The Zimbabwe Ant-Corruption Commission (ZACC) says it is taking the anti-corruption message to children in order to nurture a society that is corrupt free starting at ’grassroots level.
Addressing delegates at the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2021 launch hosted by Transparency International Zimbabwe, ZACC Deputy Commissioner, John Makamure said the commission will soon roll out a program that will see children in primary schools and early child development being introduced to a curriculum that teaches on the defects of corruption in society and nationwide.
“We had a discussion with the ministry of education. You’ll see very soon experts engaged in curricular from primary, secondary in order to introduce anti-corruption education,” Makamure said.
He added that his commission is on a drive to end systematic corruption in both the public and private sector and requires strong partnerships hence the need to address the scourge early on.
“We are signing MOUs with various stakeholders to embark on this anti-corruption awareness and then in terms of mainstreaming anti-corruption in training we have signed an MOU with public service commission, we have already developed an anti-corruption training manual.
“We are now training trainers from the public service commission so that each and every public service training they have, the anti-corruption component will be mainstreamed,” he noted.
Concerns have been raised over ZACC’s lacklustre approach to solving corruption cases involving high ranked government officials, which has seen public confidence in the commission diminishing.
Makamure said the commission will this year prioritize more high profile cases and working with the National Prosecution Authority (NPA) will bring to court, the person involved.
“This year the commission is going to ramp up prevention of corruption making sure that our institutions have watertight systems procedures, they practice good cooperate governance.
“If we can close all those loopholes for corruption through strengthening systems, we have gone a long in preventing corruption. As far as arrests are concerned, we are going to prioritize more high profile cases because grand corruption has a major impact on society than petty corruption,” Makamure added.
In the recently release CPI report, Zimbabwe scored 23 out of 100, a drop from 2020’s 24 out of 100 and is ranked 157 out of 180 countries under review.
Businessman and investment banker, Dr Nigel Chanakira said the index does not inspire confidence as far as the ease of doing business is concerned.
Dr Chanakira added that the figures are “worrying” as the perception predicts the reality on the ground.
Makamure weighed in saying ZACC will: “Make sure that our systems and compliance department works with institutions across the board to review corruption cases.”
