What is corruption?

According to the OECD, the most commonly used definition of corruption is “the abuse of public office for private gain”.

Transparency International amplifies this definition further by differentiating between "according to rule" corruption and "against the rule" corruption. When a bribe is paid to receive preferential treatment for something that the bribe receiver is required to do by law, constitute the former. The latter is the case when a bribe paid to obtain services the bribe receiver is prohibited from providing.

Armed with these definitions, it is very easy to understand why corruption has become endemic in our society. A trip to the Ministry of Lands or ZRA offices would uncover the required evidence. There are generally two kinds of corruption prevalent in Zambia. The low level corruption where one pays a small amount of money (or uses a personal connection) to expedite a process (e.g. get a form signed) and then there is the high level corruption where perhaps a Minister uses his position to make sure that the road leading to his Guest House is repaired.

The high level corruption is sometimes difficult to detect and requires law enforcement agencies to conduct investigations to gather the evidence and take the culprits to court. However, low level corruption is everywhere! It is a way of life. If you go to the “Public Enquiries” window at the Ministry of Lands you are likely to be told to “come tomorrow”. But if you know a friend of a friend you’re ushered straight into an office and your papers are looked at. This is pattern is being repeated everyday at most public offices across the republic. Someone once told me “you can’t feed your family on patriotism”. So faced with the “come tomorrow” syndrome most of us simply take the easy route and find a way of getting the public officers to expedite the process. This is undoubtedly unhelpful in the fight against corruption but the system looks so rotten that it is difficult to see a way out.

Then there is public procurement. In an internet age, it should be easy for public procurement officers to have a pretty good idea how much goods sourced from outside Zambia should cost. It is shocking to discover how the growing industry of “supplying to the government” is basically ripping off Zambian tax payers. Goods and services that should cost hundreds of pounds suddenly cost thousands. There even examples of second hand goods (refurbished) being supplied when the original tender required brand new goods. Where are the checks and balances?

The PANEL.