BULAWAYO civic society organisations (CSOs) have called on the government to swallow its pride and embrace devolution, to curb corruption, especially at public institutions.
BY NQOBANI NDLOVU
The CSOs operating under the umbrella banner Campaigners for Devolution made the call yesterday, as the nation commemorated the International Anti-Corruption Day.
The United Nations Convention against Corruption was adopted in 2003 and came into force in 2009.
“As the nation joins the world in commemorating the International Anti-Corruption Day, it is time we reflect and agree that the only way to end corruption, especially in Zimbabwe, is through devolving power from the central government to the local governments,” the civic groups said in a statement.
“In Zimbabwe, corruption has been planned, cooked, dished and eaten at central government level and excreted at local government levels. To end corruption in Zimbabwe, the government should speedily devolved power to local government, where there are stronger mechanisms and cultures of transparency and accountability. As the people of Matabeleland, we believe we have a strong culture, system and DNA of transparency and accountability which will end corruption.”
The groups added: “In his 2015 National Budget statement, Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa admitted that devolution of power is the solution to corruption, when he proposed to ‘devolve’ procurement powers to local levels of governance. The only thing that the minister missed is that piece-meal devolution will not end corruption, but only total devolution of power (including governance, procurement, fiscal, policing and legislative powers) will end corruption.”
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Zimbabwe has been ranked among the most corrupt countries in Africa.
