ZAMBIA DROPS ON CORRUPTION RANKINGS

By Paul Shalala in Berlin, Germany

An expert on corruption in African countries has observed that Zambia’s drop on the international rankings on corruption shows that the southern African country needs to step up its fight against the vice.

Annette Jaitener, who is senior programme coordinator for Africa and the Middle East at Transparency International Headquarters in Berlin, Germany says the results of the 2010 Corruption Perception Index indicate that Zambia has not improved from its previous rankings in 2009.

Ms Jaitner says the perception of most Zambians is that a lot has to be done by the authorities as there is still a huge problem of graft in the country.

Ms Jaitner said this when she addressed a group of African and Asian journalists who visited Transparency International headquarters this morning in Germany.

According to the 2010 Corruption Perception Index which was released by Transparency International in Germany a few days ago, Zambia is now ranked 101 less corrupt country in the world after having slipped two places backwards from number 99 in 2009.

Meanwhile, the Zambia Police Service has been classified as the most corrupt public institution in Zambia.

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According to Transparency International’s 2010 Global Corruption Barometer, most Zambians are of the view that the Police is more corrupt than other public institutions.

Other public institutions considered more corrupt in Zambia according to the poll results are political parties, civil servants, the legislature, and the education system, among others.

The Barometer bases its findings on interviews conducted with more than one thousand Zambians between July 1 and July 10 last year across the country.

Further, the Barometer also reveals that 48 per cent of Zambians interviewed last year felt that the Rupiah Banda-led MMD government was ineffective in its fight against corruption.

Of those interviewed, only 40 percent felt the previous government was effective while 12 percent felt the MMD government was lukewarm in its anti-graft fight.

During the previous government, the international community and local civil society organizations condemned the state for its relaxed anti-graft fight which led to the disbandment of the Taskforce on Corruption, a body that had been investigating and prosecuting corruption cases dating back to 1991.