STOP FUNDING ACC
…Opposition urges donors to withhold aid over bias
By Thandizo Banda
THE opposition has appealed to cooperating partners such as the European Union (EU) and the United States (US) government to immediately halt funding and technical support to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) because it is biased.
Patriotic Front (PF) chairman for information and publicity Emmanuel Mwamba said ACC no longer served the nation but a political weapon in the hands of the United Party for National Development (UPND).
Continued funding to the agency was tantamount to empowering an institution that had been weaponised and had degenerated into harming the fight against corruption.
“The shock announcement that the Anti-Corruption Commission has halted or cleared senior Cabinet ministers and government officials who were under serious investigations requires immediate action,” he said.
Mwamba said the US government should rethink its funding to the ACC.
“The United States government provides substantial support through existing memoranda of understanding (MoUs) focused on strengthening governance and transparency,” he said.
“The United Kingdom contributes via initiatives such as asset recovery programmes managed through the British High Commission and multilateral institutions like the African Development Bank [AfDB] and the European Union [EU] that collaborate on specific anti-corruption and public financial management projects and the European development agencies which has been giving historical and ongoing support, have been provided by agencies such as SIDA [Sweden], DANIDA [Denmark], NORAD [Norway] and GIZ [Germany] to immediately suspend funding to the Anti-Corruption Commission.”
Mwamba said the fall of the fight against corruption happened when President Hakainde Hichilema dissolved the Musa Mwenye-led ACC board that demanded equal treatment of corruption cases, both old and new, as provided for by the law.
He said the demand angered Hichilema, who immediately dissolved the board.
“The Musa Mwenye board had demanded action against corrupt ministers and senior officials in the current administration such as Solicitor General Marshal Muchende and others who were reported to the ACC,” Mwamba said.
He said the refusal by Hichilema to suspend officials who were facing corruption investigation was a clear sign of a lack of commitment to the fight against the crime.
“The crisis was compounded by the appointment of retired Supreme Court judge Evans Hamaundu and Daphne Pauline Chabu. These two individuals have had connections to the UPND, and the [current] ACC director general was a UPND card-carrying member,” Mwamba said.
He said Chabu was partisan because she had previously aspired to stand as a member of Parliament under the UPND ticket.
“Further, retired Justice Evance Hamaundu, whilst serving the Supreme Court, was accused of receiving a bribe and taken to the Judicial Complaints Commission [JCC],” Mwamba said.
He said the news that ACC had cleared senior government officials accused of corruption and fraud confirmed long-held fears that the two could not fight corruption.
“The other cases that the ACC has dropped include the public investigations against mining giants Glencore and First Quantum Minerals regarding suspected and irregular donation of US$3 million to the former ruling party, the Patriotic Front and alleged similar donations made to the UPND during the same period,” Mwamba said.
