherwise they will be nothing more than a constant waste of vital resources.

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