Government has welcomed the conviction of former Zambia Air Force (ZAF) Commander Christopher Singogo on charges abuse of authority of office and theft by public servant.

Lieutenant General Singogo was yesterday sentenced to six years imprisonment with hard labour by the Lusaka Magistrate Court.

Attorney General Mumba Malila said government was satisfied with the verdict, which he said would send a warning signal to corrupt leaders serving in both private and public institutions.

Mr. Malila said this when he responded to the questions from the press at Court Yard Hotel in Lusaka today.

He said even though the convict filed in an appeal against the verdict, government will ensure that the final verdict does not change in the appeal case.

He said government would ensure that corrupt leaders were brought to book.

Mr. Malila said government was working out modalities of enhancing accountability and transparency in both private and public institutions.

He has meanwhile welcomed calls by some sections of society to audit the Task Force on Corruption.

He said auditing the Task Force on corruption would help build transparency and accountability in the administration of public resources especially that the Task Force was handling huge government resources.

Meanwhile, Mr. Malila has called for effective collaboration in the fight against corruption in the country.

Mr. Malila, who has described effects of corruption in the country as far-reaching and disastrous, said close collaboration in the fight against corruption will increase knowledge among citizens on their involvement in curbing the scourge.

He said this in Lusaka today when he officiated at the three day workshop for Transparency Zambia International Zambia’s Advocacy and Legal Advice Centre (ALAC).

Mr. Malila said although Zambia performed well last year on the Corruption Perception Index, there was need for the members of the public to demand for high levels of integrity and accountability from public officers in order to stamp out corruption in the country.

And Transparency International Zambia president Reuben Lifuka, called on the current government to put in place extra remedial measures in order to curb corruption in all the sectors of the economy.Mr. Lifuka said as the country addresses the various challenges associated with the global economic and financial meltdown, there was need for Zambia to come up with innovative approaches of fighting corruption in the country.

He also welcomed the conviction of General Singogo saying it will act as a deterrent to would be corrupt leaders.

Mr. Lifuka said the conviction of General Singogo was a victory of justice.

He hoped that the other corrupt leaders could also receive stiffer punishment from the Courts of Law to ensure accountability and transparency in the administration of public resources.

The TIZ President further said that corruption in both the private and public sector was a major concern which needed concerted efforts to address.

He added that there was need for government to devise various interventions and strategies aimed at fighting corruption in the country.

ZANIS/TK/KSH/ENDS

By Philos Zambianos ([email protected])

You apply for land or title deeds and your file mysteriously goes missing and when you offer to pay the clerk something, they suddenly remember that they saw your file the other day and in five minutes they find it. You need a passport for a trip in 48 hours and you find yourself forking out two hundred pin to get it because it will normally take several weeks to get it. Then there is tender procedure which is always circumvented, behind-the-scenes deals having been struck prior to the advertisement of the tender. This is the reality of corruption in Zambia.

Despite the late president Levy Mwanawasa’s gallant “fight against corruption” crusade, the problem has become more entrenched and as was revealed in a 2007 publication called “Show Me The Money! : How government spends and accounts for public money in Zambia.” by Transparency International Zambia (co-authored by the Post Newspaper columnist Edem Djokotoe and Pamela Chama),it is alleged more money went missing in government during Mwanawasa’s first term in office than the entire ten years of former president Frederick Chiluba.

We all heard last year about the 36 billion Kwacha (more than US $7million) that was unaccounted for and for me, the funniest part (which is not so funny) was that in 2006, K40 million allegedly went missing from the Auditor General’s office! I seriously think that GRZ should be renamed CRZ (Corrupt Republic of Zambia).

Most of us Zambians believe that corruption is wrong, even though we engage in it in various forms during our lives. Whether it is paying off a traffic cop after over speeding or getting a drivers license without getting tested, we have all gone though the CRZ system. But I have come to the conclusion that engaging in corruption in a society like Zambia is not necessarily always wrong or immoral.

