ACC Reacts To Worsening Corruption Score
Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) acting public relations manager Dorothy Mwanza has reacted to the recent release of Transparency International’s latest Corruption Perception Index (CPI). The CPI suggests that corruption is worsening in Zambia as the country recorded a further drop in its score in 2019.
The drop of a point in the 2019 Index saw Zambia move from 35 to 34, ranking 113 out of the 180 countries included in the measure.
The drop follows a dismal performance in 2018 when Zambia dropped nine places, moving to 105th, after its score fell from 37 to 35 points out of 100. It was the first time Zambia had dropped by two points and nine places in one year.
Zambia has been on a downward trend since 2016. Commenting on the 2019 figure TIZ President Reuben Lifuka has stated, “in this election period, between now and the 2021 elections, we anticipate that corruption will even become worse as various players jostle for positions.”
In response Lifuka called for a strategy and a new blueprint for fighting corruption.
Chief Government Spokesperson Dora Siliya was reported as advising Zambians to get their statistics from the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) rather than foreigners. However, speaking on the results the ACC’s Mwanza stated that the CPI is the product of assessments by 13 institutions, including the Africa Development Bank, Economist Intelligence Unit and the World Bank.
“The perception provided by the CPI should not be ignored. It is necessary for the government to interrogate the identified problematic areas (TI recommendations) and develop interventions to deal with them and lead to a desired change,” Mwanza stated.
Areas of concern that require the surveyed countries’ government attention include “management of conflict of interest, controlling political financing, strengthening electoral integrity, regulating lobbying activities, tackling preferential treatment and empowering citizens,” she explained.
The ACC has published its own research on corruption, including the Zambia Bribe Payers Index Survey Report of 2019, which it published alongside Transparency International’s Zambia chapter. The 2019 report identified the Zambia Police Service as being the most corrupt public sector institution in the survey and pointed to an overall increase of 0.9% between 2017 and 2019. According to the findings the probability of paying a bribe sought or inducement of any kind to a public officer when seeking a public service is 10.9%.
“As is observed, the government is doing its part in the fight against the scourge. It is now a call upon each one of the stakeholders who include the media, the civil society, the general public and all not only to complain about corruption but play their part too in those fight with the national anti-corruption slogan, ‘a corruption free Zambia begins with me’,” Mwanza stated.
