Though the Zambian government has declared zero tolerance on corruption, petty corruption is still high, results of study conducted by anti corruption watchdog Transparency International have shown.
The survey, conducted by Transparency International- Zambia (TI-Z), has shown that though grand corruption was down, petty corruption was still high.
The Bribe Payers' index showed that instances of public officials soliciting for bribes have continued to be a source of grave concern.
The survey showed that bribe taking increased by a total of 58.5 percent in the business sector and 38.5 percent in the public service.
Most of the people interviewed said they paid bribes to the police service, road traffic department, the revenue collection body, the local councils and passport offices to get a service.
About 36 percent of the people interviewed said refusal to pay a bribe resulted in denied service while 52 percent said it resulted in unnecessarily delayed service.
Furthermore, about 56.3 percent of the people talked to said the current government was not committed in fighting corruption compared to 43.7 percent who felt that the government was committed.
"By and large, the current government's performance in fighting corruption was poorly rated though some improvements in handling complaints were also noted by respondents," TI-Z Board Member Kavwanga Yambayamba said at the launch of the report.
TI-Z has since urged the Zambian government to undertake a comprehensive anti corruption approach.
The survey, conducted last year in all the country's nine provinces, involved 1, 948 respondents. The respondents included households, business owners and civil servants.
About 90 percent of the business respondents indicated that corruption levels in the country were still severe while over 80 percent public workers indicated that the vice was still high.
Since coming into office in 2002, current President Levy Mwanawasa has embarked on a crackdown on corruption.
Source: Xinhua
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