Now before you cast stones at me for promoting or tolerating corruption, let me hasten to say that I am resolutely against it. I have been the victim of it many a time during government tender procedures in which a three-month-old company is awarded the contract despite my company being vastly superior and more experienced. Moreover, corruption is wrong on moral grounds as it gives one party unfair advantage (which they did not earn by merit) over others.

I may appear to contradict myself since I have also stated that it is not necessarily wrong to sometimes engage in corruption in a country like Zambia. There is no contradiction and the reason is simple; you cannot practice full morality when force is used against you. The normal rules of morality cannot be fully applied to an immoral situation or system. A few examples will suffice to make this point clear.

Someone related a story of how he made a stop over in Lagos, Nigeria sometime in the early 80’s during a flight to Europe. He presented his passport to the immigration officer who flipped through it and gave it back saying “There is a page missing in your passport”. “What do you mean?” he asked the officer. “Next please!”

As the person stood there confused wondering that was going on, a Catholic priest behind him whispered in their ear, “He wants you to put some money inside your passport”. “Why should I bribe him just to stamp my passport when it is part of his job?” he asked. “Just do it unless you want to be here locked up for days”, came the reply. He grudgingly did what they were told and voila, the officer stamped the passport in triple quick time with a grin on his face.

Imagine you are arrested and detained by the police on some trumped up charges by someone who has paid the cops to lock you up. You know whatever they are holding you for is false and you are innocent. Do you sit it out in Zambian jails full of disease and starvation or do you also bribe the same (or more senior) cops to let you out?

You apply for a mining license and follow all procedures to the letter but some bureaucrat who wants a bribe sits on your application for months (or years) and in the meantime your preliminary operational costs keep increasing and all your competitors get their licenses quickly (having paid the bribe).

As you can see in all these examples, the common principle is that the situations fall outside the normal rules of morality because someone is using force against you. As one philosopher put it, “Morality ends at the barrel of the gun”.

If someone runs at you with a huge knife with the express intention of killing you, you have a right to self defence that supersedes the right to life of the person trying to kill you. If you kill them in defending yourself, we cannot say you have done an immoral thing by taking the life of another human being.

The bad guy lost his right to life the moment he decided not to respect your right to life by trying to kill you. This goes back to the principle of morality application I have explained above. The attempted murder situation is an immoral situation and we cannot apply normal morality rules. Otherwise every murderer would simply go out and kill everyone knowing that the victims could not fight back to defend themselves.

So the crux of the matter is this. If you live in an immoral system like Zambia where you have to bribe people to get things done (something which is not your fault), stop feeling guilty about it and start playing by the rules of the system. If you are a company, open a special “oil and grease account” and make it very fat because the higher up the food chain you go, the more rusty bureaucrats and other decision makers are. If you do not agree, get the hell out of Zambia. If you stay and decide not to play, be prepared for lifelong misery to your grave.

But this does not mean your soul should become corrupt by thinking it is normal to bribe people in all situations. Always avoid corrupting people if you can and only do it when force is used against you. If you are caught over-speeding on the road, pay the fine as an honest person and refuse to pay the traffic cop if they try to solicit a bribe from you (there is no force being used against you in this situation).

If you leave Zambia and go to a normal civilized society where merit is what counts, never try to bribe anyone.

Former Zambia Air Force (ZAF) Commander Christopher Singogo has been sentenced to six years imprisonment with hard labour.

Lieutenant General Singogo has been convicted on two counts of charges of theft by public servant and abuse of authority of office.

On the first count General Singogo has been convicted on charges of theft by public servant contrary to section 272 and 277 of the law of Zambia.

On the second count the former ZAF commander has been convicted on charges of abuse of authority of office contrary to section 37 and 41 of the Anti Corruption Commission Act of 1996.

He will serve the sentence concurrently.

Chief Resident Magistrate Charles Kafunda delivered the sentence Monday afternoon.

