CAAC Criticizes Zambia’s Corruption Fight
Community Action Against Corruption (CAAC) has raised concerns about the state of the fight against corruption in Zambia, alleging that the country’s efforts have collapsed under the current regime.
In a statement released on November 29, 2024, Brightone Tembo, the CEO of CAAC questioned the government’s commitment to genuine anti-corruption actions, claiming that the selective imprisonment and asset forfeiture of former regime officials does not reflect a true effort to combat corruption.
Mr. Tembo argued that the International and Donor Communities are beginning to recognize the lack of progress in Zambia’s corruption fight. He expressed concerns that, due to ongoing scandals and poor results from government institutions like the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC), support from donor countries may begin to dwindle.
He also pointed to reports from the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) which show that the money recovered by the ACC and DEC is dwarfed by the scale of corruption under the current regime.
Mr. Tembo emphasized that corruption is rampant in government ministries, citing the latest scandal at the Ministry of Health, yet the ACC and DEC have not taken action against high-ranking officials.
Highlighting the selective nature of the current corruption fight, Mr. Tembo criticized the failure to investigate government officials, such as the Solicitor General, who have been implicated in corruption but remain in office.
He accused the UPND government of focusing only on punishing members of the previous regime while protecting their own.
Mr. Tembo further said that the current fight against corruption has lost its mandate of non-selectivity and has become a one-sided effort aimed at punishing former regime officials while shielding those close to the UPND government.
