EDITORIAL COMMENT: Men and women of integrity must be on Zacc team

It is often argued that one of the biggest reasons why corruption cases are high in the developing world is the general poverty among its people. 

If, for example, a magistrate on a US$100 monthly salary dealing with a case of corruption implicating a wealthy businessman is approached by that tycoon to set him free for a US$4 000 payment, it is highly likely that the magistrate will find a way to exonerate the rich suspect.  The underhand payment might be small change for the tycoon, but can be life-changing for the poorly-paid magistrate.  

There have been reports to this effect in our country.  We condemn that behavior for instead of being custodians of the law in the fight against graft some officials are in fact, its conduits. 

To deal with that risk, the Prosecutor-General’s Office is working with Treasury to ensure that officials involved in anti-corruption work get higher salaries and better working conditions as we reported yesterday.  

Prosecutor General, Mr Kumbirai Hodzi, speaking on Monday at an anti-corruption training workshop in Harare for the Judicial Service Commission (JSC), the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) and police said his office and Treasury are putting in place measures to ring-fence officers employed by special anti-corruption courts through paying them competitive salaries and allowances.  This is consistent with the Government’s belief that a well-remunerated judiciary will be difficult to compromise.

“The National Prosecution Authority has taken advantage of the immense political will in the country to fight corruption and had a meeting with President Mnangagwa together with Treasury,” said Mr Hodzi. 

“We agreed to take extraordinary measures to ring-fence all officers involved in anti-corruption work.  From now onwards, officers will be provided with adequate accommodation, transport and allowances to ensure that they are not compromised by criminal cartels.” 

Paying anti-corruption officials better is clearly essential.  It is, as Mr Hodzi said, unlikely for an official whose needs are all catered for by his or her employer to allow themselves to be compromised by the dirty among us.  The official already has a decent house in a quiet neighbourhood, his or her kids are at good schools and universities, drives a decent car or cars, enjoys regular holiday packages and lacks nothing.  Such an official is comfortable and has a higher sense of self-worth.  The good package motivates the employee to just do their work, reducing the chances of him or her demanding and accepting secret payments to throw away or weaken corruption cases.   

While poverty must not be an excuse for one to commit crime or to allow themselves to be compromised, we must acknowledge that some of us do not have the mental strength to do the right thing all the time.   It is these elements that the Government wants to attend to as it intensifies the anti-corruption drive.  This, indeed, is a war that the Government and the people of Zimbabwe do not want to lose, must not lose.       

But a better package only minimises chances of an official falling to the temptation of demanding and accepting bribes to compromise their work and personal integrity.  There is much more that must be set right so that officials are strong.      

We suggest that Mr Hodzi’s office, Zacc, JSC and police, before they employ any anti-corruption official, must undertake robust background checks on the prospective employees.  They must employ people who have demonstrated high personal integrity, people who are smart and have not engaged in dirty dealings before.  This must go far beyond the routine checks that we know are carried out to prove that someone has no criminal record before they are offered a job. 

Being so thorough is important because if, for example, Zacc or the NPA recruits a foreign currency dealer as an investigator, pays him the highest salary in the world, buys him a house in Borrowdale and pays school fees for his children at Peterhouse, the dealer mentality in the worker will not depart.  Such an employee might not have a criminal record, but is of suspect standing.   

In addition, before all anti-graft workers start work, they must declare their assets and sources of their revenues.  Such asset declaration must not end when the workers begin working for Zacc or the NPA but must be a yearly task.  This ensures that the employer is up to date with the asset accumulation of their workers.  If the employee accumulates more assets than they can explain or than their salaries or other legitimate, declared revenue sources can justify, that worker should immediately become a subject of investigation. 

Zacc, NPA, JSC and police must continue educating the anti-corruption officials on the dangers of engaging in corruption.  Yes, we know that their job is to curb the vice, but humanity is inherently fallible hence they must be reminded that they are always under pressure from outside forces who can do anything to clear themselves of corruption.

We feel that while the message must go out to the broader society for them to shun corruption, those charged with the responsibility of leading the fight against that vice must themselves be men and women of integrity.  If they fall short, the whole effort to eradicate corruption also falls short, spelling enormous adverse implications on national development. 

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