POLICE CITED AS MOST CORRUPT BY LATEST GRAFT INDEX

The police have been cited as the worst corrupt institution, short of being cited the most extreme, in a latest Transparency International graft report titled Daily Lives and Corruption – Public opinion in Southern Africa.

The report, an outcome of a 2010 and 2011 survey involving 1,013 interviews in Zambia and 6,000 people in the region, also lists political parties among institutions, which are corrupt.

The police have been cited at 38 per cent, seconded by customs and education sectors at 25 per cent and 22 per cent respectively while the judiciary has been cited at 13 per cent.

Meanwhile, 50 per cent of Zambians stated that the anti-corruption crusade has not been effective in the last two years and 39 per cent responded to the contrary while 11 per cent were not opinionated over the crusade.

At regional level, Transparency International also conducted the respective survey in the Democratic Republic of Congo -DRC, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

In Mozambique, Malawi and Zambia, more than a half the respondents reported bribes having been paid to speed up processes, and about one in five were paid to avoid problems with the authorities.

And in detail, in Zambia, with the lowest percentage in the region, 42 per cent of those surveyed said they paid a bribe in the past 12 months.