TIZ urges govt to make operational integrity committees

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Transparency International Zambia (TIZ) says the country has continued to record high cases of corruption despite the formation of integrity committees in government departments.

TIZ Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, Tendai Nkhandu says government departments should ensure that the integrity committees are operational and contribute to a reduction in cases of bribery and other forms of corruption in the public service.

Speaking at a Zambia Bribe Payers Index (ZBPI) information sharing meeting in Chipata, Mr. Nkhandu noted that Zambia’s corruption perception has continued to be bad and stressed the need to scale up efforts to fight graft.

He notes that most institutions have recorded an increase in corruption cases from 8.5 in 2014 to 10 percent in 2017.

Mr Nkhandu states that this represents an increase of 1.5 percent.

And ACC Regional Manager, Nkandu Chipinda underscored the importance of the ZBPI in the fight against corruption as it provides an empirical measurement of incidences of bribery in government departments and the private sector.

Ms. Chipinda noted that data contained in the report is valuable to the commission and other stakeholders in drawing up programmes aimed at tackling the corruption scourge as well as provide valuable input for targeted advocacy programmes.

She encouraged public institutions to use the findings of the ZBPI to fight graft and the media to disseminate the information to the public so that all stakeholders are well informed.