ACB clocks 26 years of existence with ups, downs

As the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) clocks 26 years of existence since its launch in 1998, it continues to make positive strides, despite challenges that impede the corruption fight.

During the commemoration of the bureau’s 25 years of existence last year, former ACB director general Martha Chizuma told journalists that about 425 corruption cases were successfully prosecuted and completed in various courts between 2004 and 2023.

Despite the progress, Chizuma, who was appointed director general in 2021 before her contract expired last week, acknowledged that governments usually talk of ending corruption and attempts to do ‘something’ but fail ‘miserably’ to act.

And speaking at a panel discussion organised by the World Bank’s Public Administration Global Forum in Washington DC last week, she bemoaned limited political will in fighting corruption

She said: “It [the space] is not there forever, such that if you do not utilise it at that particular time, it goes. And I think I can say it is no longer there.

“Without allies within the government system, probably we wouldn’t be able to do what we did. We had allies in the same government system despite the fact that there were others that were pushing back on our work.”

Besides commending progress made in recent years, the Centre for Social Accountability and Transparency (Csat) is of the view that the past 25 years of ACB’s existence have been a mixed bag.

“However, it would be unfair to blame the bureau on the increased numbers of corruption, most of which are before our courts,” Csat executive director Willy Kambwandira said.