Salutations
Good morning ladies and gentlemen. It gives me great pleasure to welcome
you to TI-Z, and to the official media launch of the 2022 Zambia Bribe Payers
Index (ZBPI) survey.
As TI-Z, we have always held the conviction that the fight against corruption
is not the sole preserve of a single institution – be it government, private or
civil society- but requires the concerted efforts of a range of stakeholders
who leverage on each other’s collective strengths to design and implement
different interventions aimed at addressing this scourge. It is on this premise
that we have actively sought to collaborate with different entities, one of
which is the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) as evidenced today. This
tangible synergy is birthed when different stakeholders are driven towards
one cause.
TI-Z and the ACC have been conducting the ZBPI since 2014. The ZBPI is
a summary of a survey report that is published every other year, with the
intention of providing an empirical measurement of incidences of bribery in
government departments and parastatals in Zambia.
The last ZBPI was conducted in 2019, and the subsequent one, which was
scheduled for last year, was put on hold not only because of the 2021 general
elections, but also in view of the COVID pandemic, which was raging at the
time.
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Therefore, we are thrilled to be conducting the ZBPI this year, and to be
yet again collaborating with the ACC in this endeavor. The overall objective
of the 2022 ZBPI survey, which is already under way and will run up to
August, is to generate empirical anti-corruption data that will help
stakeholders to design and implement appropriate anti-corruption
interventions. Specifically, the 2022 ZBPI will seek to achieve the following
objectives:
- To assess the state of bribery (probability, frequency, prevalence,
severity, size and service delivery points where bribery is rampant) in
selected government ministries, departments and agencies; - To assess the progress being made in the implementation of anticorruption interventions/strategies by ACC and other stakeholders;
- To inform key strategies and approaches that can be adopted by
Zambia in order to reduce incidences of bribery in various institutions;
and - To recommend key strategies and approaches that can be adopted by
Zambia in order to reduce bribery in government institutions.
It is our hope that with these specific objectives, the 2022 ZBPI will generate
useful information that will contribute to the discourse on bribery, which is a
key form of corruption. Furthermore, we anticipate that both TI-Z and the
ACC will utilize the information generated from this survey as a basis for
engagement, advocacy, and implementation of more targeted interventions
in the wider fight against corruption. In the same vein, we are hopeful that
the survey will help the UPND administration to reflect on the efficacy of their
anti-corruption efforts thus far, and provide insights into what else can be
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done to recalibrate the broader anti-corruption fight in a manner that will instill
public confidence and trust in the process.
Lastly, we are also hopeful that the media will play a pivotal role in enhancing
public discourse around the key issues that will emerge from the survey, in
order to get members of the public involved in the wider fight against
corruption in Zambia.
As I conclude, I wish to reiterate TI-Z’s commitment to continue enhancing
collaboration with a range of stakeholders both in the public and private
sector, because it is only when we are united behind a common resolve that
we can make real progress in ridding Zambia of corruption.
We are looking forward to conducting a successful ZBPI, and we invite you
to share our optimism that this survey will help give greater impetus to the
anti-corruption fight in Zambia.
I thank you for your attention, and may God bless us all
