27 May 2005
editorial
Lusaka — The comments made by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Chalwe Mchenga regarding the fight against corruption are a shocking, if not sad, reflection of the state of our country's fight against corruption.
It is unfortunate that the government's chief lawyer in matters of criminal prosecution can be so ambivalent to this important project. His refusal to openly support the fight against corruption, despite being pressed six times, is a clear indication that this man is against the fight, he is abdicating his duty. We say this because the job of the DPP is there for nothing else other than fighting crimes such as corruption. And corruption is the worst form of crime because of the extensive damage, collateral and otherwise, that follows in its wake.
We are talking of a crime that has the potential to destroy the whole system of the country's governance and value base. It is corruption in many ways that has put Africa where it is because where there is corruption, other vices spring up. There can be no development in an environment of corruption. And where there is no development, there is unemployment, poverty, destitution and all other sorts of things that lead to other crimes, big and small. All one needs to do is to go to our police cells and prisons to see what type of people are predominate - it is the poor, the unemployed and those without hope.
Corruption dehumanises people. It robs people of dignity and it sometimes even makes them act against their own interests because it focuses on petty and narrow agendas. Corruption does not work for the future or for the collective good of the community. It works for today and for narrow interests - usually the interests of those involved in it.
We saw how the Chiluba government used corruption to dehumanise professionals. This country lost one of its most talented, one of its best, legal brains - justice Matthew Ngulube - as a direct result of corruption. This good brain opened itself to the filth of Chiluba's corruption and got contaminated, losing direction. It will be very difficult for our country to again meaningfully benefit from the skills and talent of Matthew Ngulube. This is what corruption does to a nation. Corruption makes it impossible for professionals to exercise independent judgment even when they are offered protection, legal or otherwise.
It is baffling to see Mchenga failing to take responsibility for the operations of his own office, a man who enjoys security of tenure under our constitution. He should be able to exercise judgement and advise politicians without any fear. It is quite clear that this is not the case. And his attitude towards the fight against corruption does not inspire confidence in any way. It speaks of a timid man, a man frightened by what he considers superior authorities, whatever that means.
How can he fail, even in his personal capacity, to express support for the fight against corruption? What would be wrong if he did? After all, fighting corruption is his job. How can he say, "I 'm a functionary and I attend to everything I am given"? We are surprised that he claims to be a functionary suggesting that he does functions for somebody. The question is, who? Whose functionary is he? Where is he taking his instructions from? Who is pulling his strings?
It is unfortunately very clear that we have a puppet for a DPP, a man who is at the service of politicians. If the DPP was operating as he should, why should he fail to categorically dispel the allegations of interference in his job? Why should he refer the matter to the President or his spokesperson? What makes him so sure that they want to comment? Unless, of course, he knows very well what they did, or he is part of their game. If he acted professionally in Dr Kashiwa Bulaya's nolle, he would have been very free to explain his action in the light of the public outcry and would not bother to hide behind a constitutional provision that permits him not to explain his nolles.
But we are not surprised with Mchenga's attitude, knowing very well where he is coming from and how he worked with Chiluba's corrupt regime - prosecuting, or rather persecuting, the likes of the late Archie Malie, Dean Mung'omba, and many others, in what were clearly politically motivated baseless cases. How can such a person be expected not to give politically motivated nolles?
We feel sorry for him because he is doing a job that requires great principles and he is going to try and do it without any platitudes. We warned the nation when Parliament refused, on twisted lies piled on top of one another, to ratify that humble woman, Caroline Sokoni, who was then acting as DPP. The story coming out of Parliament was mixed and strange. There are some lessons that Parliament and the nation as a whole can learn from this. It was clear to us that Sokoni was not ratified to fix President Mwanawasa. It is unfortunate now that those who tried to fix Mwanawasa have fixed themselves.
Mwanawasa and his government should be fought when they do wrong things, but it is not necessary to fight for the sake of fighting, for the sake of just undermining them and weakening their hold on power. We must do things on the basis of principles and in an honest way. If Mwanawasa benefits, so be it, as long as we are not doing anything wrong. We highlighted in our editorial comments at the time that the arguments coming from Parliament on why the then acting DPP Sokoni could not be ratified were hollow and without basis. There seemed to be an invisible hand working against this humble woman. It is interesting now to hear Honourable Richard Kapita, who chaired the committee that ratified Mchenga's appointment, crying foul and expressing disappointment.
We are not saying we should have been believed for the sake of it. All we are saying is that Parliament should have done more honest work. We hope the comments by Mchenga will help them to reflect very deeply in their future undertakings. We say future undertakings because we are in no way advocating the removal of Mchenga. All we are trying to point out are wrong things. And it is not wrong to point out wrong things. We are not even attacking Mchenga. We are just pointing out facts and passing our opinions on them because the man's words speak for themselves.
In the future, we are confident the Zambian people will be able to judge who was right and wrong and who defended what interests. They will also be able to judge who, between us and our adversaries, betrayed public trust and did not perform his duty with sufficient honour and integrity. We have no doubt the time for this will come, and it is inevitable.
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