AFRICAN Parliamentarians Network Against Corruption (APNAC) Zimbabwe chapter chairperson Willias Madzimure yesterday said organisations tasked to fight corruption in the country were highly incapacitated and there was inconsistency in legislation dealing with graft. VENERANDA LANGA
Speaking to NewsDay following commemorations of International Anti-Corruption Day held on Monday, Madzimure said local parliamentarians were worried that sparse resources allocated to the Anti-Corruption Commission had crippled its operations.
“The biggest challenge that this country is facing is that institutions that are supposed to fight corruption are either incapacitated or current pieces of legislation have not been amended to give them power to fight corruption,” Madzimure said.
“We are also worried about resource constraints at the Comptroller and Auditor General’s Office because it is very important in keeping government departments and State enterprises and parastatals to account for how they use the country’s resources through its audits.”
Madzimure said APNAC had failed to meet its set targets of fighting corrupt within the Executive and Legislature.
“Our greatest worry is that whenever corruption takes place, people who have the information about the misdeed are not prepared to be witnesses. There is need to have a Whistleblower’s Act to protect those who might want to report corrupt leaders,” he said.
He said Parliament and other institutions had failed to adhere to the requirements of the Constitution which stipulated public officials should declare their assets.
“The Constitution provides for a law that will compel every public official to declare their assets. Under the same provisions, there is a requirement to come up with a code of conduct for public officers and fact sheets about their accumulation of wealth as it is the only way we can hold them accountable. However, four months after the swearing-in of MPs this has not happened and it is a cause of concern.”