Earlier, magistrate Kafunda sentenced General Singogo to eight years imprisonment with hard labour.

He however reduced the sentence to six year’s after mitigation from the defense counsel.

Meanwhile General Singogo’s defense counsel has filed a notice of appeal.

The defense counsel comprising lawyers Kelvin Bwalya and Ganje Muhango also applied for bail.

Magistrate Kafunda however threw out the bail application, stating that there is no likelihood that the appeal will succeed.

And magistrate Kafunda has acquited General Singogo’s co-accused Captain Joseph Phiri.

Magistrate Kafunda alleged that General Singogo used deceptive means to buy two generators for the air force at a cost of K110 Million.

He said the former ZAF chief later installed the two generators at his private lodges in Livingstone and Lusaka.

ZNBC

The suspension of Zambian Airways operations has largely been attributed to the huge amounts of money it owes its creditors which now amounts to about US$25 million.

According to the latest edition of Executive Issues obtained in Lusaka yesterday, the airline had become bankrupt and its board and management had tried several rescue measures to resuscitate its operations but to no avail.

“Liquidation is the only answer, but even then the creditors will not recover their monies,” said a risk compliance manager of a local commercial bank.

The commercial bank for which the senior manager works is among other financial institutions that have been loaning the airline millions of dollars.

He said the US$25 million debt was mainly from big creditors and if other smaller suppliers added what they were owed, the whole amount could go beyond US$30 million.

“They will need a Government bail-out for them to survive but it is very unlikely that the Ministry of Finance will use State resources to keep a private airline in the midst of various problems affecting the country especially in the mining industry,” he said.

The directors of the airline are Post Newspaper editor, Fred Mmembe, Task Force on Corruption prosecutor and Lusaka lawyer, Mutembo Nchito, hotelier Gaudensio Rossi and Passmore Hamukoma who is board chairman.

“We hear three commercial banks are contemplating lifting the corporate veil on the airline so that directors and shareholders should be made accountable for the debts which have accumulated in recent years,” the manager said.

The shareholders of the airline are JCM Holdings owned by Mr Nchito and his brother Nchima, Seaboard which is a United States firm that owns and manages National Milling Corporation and the Post Newspapers.

The Post Newspapers injected US$3 million in the airline using a loan facility from Investrust Bank.

Executive Issues reports that attempts had been made to attract investors to buy the airline but most of them have not been impressed with its financial position which got worse when the global oil prices tumbled on the international market.

[Zambia Daily Mail]

To whom it may concern,

I am a youth leader in the Patriotic Front (PF). My concern is the behavior by which the Police Club in Chilenje has been operating.I have witnessed so many times that this place opens the tavern as early as 06:00hrs.This I strongly condemn. It seems that the Police have taken the law in their own hands by selling opaque beer [brown and white chibuku].I am therefore asking the local authority where ever they might be to immediately enforce the law at this Chilenje Police Tavern.

The drum used to store the opaque beer is so filthy.Even the toilets are very dirty and looking at the season in which we are I think people who drink from there are at risk of suffering from waterborne diseases among them cholera.The surroundings looks like the place where retrenched workers who have not been given their terminal benefits stay.

This is the place where the security personnel have been subjected to using [ulusasa].They have made for themselves thatched bathing rooms outside their houses.When you look at the walls of their houses you even wonder where the charges they collect goes to.

It would be nice to have the drainpipes connected so as to have running water. Lower ranked police officers should also be entitled to have nice bathing rooms.Lets have cabins scraped off as this contributes to the filth in the camp.There should be sanitation in all police camps.Now it is only few individuals who are on higher ranks who enjoy cleanliness.
Please I am appealing to the council to apply the law where it is due.Do not let corruption and fear of the unknown kill our country.The council should work hand in hand with the Chilenje Police Sub Inspector. Lets not act as if when burying our late president at embassy park we also buried the laws.It is only discipline to the law that can help the nation to move forward.Lets keep our country clean.

Yours

Concerned Zambian