THE widening of the battle against corruption to include prevention as well as hunting down the lawbreakers is paying off for the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission which recently blocked two illegal transactions where parastatals were about to release US$18 million for services not rendered.
A major recent move to bolt the stable door before the
horse bolted and the money disappeared was the ZACC decision to get parastatals
and other State entities to establish integrity committees that fight and
prevent corruption at institutional level.
In this prevention mode, ZACC meets parastatals’ boards
almost weekly to exchange notes and to share ideas on how to stop corruption
happening in the first place rather than investigate after the money has been
stolen.
Such interaction has yielded positive results and saved the
State a total of US$18 million between mid last year and last month.
ZACC chairperson Justice Loice Matanda-Moyo said these
measures to stop corruption are yielding positive results.
“Recently, a parastatal was about to pay a certain company
US$15 million for a service that had not been rendered and we had to block it.
Invoices had been processed and the parastatal was about to pay when its board
raised the red flag and we assisted in blocking the payment,” she said.
Another incident occurred mid last year when ZACC
intervened and blocked the illegal payment of US$3 million by a State-owned
firm.
In both cases, invoices and paperwork had been processed
but some alert staffers reported the case to ZACC before the funds were
released.
Justice Matanda-Moyo said the commission was rolling out
the integrity strategy and implementation model framework to help boards of
directors prevent corruption at parastatals and other State entities.
“The commission has developed an integrity strategy model
framework that will assist boards to develop, implement and monitor the
integrity strategy as well as to operationalise the integrity committees.
“The integrity strategy model includes instruments, processes,
policies, conditions, systems and control requirements that public entities
should have in place to support integrity. The model encourages self-assessment
while creating governance controls which help identify, monitor and report
corruption matters,” said Justice Matanda-Moyo.
Boards of public entities are required to set clear rules,
regulations and policies dealing with integrity and prevention of corruption in
their organisations. The strategy emphasises due diligence before contracts are
signed, with the policy of full disclosure given a priority among others.
Boards are now expected to approve and render the necessary
support for the establishment of integrity committees and then the boards are
expected to report back to ZACC twice a year on the activities that promote
integrity and prevent of corruption.
ZACC this year met the boards of public entities to
introduce the integrity strategy model framework.
Starting with the two revenue collectors, the first meeting
was on March 21 with the Zimbabwe National Road Administration, which collects
road licence fees and the highway tolls and then two days later with the
Zimbabwe Revenue Authority, which collects the rest of the taxes.
That second meeting also drew in the Zimbabwe Energy
Regulatory Authority and the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe.
On March 28, ZACC met Printflow, Allied Timbers and CMED
Private Limited.
Boards of the Grain Marketing Board, Rural Electrification
Agency and the National Social Security Authority met ZACC on March 31 with the
boards of Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation and the Tobacco Industry and
Marketing Board on April 4.
The sixth meeting brought in Zimparks, NatPharm and TelOne
boards on April 7.
Most of the parastatals and State entities have thrown
their weight behind ZACC’s move, describing it as an effective way of fighting
corruption.
Zinara chairperson Mr George Manyaya hailed the initiative
saying his organisation had taken heed of the call to set up integrity
committees.
“We took heed of the call to form integrity committees as
we believe they are the solution to some of the malpractices that happened
before at parastatals.
“The rebranded Zinara is undergoing a culture change where
we are trying to preach the corporate governance and anti-graft gospel.
The symbiotic relations we have with ZACC are exciting and
we will ensure that we continue with this trajectory. Public funds belong to
the people of Zimbabwe and we must ensure that they are handled with probity.
“Of late, officers from our loss control department were
investigating cases and handing them over to ZACC for further investigation,”
said Mr Manyaya.
Zimparks spokesperson Mr Tinashe Farawo hailed the
relations between the Zimparks board of directors and ZACC saying it will go a
long way in curbing corruption.
“It is a good initiative and we support it. Corruption
retards economic growth and development. We support the move. We will continue
to support Government’s initiatives as we move towards Vision 2030,” he said. Herald
0 comments:
Post a Comment