10 November 2009
A LEADING private investigator has said the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has the capacity to fight corruption and the infusion of the Taskforce on Corruption into the institution will further enhance its ability to combat the scourge.
And independent economic analyst, David Punabantu has said the ACC is better placed to fight corruption than the Taskforce on Corruption because it is a well-established system, which needs strengthening.
Vanguard Investigations Limited Managing Director James Kasamanda said in an interview in Lusaka yesterday that the Taskforce on Corruption had not even been disbanded but infused into the ACC.
"What it means is that the capacities for the Taskforce and the ACC have been enhanced following the fusion," said Captain Kasamanda, who is Association of Private Investigations and Security Organisations president.
Capt Kasamanda observed that except for the executive chairperson whose contract was not renewed by the Government, most of the people who served in the Taskforce had been retained.
Captain Kasamanda said where the ACC would require special expertise, it would engage other people, including foreign experts.
He said the fact that the ACC had taken over all the Taskforce files meant it would continue pursuing all the pending cases and therefore the question of disbanding it did not arise.
On the way forward, Capt Kasamanda urged the ACC to become more proactive and start investigating corruption instead of waiting for people to report the cases.
He said the commission should set an intelligence wing to undertake undercover or covert operations against corruption saying that was the only way to fight the scourge.
In a separate interview in Lusaka, Mr Punabantu said Patriotic Front (PF) spokesperson Given Lubinda and other people opposed to the infusion of the Taskforce into the ACC should know that even the Taskforce at one time had no capacity to fight the scourge.
He said people should stop thinking that the disbanding of the Taskforce meant discontinuing the fight against corruption.
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