Law on asset declaration is inadequate – Kaaba

Law on asset declaration is inadequate – Kaaba

SOME of our law simply requires (one) to declare when you come into office and when you leave but then what happens in between, wonders former Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) board member O’Brien Kaaba.

Dr Kaaba noted the need for a comprehensive legal framework regarding the declaration of assets as a way of fighting corruption.

He said this during a high level public discussion forum on lifestyle audits and asset declaration mechanisms organised by Transparency International Zambia (TI-Z) and Chapter One Foundation in Lusaka on Thursday.

“When trying to frame comprehensive legislation on asset declaration there are five things you need to focus on. The first one is you need a comprehensive legal framework unlike the current situation where we don’t have a comprehensive legal framework in dealing with all the key current members in government…” he said.

Dr Kaaba added that the law is inadequate in terms of what should go into declaration “identity.”

“The second is the content and frequency of declarations. The current law is inadequate in terms of what should go into declaration identity when it covers assets and liabilities…” he said. “Some of our law simply requires (one) to declare when you come into office and when you leave but then what happens in between? That makes it difficult to use this law as a tool for checking on how people are living, whether their current way of living is consistent with their level of income or not.”

He also said the level of officials who should make declarations should also come to play.

“So you know that our laws, some of the key people who should be captured by the law are not. So the President himself is not required to declare his assets except during elections as a candidate. But then that is for purposes to run as an electoral candidate and not for the purposes of accountability and fighting corruption,” he noted. “The law does not cover military personnel, judges and other senior officials as it exists now. So there is a weakness in that some of the key people who are exposed to the likelihood of corruption… they should be covered but they are not covered by the law.”

Dr Kaaba said when one is thinking of the level of officials, they should not just be thinking about public officials.

“But also there should be a mechanism in the law for cascading the requirement when need arises… other officials who might play a key role or facilitate… such as the people in procurement or accountants,” said Dr Kaaba. “In Mauritius the law, for example, allows that the requirement for declaring assets could be extended to other officials when the need arises. So currently they extended that to prison officials. I think one of the issues they were dealing with is to do with drug cartels. People could be in prison but they continue running their businesses from prison…”