ACB Principal Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Egritta Ndala disclosed this Monday in Salima during a press briefing after wrapping up their two-week anti-corruption campaign in the district.

She said that they opted for public forum discussions whereby they brought together duty bearers and citizens as a move to improve service delivery in the district.

“In our long run of combating corruption we received a lot of queries that is why we thought it wise to bring two parties together so that duty bearers explain services and how to access them, citizens also asked questions where they want clarification,” Ndala said.

She said some communities accused their leaders of being driven by money, at this point could not reveal more, because they would investigate further to establish the truth and bring perpetrators to book.

The PPRO added that they conducted anti-corruption clinics whereby they sensitized people and conducted several meetings and poor service delivery came out top as a challenge in communities.

She urged people in the district to report to the authorities any kind of unjust treatment in the process of accessing various services and they are also free to report to the bureau.

Traditional Authority (TA) Ndindi lamented on unwillingness of some public sector players to prevent corruption in their institutions as one of the challenges in the fight against corruption in the district.

He applauded ACB for putting in place strategies that would help to fight corruption swiftly and to ensure they prevent future corruption.

A concerned citizen, Sulaimana Maganga said that corruption was undermining the district’s efforts to achieve economic development due to poor service delivery.

“We have poor infrastructures, poor health service delivery, and corruption is rampant to the extent that we are forced to pay for services meant to be accessed for free with those burdens we cannot grow and develop as a district,” he said.

Maganga urged ACB to intensify their interventions in the district for the district to develop and achieve zero corruption cases.

ACB conducted an anti-corruption campaign in Salima District targeting offices such as health centers, and council offices and having one on one interactions with community members in two selected TAs.

Written By Peter Chilongo-MANA