Corruption should not be tolerated by the general public as it undermines democracy and good governance. THE Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) has called on the public to report any incidences of corruption as it lowers the quality of service delivery in the country.
Speaking in an interview with the Lusaka Star, ACC Education Officer, Salome Zulu said all forms of corruption should be reported to the ACC if the fight against corruption is to be successful.
Ms. Zulu said a corrupt society would never develop because corruption scares away investors who may wish to invest in the country.
“The process of doing business may be compromised by corruption as both local and foreign investors may not be willing to invest in the country for fear of corrupt practices,” she said.
Ms. Zulu explained that corruption undermines the rule of law and should never be entertained in any way if a country is to enjoy democracy.
She added that a country with high levels of corruption usually experiences high crime rates and weakened morals of society.
And Ms. Zulu said in its bid to curb corrupt practices, ACC has introduced extra- curricular clubs in High schools as well as community talks on how corruption occurs as well as how it can be prevented .
“In schools, people may pay illegal fees to get a place even when the pupil has failed or even buy the so called linkages which may ending up deceiving them with fake results,” she said.
Ms. Zulu said the purpose of these clubs and community talks is to empower the pupils general community with detailed information on corruption and encourage them to tell their friends and relatives.
She also explained that corruption leads to under development as most people feel that only those involved in corrupt practices would get employed.
Ms. Zulu said corruption leads to unfairness and inequality in the education system as highly qualified people may be left out when it comes to the process of recruitment.
“Sometimes ACC sits on job recruitment panels to see how recruitment is done in order to know how qualified the job seekers are to avoid any forms of corruption,” she said.
Ms. Zulu has since encouraged the general public to participate fully in the fight against corruption as well as report all incidences of corruption as corruption frustrates social, economic and political development in the country.