ACC Nabs Five RTSA Officers for Corruption

Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has arrested five Road Transport and Safety Agency (RTSA) officers for corrupt practices.

The five officials have been identified as Janet Chisha, a Registry Clerk, Joel Banda, an Examiner, Rhoda Chiyesu, a Road Traffic Inspector, Constance Masupelo, a Road Traffic Inspector and Liya Kunda, a cashier.

Commission Public Director General Daphne Chabu revealed that the officers were arrested following investigations on allegations of soliciting and accepting bribes from motorists or overlooking traffic offences.

Mrs. Chabu said the officers were also allegedly issuing test certificates without physical inspections, issuing licenses and providing other favours contrary to the Road Traffic Act Chapter 464 of the Laws of Zambia.

“Officials who engage in vices such as Traffic Corruption have no regard to the consequences of their behavior.”

“If you license vehicles which are not road worthy for instance, what happens? It means road traffic accidents escalates which lead to serious damage and unnecessary loss of lives. Likewise, if test certificates are issued without physical tests the consequences are that you have incompetent people masquerading as competent drivers, again, lives are put at risk,” Mrs. Chabu said.

She warned officials against exploiting their positions and public trust to engage in corrupt practices.

Ms. Chabu said Corruption does not pay as it impedes development because money or resources that should be used on legitimate causes is diverted and ends up as bribes in the pockets of few corrupt individuals, thereby depriving the nation at large from much needed resources.

“In fighting corruption, it is inevitable that in an investigation we have to collaborate with other institutions. I must mention that in this case we collaborated closely with RTSA.”

“Similarly, in the course of an investigation, we often require access to records, we have noticed that sometimes institutions refuse to cooperate with our request, in the required time or just outrightly refuse to cooperate,” she said.

She explained that requests are made in accordance with the Law and are essential to the success of our investigations, therefore, failure to comply with the requests may hinder ACC’s ability to investigate and prosecute cases all of which have serious consequences for the country.

“I wish to emphasize that fighting corruption is a shared goal, it is important therefore that we work together rather than force the Anti-Corruption Commission to resort to coercive measures to obtain information.”

“We are resolved in our fight against corruption, whether it be past, present or future, we remain steadfast our mission to promote Integrity and restore public trust,” Mrs. Chabu added.