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Public corruption takes a heavy toll on communities and President Mugabe has been clear that such tendencies should not be tolerated what so ever. Corruption gives undue rewards to those willing to break the law or go around laid down procedures.
Those who benefit from corruption are among others, public officials, their relatives and friends, and those who willingly pay bribes to achieve whatever they desire.
The President has called for prosecution of those involved in corruption, and members of the public have always cried foul wherever incidents of corruption are reported in the media, and one such incident was the alleged looting of food aid by Government officials in the Midlands Province as reported by our sister paper, Chronicle last week.
An online report on corruption says the most harmful consequence of endemic public corruption in a community is the apathy that it engenders — the culture of acceptance.
“Over many years of seeing corruption in almost every facet of Government, many residents of a community begin to simply accept corruption as the immutable status quo. They come to assume Government is broken and ineffective and destined to function corruptly. The consequences of this culture of acceptance in a community are many. Some residents simply disengage from the political process and no longer trust their Government to function well or in their interest.
“Other residents may come to believe they must engage in corruption in order to gain Government benefits themselves.
Others will begin to look the other way when they witness corrupt transactions. And honest folks are discouraged from entering politics or suffer from the skepticism engendered by others’ misdeeds.”
While this is a generic assessment of what corruption does to the social fabric, we believe those who are engaged in corruption in the distribution of food aid are also sowing seeds of the “culture of acceptance.” Those who are watching on the sidelines will start to believe that for them to benefit as well, they have to engage in corruption.
Moreover, the whole act of stealing food aid works against the Government’s mission to make sure that no one starves, as the country is facing a serious drought this year.
In fact, if it is true that there are Government officials who are stealing maize and farming inputs meant for distribution to villagers, then such people do not deserve to serve this country, as they are doing a disservice to the President and Government, after a lot of effort and resources were channeled into the scheme of food aid to make sure that the effects of drought are mitigated.
The article in the Chronicle said thousands of vulnerable people in the Midlands Province face starvation following allegations of food aid looting by Government officials tasked to distribute the food. The Minister of State for Provincial Affairs in the Midlands Province, Cde Jason Machaya confirmed receiving reports of allegations of abuse of food aid and farming inputs by people in authority.
It is our plea that such allegations should be investigated thoroughly and those found on the wrong side of the law should be prosecuted without fear or favour.
That the country is facing a serious drought can not be overstated, and we expect people employed by Government to serve this country dutifully and make sure that all those who are supposed to benefit from Government projects do so. If its public officials standing on the way of the Government when it tries to help the electorate, then such people are enemies of the State and should be removed from their work stations as a matter of urgency.
Online Reporter