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Corruption in Zambia - The Quest for a Successful Struggle
As we all know corruption is one of the biggest challenges to sustainable economic development in all African countries, Zambia being no exception. The newly elected president Michael Sata spoke on the issue:
“I am sounding a timely warning that my Government has taken a zero tolerance against corruption in both the public and private sectors. Those who allow themselves to engage in corruption must know that they are taking a serious risk and that once caught they will be prosecuted irrespective of their status or position.”
Although president's words are undoubtedly reassuring, Chola Mukanga, the founder of The Zambian Economist, suggests that more realistic goals are needed to be set in order to reallywin in the fight against corruption that has pervaded the nation and the continent for decades now.
Learn more in Mr. Mukanga's essay Corruption in Zambia - The Quest for a Successful Struggle (originally published here) and share your thoughts with us!
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Comment by Sarah Grant on December 25, 2011 at 3:31am -
I like how Chola addresses the need to specifically define "Success" with regard to the fight against corruption. When envisioning the world we want to create it is often tempting to place goals in broad black and white categories using vocabulary such as "eliminate", "stamp out", and "defeat." Real and deep change certainly takes a long time and I am much more interested in the process of fighting corruption and the methods for dealing with and learning from challenges that may come up.
I wonder if the government of Zambia has any information gathered from public surveys on what corruption means to the people of Zambia and what changes they would like to see. I have honestly thought before that if I were a government worker and not being paid and had a family to feed if I would not also ask for bribes. However the range of people who are skimming money and for what reasons varies across the economic spectrum. So it also seems appropriate to consider the motivations of those who are stealing money from the public, NGO's and government.
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