Transparency International Zambia (TI-Z) as an organization that is committed to the fight against corruption and the promotion of good governance takes particular interest in how public resources, including those of a financial nature, are managed. We are convinced that both Statutory Instrument No.97 of 2020 and its enabling Act, the Public Finance Management Act No. 1 of 2020, both provide a strong framework for the efficient management of public funds across all ministries and other government entities.
We are therefore disheartened with the results of our investigative work as featured in today’s The Mast newspaper concerning an alleged intricate network of organized looting that occurred at the Ministry of Finance between 2019 and 2021, involving amounts in excess of K100 million. Among the most serious revelations were those of five senior officers allegedly receiving close to K5 million in fictitious sitting and daily subsistence allowances over the two-year period concerned.
It also emerged through the same investigation that among several accounts that the Ministry of Finance operates is one that has primarily been used to pay fictitious allowances, and yet it appears that no such queries have been raised by the Office of the Auditor General to date. An attempt to raise such queries in 2019 apparently resulted in the dismissal of a named former Controller of Internal Audits.
Our concern about all these revelations is heightened by the fact that the suspected intricate network responsible for this alleged looting has reportedly been in existence for a long time, spanning three different governments, including the current one. As TI-Z, we have always been of the view that Zambia’s corruption problem is facilitated to a large extent by systemic weaknesses at different levels of public finance management, and the findings from this investigation appear to confirm this.
In light of this, TI-Z makes a passionate call to Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) and oversight bodies such as the Office of the Auditor General to not only take interest, but also urgently look into this matter. We also urge the general public, the media and fellow Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) to join our call for accountability on this alleged looting of public resources.
Although the alleged activities highlighted happened during the previous regime, the systemic apparatus that facilitated the looting apparently remains active to date, and the need to take appropriate action to dismantle it cannot be overemphasized. We are confident that necessary action will be taken in order to insulate our country’s public resources from being looted indiscriminately by people whose sole objective is to enrich themselves at the expense of the majority Zambians who continue to yearn for good social service delivery to make their lives better.
Maurice K. Nyambe
Executive Director
