By AUSTIN KALUBA –
WE are concerned by the Centre for Trade Policy and Development (CTPD)’s revelation that Zambia is currently losing about US$3 billion through illicit financial transactions.
The centre’s executive director Isabel Mukelabai disclosed two days ago that Zambia was among the hard-hit countries in terms of illicit financial flows.
Through the new campaign the civil society organisation hopes to sensitise citizens to help stop continued revenue losses from the country’s economy.
While we agree with this suggestion, we feel more needs to be done to arrest this anomaly that is classified as economic sabotage.
We say this considering that there is already a template of fighting economic crimes that once plagued the country in yester-years.
Authorities reacted by forming an organisation called Special Investigation Team for Economy and Trade (SITET) necessitated by a cocktail of economic crimes like illegal money transfers usually perpetuated by the few Europeans and the Asian business community who were determined to benefit from post-Independence boom.
According to the late Valentine Musakanya’s autobiographical writings-The Musakanya Papers, despite the Zambian government’s liberal attitude to expatriate businesses then, they remained a closed shop.
The whites were contemptuous of the negroe government while their Asian counterparts taunted indigenous Zambians in ci-Lapalapa saying Lo country kawena, lo mali ka mina meaning though the country is yours, we control your money.
Though SITET was given a bad name because of some overzealous officers who demanded  bribes, overall it is the best anti-economic fraud organisation to ever exist in this country.
The bad image also came from politicising some cases which saw political opponents of the government in perpetual trouble with authorities.
The Asian business community also complained of being targeted by SITET staff who asked them to pay huge fines for being caught in possession of a few dollars.
Even individuals were sometimes tasked for economic offences like having a $ 10 dollar note which could lead one to being locked up.
Many expatriates and the Asian community also succumbed to corrupt practices like exchanging their salaries (earned in foreign currency) on the black market.
However, though many expatriates especially Asians were harassed for sending money to their countries using the black market, SITET’s operations in policing economic transanctions justified the means it used.
Here we are grappling with economic sabotage once more leading to the loss of US $3 billion through illicit economic transanctions.
Solution, bring back SITET.