By MUKOSELA KASALWE
ANTI-CORRUPTION Commission ( ACC) deputy director-general Irene Lamba says the organisation is working closely with the Auditor-General’s Office to quickly investigate those cited for irregularities in the Auditor General’s report.
Ms Lamba says investigations will be expedited to ensure culprits are quickly brought to book and made accountable.
“Our country is not poor but it is due to a few selfish individuals who misappropriate national resources.
“I urge the media to take a leading role to speak against corruption as they have a vital role to play,” she said.
Ms Lamba said this yesterday when she officially launched the ‘Action for Transparency Public Awareness Campaign’ project organised by Transparency International Zambia (TIZ) in Lusaka yesterday.
She said the fight against corruption should not be left to the government alone but that everyone must participate to end the scourge.
“Using the virtual network created in the project, 2,000 journalists, civil servants and civil society activists in Lusaka will join citizens in a public awareness campaign to fight corruption and mismanagement of public funding for schools and health clinics,” Ms Lamba said.
She is confident that the project will succeed and be rolled out to other provinces soon.
Deputy auditor general Ron Mwambwa said the government acknowledges that the ACC and other related institutions are key to stopping corruption.
“Good governance, transparency and accountability are needed in public offices,” Mr Mwambwa said.
And TIZ executive director Goodwell Lungu said the project is also running in Uganda and has been funded with US$2 million by the Swedish government.
“TIZ took a lead to conduct a public expenditure tracking survey on the health and education sectors to examine the leakage, misuse of resources allocated to them and how effectively public funds have been utilised to ensure that citizens have quality service delivery,” Mr Lungu said.