By Hope Bwalya  –
Centre for Trade, Policy and Development (CTPD) says Zambia is currently losing about us$3 billion through illicit financial flows (iffs).
ctpd executive director isabel mukelabai said zambia was among the hardest hit countries in terms of illicit financial flows because its economy relied on mining extraction which had many illicit commercial activities, including corruption.
ms mukelabai was speaking in lusaka yesterday at the launch of the ‘Stop Bleeding Campaign’ aimed at promoting actions to end illicit financial flows from the zambian economy.
“we believe strongly that stopping illicit financial flows from zambia is crucial to our social, economic and political progress and, as such, through this campaign we seek to raise our voice as civil society in
zambia,” ms mukelabai said.
She said her organisation in collaboration with its partners like Action Aid was in solidarity with other civil society organisations across Africa in demanding that governments begin to take action to stop the illicit financial flows.
It is estimated that about $50 billion is lost in Africa through the illicit act.
Through the new campaign, the civil society organisation hopes to drive a critical mass of citizens to stand up and help stop continued revenue losses for the country’s economy.
“the high level panel report on IFFs observes that commercial activities accounted for 65 per cent of IFFs, criminal activities and corruption 30 per cent,” she said.
ms mukelabai said that the commercial aspect included activities such as hiding wealth, evading tax and dodging customs duties and domestic levies.
she said the IFFs were a developmental and governance challenge for zambia and Africa as a whole and, as such, all stakeholders were challenged to raise and act against such vices.
the civil society organisations in unison appealed to the Government and ngos to increase transparency and accountability among institutions.
“we call on the Government to increase transparency. We also call upon the media, civil society and all concerned parties to participate in the fight against IFFs,” ms mukelabai said.
the ngo further called for adoption and domestication of the recommendations of the African Union high-level panel on iFFs.