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Morgan Tsvangirai

Perspective, Stephen Mpofu
Earlier this week Kenyan police fired teargas to disperse protesters against rampant corruption in the government with three people arrested in the eastern African country, one of the first few nations to gain independence when the “wind of change” blew across the African continent in the 1950s and 60s, uprooting British and other colonial regimes with taproots sunk deep into African soil.

Surely the powers-that-be elsewhere in Africa and in our own motherland will not smile at the generality of their law-abiding citizens taking to the streets as an eloquent statement of their abhorrence at the rot spreading its tentacles across the corridors of power in a cancerous manner?

Of course,  any rulers who respect the voters                           who put them in their honourable positions should know better than most that any protests amount to a vote of no confidence in those against whom the action is taken and that, worse still, repercussions  of demonstrations go beyond national boundaries and to the outside world with the result that potential investors decide to remain too close with their money rather than loosen their purse strings for the investment to land in the hands of those for whom their  belly is a god to worship.

Their government should act speedily rather than take a lackadaisical approach to end corruption which has apparently become endemic.

Government officials and others in Zimbabwe have repeatedly denounced corruption in the strongest words possible, but the scourge has so far appeared unstoppable, if continued protest voices against the graft are anything to go by. It is for this reason that measures to engender an ease of doing business culture are vigorously being pursued to make the country foreign investment-friendly.

Still, measures concomitant with making Zimbabwe an imperative investment destination must continue to be introduced and enforced by the Government to root out corruption in both public and private business and other institutions in the country.

Ideally, staff lifestyle audits, similar to that being carried out by the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra), and which have seen heads rolling over corruption, could be one of the ways adopted in the Government and its entities, the parastatals, as well as in local authorities.

MDC-T leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai has spoken of rampant corruption in some councils run by his party and threatened to fire those leaders whose image is tainted by the graft.

Leaderships of parties across the political divide might wish to agree on a common ethical code,  or adopt different ones but which still require those appointed to leadership positions to declare their assets, including money, and account for the sources of those possessions, and with periodic audits to ensure that the hands of the personnel in point remain impeccably  clean at all times.

It also becomes necessary to encourage and  reward other workers to also serve their employer as guardians of the law by blowing whistles against officers who dip their fingers in the pie to fill their own bellies while turning a blind eye to the welfare of fellow-citizens.

This pen believes that some way should be found without in any way violating the rights of individuals,  political as well as civic organisations, to ascertain the sources of foreign funding and purposes for which the money is meant.

This measure could help prevent illicit money the country’s enemies might try to use to destabilise our nation or specifically the Government in power to change it and replace it with proxies of foreign, imperialist powers.

The country’s apex bank is probably better equipped to monitor in the best way possible the accounts of suspect individuals and political organisations to ensure that their activities are above board and, therefore, not a risk to the country’s security.

Any law or measure introduced against corrupt or against any other social ill, for that matter, should be likened to, and treated like, a rake that clears the muck from all corners, dark or not to make our society clean.

Surely no government or private institution will succeed in any of their undertakings should they forfeit public respect due to corruption that goes unmasked and stamped out within their corridors.

What is even worse, social and economic stagnation is the ultimate malice caused by corrupt practices thriving in any society.

In our own country the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation is a blueprint with the potential to lead our nation to a brave new future and no form of graft should stand as a Rubicon against Zim-Asset.

It therefore behoves on all Zimbabweans to fight corruption and nail it wherever it rears up its repulsive head.