STATEMENT BY APNAC ON THE JUDICIARY TO PRIOTISE CORRUPTION CASES IN THE PROPOSED LIVE BROADCAST OF COURT CASES
21.09.2023
African Parliamentarians Network Against Corruption (APNAC) Zambia Chapter welcomes the announcement made by Chief Justice Mumba Malila that the judiciary is considering broadcasting live selected court cases that are of public interest.
We urge the judiciary to prioritize corruption cases which are of great interest to the public.
For a long time now Zambians have felt robbed when alot of corruption cases have not gone according to their expectations. Some have just gone mute or maybe adjourned indefinite. Broadcasting corruption cases live will therefore help the public to have instant first hand information as the cases unfold in court. We trust transparency is one of the core pillars in fighting corruption.
As APNAC Zambia Chapter we are therefore very delighted on the Chief Justice’s statement and fully support the idea of live broadcast for crime cases and more so on corruption and money laundering as prosecuted by the ACC and DEC.
It will definitely help the public to understand better how such cases are handled and why delays in concluding them when it happens. The public will then have enhanced continue in our judiciary when dealing with such cases.
APNAC Zambia is a non partisan network of Parliamentarians that addresses issues of corruption and promotes good governance. We are keen to see a number of pending corruption cases get to judgement stage and those found guilty jailed to deter others from committing similar crimes.
This more so where it involves public officers or politicians be it from the past or current government. Zambia’s corruption conviction rate for politicians remains one of the poorest in the world. Some cases even take as long as 5 years just to convict corrupt politicians and civil servants.There is need to improve on this score if the nation has to rid itself of corruption especially involving government and council coffers.
Africa is poor mostly because of some politicians that when people entrust them to manage public funds, they end up stealing it for themselves instead of spreading it to the poor through development projects.
The live court broadcasts should therefore priotise and focus more on courtrooms handling cases of politicians charged with corruption so that current and future ministers or civil servants are deterred from following similar acts.
Miles B. Sampa, MP
APNAC Chairman