Corruption On The Rise in Zambia

The British High Commissioner has aired his disappointed with the current PF regime's commitment to corruption and suggested that in fact President Lungu and his government are a corrupt dictatorship. This tweet came at the same time that Afrobarometer released their 2018 statistics showing a marked increase in the Zambian publics concerns over corruption. 

A matter of days after Zambian MPs travelled to Kenya to learn anti-corruption practices (from the notoriously corrupt Kenyan government), a survey has unveiled that 66% of all Zambians believe corruption levels have increased in the past 12 months, this is up 11%.

70% believe that the government is handling the ‘fight against corruption’ badly, which is a concerning increase from just 42% recorded in 2013.

The police force has been seen as the most corrupt with 54% of Zambians saying that they believe ‘most’ or ‘all’ policemen and women are corrupt. The survey went onto state that more than 1 in 4 Zambians who had contacted the policy during the last 12 months were made to pay a bribe to avoid issues or receive assistance.

It said around one in three respondents say “most” or “all” government officials (37%), members of Parliament (MPs) (37%), local government councilors (34%), and officials in the Presidency (32%) are corrupt.

The survey found that more than eight in 10 Zambians say it’s “somewhat likely” or “very likely” that rich people could use bribery or personal connections to avoid paying taxes (84%), avoid going to court (88%), or registering land that isn’t theirs (88%).

The poorest Zambians are especially likely to see corruption as having increased: Among those who experienced high levels of lived poverty, 1 76% say corruption has increased, compared to 58% of the wealthiest respondents.

Meanwhile, the share of Zambians who say the government is handling corruption fairly/very badly has grown to 70%.

The study was carried out by Afrobarometer, a pan-African, non-partisan research network.