Editorial

Upon taking power in 2001, the current Government flagged non- tolerance to corruption as a key approach in addressing the economic, social and political problems that the country has been experiencing. Therefore, the performance of the current Zambian Government can be measured to the extent they have handled corruption at both the high and lower levels.
A number of observers on measures and commitments of the government in addressing corruption tend to suggest that measures so far taken are limited to a few former political leaders and senior governmental officials associated with these leaders. Furthermore, doubts are being expressed that the current government may not win its fight against corruption at the current level of effort in terms of seeking evidence for those accused and in prosecuting them successfully.

A task force to address cases of corruption was established, but its mandate and capacity to handle the cases to date is still considered inadequate. In this newsletter therefore various articles on what corruption is and its consequences to the economic, social and political development of Zambia are presented.

Many rural communities depend on a variety of natural resources such as land, wildlife, fish, water, minerals and forestry products and by-products to cover their total livelihood needs as well as for ecological and sustainable development. Previous policies, Acts, institutional and legal frameworks excluded communities in the policing, management, conservation and utilization of natural resources.

Through donor-supported initiatives, the Government has been piloting a number of Community-Based Natural Resources Management Programmes to change a top-down approach where the state had exclusive rights to control, management and utilize the major benefits from Natural Resources. However, the success of these “ pilot Programmes” has been limited by government line ministries continued reliance on the old policies, legal and institutional frameworks which limits the incentives for communities to be involved in managing, conserving and benefiting from natural resources in their areas. In this newsletter, you will therefore find articles regarding the potential and relevance of CBNRM and the challenges that still lie ahead.

It is MS-Zambia’s hope that these few articles on corruption and CBNRM will stimulate partners and their beneficiaries at local level to gain relevant and vital information on what is going on in these two areas. Furthermore, we hope that this will lead to their contribution in terms of how they actually experience corruption at local level and the challenges of continued top-down approaches by government in policing and managing natural resources.

L. N. Kanene

MS-Zambia Country Director.

June, 2005.