… with all these irregularities observed in many Government departments, the levels of transparency are questionable – Isaac Mwanza
By Jessica Mwansa
THE resignation of the Auditor General Dick Chellah Sichembe is hard to take as it paints a gloomy picture on the Government’s resolve to restore public confidence and has raised a lot of public concern, good governance expert Isaac Mwanza has charged.
But Transparency International Zambia (TIZ) has welcomed the decision by Dr. Sichembe to resign saying this was the most honourable decision to make since there is no provision in the current laws that allows for the suspension of an Auditor General facing allegations of impropriety.
Speaking to The Scoop yesterday, Mr. Mwanza decreed Dr. Sichembe’s resignation saying this may compromise public confidence in the appointing authority especially if the levels of transparency will be compromised after the resignation of the Auditor General.
“The main concern is that irregularities have been observed in many Government departments. With all these irregularities, it means the levels of transparency are questionable and we do not know whether those issues that have risen there will now be swept under the carpet or not.
“We can only pray that such issues must not be swept under the carpet because these are issues that the country has believed that the UPND administration will deal with and to begin to see the Auditor General resigning is quite unfortunate. It speaks to the independence of that office and how far this independence can be protected,” Mr. Mwanza said.
He said the public will keep on checking on whether the issues of transparency will be heightened or whether they will go down.
But TIZ Executive Director Maurice Nyambe said since there is no provision that allows for the suspension of an Auditor General facing allegations of impropriety, resignation was the best thing to do and that he supports the decision by Dr. Sichembe.
Mr. Nyambe said Dr. Sichembe’s resignation had been long overdue, adding that his decision will finally maintain his morality and integrity.
“We are therefore happy that Dr. Sichembe has finally considered stepping down and will devote his energies towards defending himself against the allegations leveled against him. We are glad that Dr. Sichembe has finally agreed with that position in taking this step he has taken.
“It will allow for the conclusion of his corruption trial. Furthermore, we are convinced that Dr. Sichembe is now well primed to defend himself against the allegations that have been leveled against him,” he said. ,” Mr. Nyambe said.
He said it was a call that TIZ had been waiting for and that it was happy that Dr. Sichembe had stepped down so that he could pave the way for the corruption charges that involved over K1 million.
He added that the enforcement agencies should now take their course and investigate Dr. Sichembe and that if he is found guilty, he should face the law as no one was above the law.
“As we indicated in our statement on this issue a few months ago, we hope that the due process of the law will be allowed to play out in its entirety in order to get to a conclusive outcome.
“There should be no sacred cows when it comes to the fight against corruption and whoever commits an offense should be charged accordingly,” he said.
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Corruption starts with him trying to hide some of the dealings in the reports let’s keep watching soon it will be reviewed