By Peter Sukwa
FORMER justice minister Given Lubinda says the PF government did not avoid operationalising the Public Protector for fear that it would be used against them in the pursuing corruption issues.
Lubinda instead accused the UPND government of making the Public Protector weak.
He said people who were interested in the operations of the Public Protector should worry about the reversal of the office from a parliamentary to an Executive ombudsman by the UPND government.
He alleged that the UPND government had decided to take back the Public Protector’s office again to be an Executive ombudsman where officers would be reporting directly to President Hakainde Hichilema.
“Citizens have to be worried that we are taking 10 steps backwards in so far as good governance is concerned. The President is now in total control of the office of the Public Protector against international good practice which dictates that the Public Protector must be independent,” Lubinda charged.
He said former president Edgar Lungu assented to article 243, Act 15 of 2016 to operationalise the Public Protector on June 6, 2016 although the office was not fully operational “due to lack of funding”.
Lubinda said during the period 2016-2021, the office of the Public Protector actually took some government officers to court for maladministration.
He also noted that the powers of the Public Protector were enhanced than it was in the investigator’s general office.
Lubinda said the office was not involved with responsibilities of corruption and abuse of office as perceived by some members of the public.
He said the aim of the Public Protector’ office was to provide for the function, power, operation and financial management of the office and further provide initiatives and investigate public complaints.
Lubinda said the Public Protector is an ombudsman body of the government to protect individual interests and safeguard their rights in the quest to receive public services which are just and fair.
He said if a public worker thought they were wrongly dismissed from work the matter was supposed to go to the Public Protector.
Lubinda further said the office was also established to promote good governance in public institutions.
Caroline Sokoni is the current Public Protector director general.
“The Public Protector exercises power which is similar to the High Court judge which was not the case for the Investigator General’s office,” he said.
Lubinda argued that those who claimed that the Public Protector is not functioning because the PF government did not operationalise it, were talking out of ignorance.
‘Now I want to remind readers of The Mast Newspaper, that as late as December, 2021, the Office of the Public Protector visited North Western Province to carry out awareness programmes and conduct on spot investigations. The team was led by chief investigation officer Bwalya Tibulanda who also paid a courtesy call on North Western Province permanent secretary,” he said.
“Now how could the Public Protector team be conducting investigations and awareness programmes? If so, you can see that the Office of the Public Protector is functional but lacks adequate funding.”
Lubinda said lack of funding to government institutions was a perennial issue for almost all the countries in the world and that Zambia is not an exception.
He said the Public Protector lacked funding just like the police, Ministry of Health and many other government departments.
He said this was the greatest challenge of “its non-effective operation”.
Lubinda dismissed as malicious assertions that the PF avoided operationalising the Public Protector out of fear.
“If people have queries about the role the Public Protector is meant to play, they must go to the roles and they must not claim that the law was not operationalised by PF because it was done in 2016. And if people would like the Public Protector to play same roles of the Anti-Corruption Commission and Drug Enforcement Commission, let them say so,” said Lubinda.
“My advice to fellow citizens is that those who want to project themselves as very wise, must also take time to read because talking without doing sufficient research risks misinforming the public. I want to repeat that members of the public must not be misled that there is no Public Protector’s office. It is there and in operation. Those who feel that any public institution is not providing public services in a fair and just manner, must be encouraged to report such matters to the Public Protector’s office.”