The recent appearance of the Leadership Code Commission (LCC) before the Members of Parliament (MP) induction program has highlighted the common practise by some public service officers and MPs who abuse their official duty for personal gain.
This was raised by one of the MPs, who was curious to know about the exact meaning of what was referred to as ‘using official duties for personal gain.’
Chairman of LCC Francis Luza gave an example by referring to issuance of license to investors within government offices, without adherence to the legal process.
The LCC chairman stated that these are serious matters that the commission is obliged to deal with.
He said, that once LCC finds out with strong evidence that execution of public duty at the authority level is attached to preferential treatment, motivated by pre-arranged gift, is certainly a matter that LCC will have to scrutinize on, if such cases are lodge before their authority.
A public contributor who commented on this issue has slammed this practised of abusing public office for personal gain, by referring to such attitude as hell-bounded.
“Such officers who held high positions at the decision making level, who abuse their official duty for personal gain were desperate to get rich overnight at the expense of the poor people, but they won’t escape poverty,” he said.
The concerned man who wants his name withheld said that some public officers today regarded their work as a means of making money, whereas they forget to deliver the much needed service the public demand from them.
“Look around you today and see the assets and wealth some of these public service officers have, and compared it with their level of income in their job, you will question the wealth these people have,” he said. “This wealth they possess will certainly tell you that theft of public fund is the obvious answer to our surprise,” he added.
He further stated that some of these public servants owned estates, owns a number of vehicles and run their private businesses by sourcing money from the government offices they work for is a daylight robbery indeed.
He added that some of these people’s lifestyle were very expensive, including regular overseas’ travelling per year is questionable, considering their level of income cannot justify their wealth.
He continues by saying that these public servants who possess wealth without any justification must face court, and our anti-corruption agencies must investigate them sooner the better.
“If we continue to be spectators over these corrupt practises then forget about changes that we advocated about a lot.”
By AATAI JOHN
