DeBug Zimbabwe

He is a wise man who seeks by every legitimate means to make all the money he can honestly, for money can do so many worthwhile things in this world, not merely for one’s self but for others. But he is an unmitigated fool who imagines for a moment that it is more important to make the money than to make it honestly. One of the advantages of possessing money is that it facilitates one’s independence and mental attitude. The man head over heels in debt is more slave than independent— B. C. Forbes

COULD THIS BE THE MOTIVATION BEHIND OUR AFRICAN LEADERS..."GET RICH BEFORE YOU GET DOWN"?
ACCRA—Ghana's Deputy Communications Minister Victoria Hammah has been sacked after she was recorded allegedly saying she would stay in politics until she has made $1m (£600,000). "If you have money then you can control people," she seems to say on the tape which has been widely circulated. Ms Hammah has not yet commented on the tape or her sacking. The BBC's Sammy Darko in Accra says she played a key role in President John Mahama's election last year.

Some pundits will feel vindicated over her sacking, as they warned that she was too young and inexperienced to serve in government, our correspondent says. In August, she said there was a lot of pressure on her to steal public money because people thought that, as a minister, she was rich. She described such demands as "obnoxious", reports the Ghanaweb news site. "Corrupt politicians are the reflection of [a] corrupt society!" it quotes her as saying.

Ms Hammah first came to the public attention after stumbling several times while making a speech and then saying she had been given the wrong text. On the tape, which has not been independently verified, she says: "I will not quit politics until I make one million dollars." She also criticising another deputy minister, calling her "senseless, ugly, loud and egoistic". Information Minister Mahama Ayariga did not give any reason for Ms Hammah's dismissal in her one-sentence announcement.

But it comes 24 hours after the tape went viral on social media and was played on a local radio station. Her driver has been questioned by the police, after she lodged a complaint, saying her right to privacy had been infringed. Police spokesman Freeman Tetttey told the BBC they were investigating whether an offence had been committed—BBC

"Conditions of services, particularly salaries and accommodation, are at the centre of hardships faced by police officers. I am not at all trying to justify corruption and those who are corrupt will surely face stiff punishment, but some of the situations are just dire and provoke corrupt tendencies."—Police Comm-Gen Augustine Chihuri

Where were the authorities, Minister Chombo & the city fathers, as people erected structures on council land which today are being declared illegal? If it's a question of safeguarding the environment, the wetlands and so forth; who was billing these people & what is going to happen to that Chinese complex @ the National Sports Stadium? Can Zim trust its own people & its leaders?

Govt Audit Exposes Rampant Theft, Malpractices
A Government audit report for the year 2011 that was tabled in Parliament last week has revealed that most State enterprises and parastatals practised bad corporate governance and had weak financial controls, a situation which could have cost the economy large sums of money. The report by the Comptroller and Auditor-General (C&AG) noted that most State enterprises and parastatals operated without boards and flouted tender procedures, while some of them kept a lot of cash at their premises risking robberies.

“My audit revealed that some public entities/designated corporate bodies were operating without boards or had poorly constituted boards and in some cases the boards were unbalanced in terms of skills mix and in the majority of cases they lacked financial expertise and as a result they operated without audit committees and at times where they existed they were not very effective,” reads the C&AG report. “Some of these entities were operating without strategic plans, and in the absence of such plans it was difficult to independently assess service delivery of these organisations and I noted a number of these entities did not have a performance-management system in place.”

The auditors observed that Allied Timbers (Pvt) Ltd used cash to settle its obligations, risking robbery and theft. “The company used cash to pay most of its obligations like salaries and wages, payments to local suppliers, and furthermore, large amounts of cash were kept at the company’s premises risking robbery and theft, and misappropriation of cash resources by virtue of the company holding large amount of money,” said the report.

The Central Mechanical Equipment Department, which services government vehicles, is alleged to have lost $146 940 worth of fuel through fraudulent claims by its employees. “The loss was composed of 58 000 litres of petrol and 72 000 litres of diesel. The employees were discharged, but nothing was recovered.”

