Let’s be stern on corruption now! Corruption is fast growing deeper roots in Zimbabwe while we are watching. One wonders when this rot will be eventually curtailed by the authorities. The public perception at the moment is that corruption has been officialised. There are sacred cows which are the untouchables that they get away with any form of corruption. Despite the magnitude of clarity of the moral blameworthiness in violation of public interest and social fabric, they continue to move onto better strength. The typical and ugly example at the moment is the Premier Medical Aid Society (PSMAS), Chief Executive Officer, Cuthbert Dube. He was recently fired as the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) board Chairperson alongside his incompetent counterparts for accelerating the collapse of the national broadcaster. In the face of all such overwhelming testimony of a total reality of failure, he continues to rip-off PSMAS of all its financial resources to such an extent that it becomes bankrupt. Its membership is denied the medical attention they deserve. They are required to pay cash up-front and reclaim the money from the society later. It’s a myth to receive refunds. So why should the Government permit this embattled organization to continue existing? For how long should employees, especially public servants, who constitute greater, part of the membership to be robbed of their hard-earned cash? Civil servants are on record for being the least paid workers in the country, but they are at the same time easy prey by high-powered predators like Dube. PSMAS is insolvent that they are reported for failing to renew their operating licence because all funds ate gobbled by the wage bill for the management. Dube earns US$ 250 000 per month, statistically, at the end of each year he will have earned a whooping US$ 3 million. How insane are these people that they find it prudent to slaughter the goose which lays the golden eggs? If they neglect the membership till they die out, how do they wish to realize their existence there-after? We urge the Government to take stern measures against this well orchestrated and officialised form of corruption which robs public of their natural right to health care. President Robert Gabriel Mugabe declared zero tolerance on corruption while officially opening the first session of Zimbabwe’s 8th Parliament in Harare last year. He vowed zero tolerance on corruption in all facets of the country. He warned that his new Government will crack the whip on high-level graft, “High-level corruption is costing the government dearly in terms of funds, and lost opportunities as programmes and projects are never finished. The law will descend heavily on those who abuse funds,” President Mugabe said. We are quite anxious to see when this whip will crack on the backs of Cuthbert Dube, ZBC Chief Executive Officer who is on suspension, Happison Muchechetere, and the former minister of Media, Information and Publicity Webster Shamu. Certainly these figures have cases to answer about the organizations they have been running. ZBC is alleged to be paying wages to ghost workers, and paying salaries to spouses of big guys in the corporation who are doing household chores at home. We need them to be subjected to a transparent and accountable process of forensic audit in line with their regulatory guidelines so as to evaluate on their proper duty execution with impartiality. If they are clean, I wish them to be exonerated, and then we explore other options which expose why these public utilities are performing badly. If these are due to institutional policies or other things, then we need them to be rationalized in order to restore sanity which has become so scarce in our society. The Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) redeployed 33 traffic police officers from Avondale Police Station who were suspected of corruption in the course of their duty execution. Was this the correct way to deal with corruption? Ideally each officer was supposed to be investigated individually and then ascertain the actual charges associated with each of them. By transferring these officers without establishing the specific corrupt role played by each of them, ZRP relocated the problem to some parts of the country as defined by their new work stations. Or, some of them were purely innocent! The aspect of one brush paints all is equally bad if not corrupt. Or those who were guilty should have been arrested, charged, judged and sentenced accordingly. Or total dismissal from the force to send the correct signal to would perpetrators of similar offences. Therefore, ZRP’s actions cultivated the epidemic of corruption. If the police operates that way, who is going to enforce the corruption laws correctly? World Bank says corruption is “the abuse of public office for private gain.” The vice of corruption in Zimbabwe is the abuse and plundering of public resources to enrich well connected people at the detriment of national interest. During the tenure of the Inclusive Government, Members of Parliament from across the divide abused the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) which the Government introduced in 2010. Shamefully, none of all those who embezzled the funds ever came before the jury to answer for theft. Talk of investigations circulated and ultimately died a natural death. So where is the missing link on effectiveness and efficiency in curtailing corruption in our country? It is refreshing to note that, President Mugabe confided that there will be a Constituency Development Fund Bill to be debated by the 8th Parliament this year. The Bill, once passed into law, will make it mandatory for members of Parliament to account for the CDFs entrusted on them by the government for development in their constituencies. President Mugabe pledged that air-tight and stringent measures to smash corruption, foster accountability, and effective service delivery from all departments of government. We all pray that the President’s call for the establishment of relevant structures ear-marked to buster the spread of corruption would be bolstered through the establishment of the National Prosecution Authority as prescribed in the new Constitution as he said. The renewed Anti-Corruption Commission unity will be re-aligned in conjunction with the provisions of the new Constitution. I believe this has been long overdue to come and rescue Zimbabwe against gross corruption levels which are bedeviling us day and night with little hope for permanent haling. President Mugabe is quoted as saying “No matter how powerful someone thinks he is, or how many friends he thinks he has in Government, corruption allegations will be investigated and the truth found. And if those allegations are proved, then the person will no doubt go to jail.” This is the only source of hope at the moment. Let’s hope those endowed to apply this declaration by His Excellence President Robert Mugabe will do so diligently and with sharpened commitment to ensure that we mop-up the rot in our society. I salute His Excellence, President Mugabe for declaring war on corruption! Let us say ‘NO’ to it, and report all its symptoms to the law enforcement authorities. Getting arms against corruption is the most prudent aspect for our society in the contemporary period
Posted on: Thu, 23 Jan 2014 11:45:41 +0000
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