GRANT THORNTON AND THEIR ACCESS TO OUR SECURITY WINGS
By Fred M’membe, President of the Socialist Party
We condemn this growing trend, where entities associated with the UPND top leadership seem to always get the favours. In the process, even critical national security concerns are blatantly being ignored. This is very dangerous and totally unacceptable.
We must be reminded that Mr Hakainde Hichilema was one of the directors of Grant Thornton, the firm that was instrumental in the privatisation of Zambian state-owned companies. And today, we see Grant Thornton being granted access to audit our country’s security wings.
Our defence forces, like all other aspects of Zambian society, have not been spared from rampant corruption. Audits are indeed one way of accessing information that is urgently needed to take remedial measures. However, there are laid-down procedures for going about this task.
Whatever the shortcomings of the current audit system are, the decision taken by Mr Hichilema and his government does not help strengthen the public audit system. It is essentially an act of mistrust in the capacity and integrity of that system. The Socialist Party Zambia position is that this award must be cancelled. It is neither in the best interest of good governance nor the security of our country
(Image: Credit IFA magazine)
