MANOAH ESIPISU, Lusaka | Thursday
BRITISH International Development Minister Clare Short has singled out Zimbabwe and Kenya as countries that need clean government, urging African leaders to follow Malawi’s lead in fighting corruption.
In Zambia on a tour of Africa to promote good governance, Short said it was what was happening to Zimbabwe’s economy and people was ”a tragedy. I am not feeling desperately optimistic in the short-term.”
”It’s got deep governance problems,” said Short, adding that she hoped Finance Minister Simba Makoni would take decisive measures in his budget speech this week to begin a turnaround.
Zimbabwe is in deep economic crisis compounded by the government-backed seizure of white-owned farms for redistribution to landless blacks. The country’s relations with foreign donors are in tatters.
Short said Kenya was another country that had faced serious problems of corruption, which had led Britain to scale down aid.
But she said a ”Dream Team” of reformers led by the palaeontologist Richard Leakey had agreed on a new package with the International Monetary Fund, which included stringent provisions for fighting graft.
”Kenya is a country where corruption is rife and poverty is increasing, so we hope that the reform effort will succeed.
”We’ve put a lot of support into the reform programme and also separate support to try and help Kenya through the drought. It’s a terrible drought and Kenya is going through very difficult times,” she said.
Short praised landlocked and impoverished Malawi, where she said President Bakili Muluzi had inherited systems that were prone to corruption when he won elections in 1994.
But Muluzi had shown strong leadership especially on corruption and Britain would continue to help him improve the lives of Malawi’s 10 million people – 80% of whom live below the World Bank poverty threshold of $1 a day, she said.
She cited as strong actions Muluzi’s sacking of three senior ministers implicated in corruption and Finance Minister Matthews Chikaonda’s decision to sell 39 limousines bought for ministers.
”These are two very strong actions showing leadership to deal with corruption and starting to put down better values and better systems. So we’ll remain engaged with Malawi and were pleased with those two actions,” Short said. – Reuters
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