There’s too much corruption in service provision in Zambia, says Caritas

Caritas Chipata governance unit programmes coordinator John Mthaziko Zulu says there is too much corruption in service delivery in Zambia.

And Chipata City Council public relations manager Kameko Manda says the local authority is aware of people’s perception about the council.

In an interview during the local government week which ended on Friday, Zulu said one way of fighting corruption was to ensure that whistleblowers were protected.

“We have failed to protect whistle blowers in Zambia and this is why when people see corruption they are not willing to go and report to relevant authorities because at the end you want to make the same people witnesses, as if you have committed a crime to report a crime,” he said.

And Manda said the local authority was promoting an open door policy where people could know its operations.

“Many people have this perception about the local authority as being corrupt, so we are promoting an open door policy where people will know all our operations and people will have information so that the negative perceptions change to a more positive one. When you avail information to your client or citizens they would be able to understand why certain things are done in a certain way, so suspicions and rumours reduce drastically,” she said.

Manda said the local government week also accorded the local authority an opportunity to get ideas from members of the public on how best they could provide service.

The local government week started on August 3, 2018 and ended last Friday.

Source: The Mast