The National Railways of Zimbabwe’s current liabilities had by December 2011 exceeded current assets by $16 933 762, while the net loss incurred was $46 027 306 and $24 403 787 for 2011 and 2010, respectively. The National Social Security Authority reportedly incurred heavy losses through double payment of executive directors’ sitting allowances. The accounting transactions of the Zimbabwe Institute of Public Administration and Management of 2011 were said to be altered and cash payments that were made led to theft and misappropriations. “Among the vouchers examined for the period under review 87 vouchers were altered by adding a figure either to the left or to the right of original figure after the voucher had been processed. The total amount involved was $123 761,” reads the report—NEWSDAY

The High Court ordered top POLICE OFFICER COMMISSIONER OLIVER CHIBAGE and his six other accomplices to back off from two properties that they grabbed from their owners and started claiming rentals. THE SIX ACCOMPLICES ARE POLICE SUPERINTENDENT JOEL TENDERERE, RETIRED MAJOR ALFRED CHADEMANA, Gideon Hwemende, Calisto Vengesai, Valentine Mushore and Farai Mutizwa.

Justice Amy Tsanga ordered the seven to leave Beverly East and Karoi Properties in Msasa, Harare after she ruled that they failed to demonstrate they were legitimate shareholders of Phoenix Trust, a company owning the properties. The court was told the company’s several documents were seized by some police officers and never returned.
Comm Chibage and some of his colleagues were alleged to have been demanding rentals from tenants occupying the properties. Comm Chibage is on leave pending resignation, with Commissioner General of Police Augustine Chihuri revealing recently that he took disciplinary measures against him for engaging in corrupt activities. Supt Tenderere has since been transferred to Nkayi for similar reasons. The two have been fingered in various cases of corruption—Herald

This is the extent of damage corruption inflicts on society. Surely Zimbabwe deserves better!!!

Kenya's president has launched a website for people to report incidents of corruption directly to him. Users can upload videos, photos and other documents and can choose from a long drop-down list of government departments to complain about. They can also report corruption to Uhuru Kenyatta by text message.

The campaign group Transparency International says people rarely report bribery and corruption in Kenya because they feel no action will be taken. The East African nation is ranked 139 out of 176 countries on the group's global corruption perceptions index. "The president is committed to clean government and this site advances his intention to act strongly against corruption," the AFP news agency quotes presidential spokesman Manoah Esipisu as saying. The website allows users to remain anonymous should they wish.

A few hours after its launch, Mr Kenyatta's official presidential Twitter account tweeted: "Corruption reporting has started off quite well with a good number of well documented incidences being submitted ."

Another website to tackle corruption in Kenya has already been set up by activist Anthony Ragui. People post their stories on the I Paid a Bribe site about bribery demands from corrupt officials and traffic police - and some also give surprising accounts of their honest encounters. The site gives a running total of all the bribes its contributors have paid since the site began in November 2011. With 3,529 reports of bribery, it currently stands at 125,584,332 Kenyan shillings ($1.4m, £918,500).

Last week, Transparency International's East African Bribery Index revealed in its survey that only seven in 100 Kenyans will report or complain if they encounter bribery. When asked why they did not report corruption, the majority said they knew no action would be taken if they did so. "Of particular interest is that citizens do not seem to trust their governments to respond to the reports on corruption. We need to win citizen confidence if any of our efforts were to succeed," Mr Samuel Kimeu, the executive director of Transparency International in Kenya, said in a statement.

President Kenyatta is the son of Kenya's founding president and one of the richest men in the country. He won elections in March this year pledging to reunite the country following the disputed elections in 2007 and fight corruption—BBC

Better is the poor who walks in his integrity than he who is crooked though he be rich--Pro 28:6

The following is the portfolio belonging to Bernard John "Bernie" Ebbers, carefully examine the list & read the conclusion;
1. Douglas Lake Canada's biggest ranch - 500,000 acres (2,000 km²) in British Columbia. General partner/president. Acquired in 1998 for about $65 million. Sold on May 30, 2003 by MCI to E. Stanley Kroenke
2. Angelina Plantation - 21,000 acres (85 km²) farm in Monterey, Louisiana. Co-owner with brother, John Ebbers. Acquired in 1998.
3. Joshua Holdings - which combined with Joshua Timberlands and Joshua Timber totals 540,000 acres (2,200 km²) of timberlands in Mississippi, Tennessee, Louisiana and Alabama. Majority owner. Acquired properties in 1999 for about $600 million
4. Pine Ridge Farm - Livestock and crop farm in Mississippi. Owner. LLC formed in 1997

