Paving the Path for Protector to transition to Perpetrator!

The tragic and cruel passing of Guntila Muleya .

It hits at various levels: At a personal level, Guntila was a younger brother. We shared our High School Alma Mater Hillcrest Technical Secondary School. He a debutant in tenth grade, myself a finalist ('Sugo' as we styled it then). An introverted yet purposeful lad he was then. It was clear that he would be impactful; his pilgrimage would see him head the Independent Broadcasting Authority at Director General, the position he held at the time of his passing. My thoughts and prayers are with his family.

We are all stirred with a mixture of emotions, in no small part exacerbated by the revelations that the institutions/ individuals entrusted to keep us safe appear to be complicit in this sordid affair. Of course we must not lose sight of the principles that bind us together as a civilised society including the presumption of innocence, nor should we let go of the institutions that now more than ever must rise to the challenge of thoroughly investigating and bringing to justice those found to be responsible for this heinous act.

Yet we must be transparent about the fact that there has been a severe breach of trust! Our regard for the women and men in uniform is premised in part on a belief that they will uphold the law and that in so doing, they will keep us safe. This trust has been sorely challenged with this event.

As I have mused over this matter, I have asked myself how a society can get here; what role if any do individuals far removed from this grizzly scene play in paving the way for the protector to become the perpetrator?

My thoughts went to our routine interactions with public offices, to a practice that was beginning to take root as part of Zambia's standard operating procedures, known by various monikers: 'the brown envelope', 'VAT', 'ka something', corruption! I ask myself and you my reader: are we not creating monsters when we by corrupt practices, circumvent the systems and institutions that we have created to deliver for us? Are we not giving ad lib licence to the actors within the public systems when we pay them privately to do what we (the tax paying public) pay them to do anyway? Are we not tearing down law, order and reverence for it with our own hands when we pick and choose when to follow the law and when not to at our convenience?

In a very recent decision, the Hon. Mr Justice Knowles CBE puts the matter thus, “There was corruption. But this is also a case about an overall absence of standards that went far wider than the instances of corruption. There were those prepared to prey on weakness and inexperience. Those who saw the opportunity to make money with no regard to whether the Projects would fail and what that would mean for others. Those who set their sights on self interest and on personal financial reward, and put those over any sense of responsibility. There were no searching questions about preparation for supply, or the projections. Sometimes one piece of behaviour below proper standards enabled another with ultimate consequences that were truly serious.Some might be able to say that the law and any relevant regulatory framework did not require more of them than they did. But that is not my point. Those who did the worst may suffer legal or regulatory consequences, but what about the others? Law and regulation alone cannot do all the heavy lifting, even where the remarkable common law is available. They are not the only source of standards. A far greater sense of responsibility was required. The case shows why ethics is so critical in finance, in commerce and in state administration, and how bad things can get without ethics.”

We must all introspect as a society and re-examine our collective and individual ethical and I dare say, moral compasses. There is such a thing as 'doing the correct thing'. While it may appear that the 'good guys finish last', there will certainly be a reckoning. It therefore behoves us all, to go about our affairs circumspectly. The Good Book says, 'there is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death'.

This chapter is a sad one in Zambia's pages. May we all be provoked to reflection and reformation.

#musings #Corruption

About the author: Kaumbu Mwondela, LLB, LLM, AHCZ, FCIARB is a legal practitioner and international arbitrator. He is qualified at the Zambian bar and is a member of various professional bodies and organisations.