A CONSORTIUM of civil society organisations has written to Chief Justice Mumba Malila to pursue remedial action for Ministers and other public office holders who have failed to fully declare their assets, liabilities and sources of income.

In a statement, Tuesday, Chapter One Foundation executive director Linda Kasonde, Alliance for Community Action executive director Laura Miti and Transparency International Zambia executive director Maurice Nyambe stated that another search on the Register of Assets was done on May 11, 2022, and it was established that only 13 new declarations had been registered, but none of the declarations included sources of income.

The CSOs stated that they were concerned that most public officials that were required to adhere to the provisions of Section 10 of the Parliamentary and Ministerial Code of Conduct, had failed to do so.

“Alliance for Community Action, Chapter One Foundation, and Transparency International Zambia have a mandate that includes the pursuit of transparency and accountability in public resource management, to stem corruption, and to uphold and protect the rule of law, constitutionalism, and good governance. Pursuant to those objectives, we are concerned that most of the public officials that are required to adhere to the provisions of Section 10 of the Parliamentary and Ministerial Code of Conduct (“the Code of Conduct”) have failed to do so,” the statement read.

“We have issued joint and several calls for the Ministers, Speaker, and Deputy Speakers to publicly declare their assets, liabilities, and source of income. Our initial search on the register on 25th February 2022, revealed that only the Minister of Justice, Mr. Mulambo Haimbe, and the Minister of Defence, Mr. Ambrose Lufuma are fully compliant with the Code of Conduct. We conducted another search on the Register of Assets on 11th May 2022 and established that only thirteen new declarations have been registered. However, none of these declarations include sources of income, making them partial declarations and therefore non-compliant with section 10 of the Code of Conduct.”

The CSOs stated that they had written to Chief Justice Malila to convene a Tribunal to investigate these allegations of breach.

“Section 14(1) and (3) of the Parliamentary and Ministerial Code of Conduct provide recourse for the breach of Section 10 as follows: (1) An allegation that a Member has breached Part II may be made to the Chief Justice by any person, in writing, giving particulars of the breach or breaches alleged, signed by the complainant and giving the complainant’s name and address. (3) The Chief Justice shall notify the President and the Speaker of the allegation and shall appoint a tribunal in accordance with section fourteen to investigate the allegation,” read the statement.

“In light of the above, we have jointly written to the Honourable Chief Justice to pursue remedial action for the Ministers and other holders of public office who have been non-compliant with the provisions of the Code Conduct by following the procedure laid out in the law under Section 13 (1) of the Code of Conduct. Our letter contains a request to the Honourable Chief Justice to convene a Tribunal to investigate these allegations of breach. We hope that this matter will be investigated thoroughly, and that justice will prevail.”