5. Columbus Lumber - High-tech lumber mill in Brookhaven, Mississippi. Majority owner since at least 1996
6. Yachts - BCT Holdings, owner of Intermarine, a yacht building and repair company in Georgia. Primary owner. Intermarine acquired in 1998 for about $14 million
7. Hotels - Nine hotels in Mississippi and Tennessee: Co-owner or owner. Acquired over many years
8. Trucking - KLLM, a trucking firm in Mississippi. Director. Acquired with partner in 2000 for about $30 million. Its present President is K. William Grothe, who served as Senior Vice President of Corporate Development for WorldCom, where he headed the company's merger and acquisition activities. Mr Grothe served as KLLM president until it neared bankruptcy under his leadership.
9. Sports - Mississippi Indoor Sports/Jackson Bandits, a minor league hockey team. 50% owner. Acquired in 1999. Sold stake in September 2003

On July 13, 2005, federal judge Barbara S. Jones, of the U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York in Manhattan, sentenced Ebbers to twenty-five years in a federal prison in Louisiana. Ebbers was allowed to remain free for another year while his appeal was being considered. His conviction, however, was upheld in a federal circuit court on July 28, 2006. On September 6, 2006, the presiding judge ordered him to report to jail on September 26 to start serving his 25-year sentence.
This case simply reminds us that crime does not pay! Lets all be ethical.

‘We Are Tired Of Bribing Police’
THE MATABELELAND South business community has asked Zanu PF politburo secretary for business development and liaison Sithembiso Nyoni, who doubles as Small and Medium Enterprises and Cooperate Development minister, to rein in police they accuse of having a penchant for demanding bribes, particularly at the Beitbridge border post.

The business community, drawn from all corners of Matabeleland South, met with Nyoni on Friday and they bitterly complained about the conduct of police in the province. There was an outcry during the party’s consultative meeting with most business people claiming that their operations were being frustrated by corruption at the border post and incessant roadblocks on the country’s major roads which were manned by police officers demanding bribes.

Gwanda Ward 7 Councillor Thulani Moyo said most people were buying goods in South Africa for resale in Zimbabwe, but the number of roadblocks along the highways was eroding their profits as they were forced to pay bribes along the way. “One wonders why we have seven roadblocks along the Beitbridge-Gwanda highway, we are made to offload our goods several times where police officers demand bribes and at the end of the day our profits are eroded,” Moyo, a local businessman said.

Beitbridge businessman Maxwell Ngwenya said a police roadblock that was usually mounted about 50 metres outside the border post should be stopped immediately as it was an embarrassment.
“The first thing you come across when you enter Zimbabwe is a roadblock, and I think it’s very embarrassing to us as a nation. We cannot be a nation of thieves,” Ngwenya said. Hotelier Misheck Ndlovu said the biggest sanctions affecting Zimbabwe was corruption in the police force as most of the officers were now competing amongst themselves to buy cars. “The belief amongst our police officers is that if you do not own a car then you are stupid, the biggest sanctions that are there is corruption amongst the police officers. Most of the vehicles that pirate along our highways are owned by police officers and most of these vehicles do not have proper documentation,” Ndlovu said.

Police in Matabeleland South were not available to respond to allegations raised by the businesspeople in front of Nyoni.
But, on her part Nyoni charged that corrupt police officers who were in the habit of demanding bribes from motorists would be fired, saying the new Zanu PF-led government was stepping up its zero tolerance campaign against corruption. “Those police officers in the habit of demanding bribes should know that their days are numbered, President Mugabe has declared zero tolerance on corruption and if you come across such corrupt police officers you should take down their force numbers and we will deal with them,” Nyoni said.—Newsday

The Zimbabwe Anti Corruption Commission [ZACC] is struggling as we speak & the sincerity of our government in addressing the scourge of corruption can only be authenticated by how they fund or attend to this institution. President Robert Mugabe has clearly made his position on corruption clear, but we feel that we now need is action & there can be no better way than capacitating ZACC to do its work.

Cuban leader Raul Castro has taken on corruption and inefficiency since taking office in 2008, warning "we will be relentless."
In 2009, he established the General Comptroller’s Office to fight corruption and strengthen institutions. As part of his crusade against degeneration and complacency, Castro has dismissed ministers and other senior officials, several of whom have been arrested and sentenced to prison terms.
Anything like the above from our own President Robert G. Mugabe will certainly inspire confidence in society...yes we have heard the words, we now want to see things happening.