University of Vaasa - Vaasan yliopisto

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accountability, transparency and responsibility coupled with a very poor ethics
culture in the conduct of business across the economy. This scandal, together with
evidence from the country’s annual Auditor General’s reports that suggest that the
breakdown of internal controls is systemic across the civil service, is perhaps a sign
that achieving sustainable development will remain a flitting illusion to be pursued
by Zambia if proper prevention measures are not put in place.
Helbling & Sullivan (2002) posit that in countries struggling to break out and reduce
poverty through sustainable economic means, much of the economic activity remains
trapped in the informal sector, where entrepreneurial survival rather than business
growth and development best describes the private sector, and rampant corruption
prohibits the public sector from fulfilling its mandate of social service delivery. They
further state that many African countries have fragile democracies exhibiting
governments that are seldom accountable to their citizens beyond elections leading to
day-to-day decision-making processes remaining opaque, unpredictable, and
impenetrable for outsiders, while economic systems are tailored to benefit the
insiders.
In the Zambian case therefore, successful development efforts demand a holistic
approach, in which various partnership-based programs and strategies should be
encouraged in order to maximize their important contributions to broader economic
progress and prosperity. The country's vision 2030 states that:
"By the year 2030, Zambia should at least be an upper middle-income
nation that is diversified and balanced sector-wise, geographically and
socially, including gender-wise, with a per capita income of not less
than US$3,000 per annum, and medium Human Development Index
rating".
However, the problem still remains as to whether it is possible to achieve that kind
of development vision in the face of rampant corruption, weak institutions,
seemingly total disregard for the law by economic managers and political leaders,
and the lack of broader stakeholder participation in development activities.
Furthermore, Zambia focuses on the attainment of the Millennium Development
Goals by 2015, but amid the generally held view that these goals have been
successful in drawing the country's attention to its numerous problems, questions still
remain as to which strategies should be adopted and how they should be
implemented to especially achieve poverty alleviation, tackle climate change and
facilitate the development of a more prosperous society. To that effect, Shkolnikov &
Wilson (2009) have posited that in order to achieve sustainable development, some
of the key strategic reform areas require countries to focus on building market
economies, encouraging broad based entrepreneurship initiatives, strengthening good
governance, promoting sustainable investments, securing property rights, and most
importantly for developing countries; fighting corruption.
Now, much of the problems highlighted above have a lot to do with governance
issues, both corporate and public governance. In the same way, the New Partnership
for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) in 2001 recommended that, if Africa has to
enjoy sustainable economic development and get the majority of its people out of
poverty, one of the conditions that must be met is to ensure good political, economic