PRESS RELEASES

Department of Immigration Launches Core Values to Help Guide the Ethical Conduct of Staff in the Fight Against Corruption

July 18, 2007, Lusaka

LUSAKA — The Department of Immigration today unveiled new core values to help guide the ethical conduct of staff in the fight against corruption.  The Department’s Integrity Committee in partnership with the Anti- Corruption Commission developed the core values, with technical assistance from USAID’s Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) Zambia Threshold Program.  The Minister of Home Affairs Lt. General Ronnie Shikapwasha launched the core values at a ceremony attended by U.S. Ambassador Carmen Martinez at Immigration Headquarters.

Minister Shikapwasha described the fight against corruption as a critical focus of the Zambian government and expressed his satisfaction at the development of the values. “These values must be respected and honored by our staff so the public can see that they are more than words.”

Ambassador Martinez noted that “Establishing these values is a critical element of this new customer service approach and recognition that corruption has no place in government.”

The core values will form the basis of a code of ethics, which will be developed by the Department’s Integrity Committee by September. The values will also be reflected in a customer service charter, which will outline the level and type of service the public can expect to receive from the department. This is also being developed by the Integrity Committee at Immigration, with technical assistance from the MCA Threshold Program, and will be completed by later this year.

Under the MCA Threshold Program, the Department of Immigration is re-engineering and automating visa and work permit application processes to reduce the time required to obtain these permits. The new processes will be in place this year, with new simplified forms and instructions available through the Department’s new website, which was launched last month. With assistance from MCA Threshold Program, the department is training staff in basic computing skills to ensure the new electronic system — expected later this year — will be sustainable. Today’s launch took place outside the site of the Department’s future customer service center, which is also being developed with technical assistance from the MCA Threshold Program. 

The MCA Threshold Program, funded through a two-year, $22.7 million agreement between the government of Zambia and USAID, is designed to prevent corruption in targeted government institutions, improve public sector delivery to the private sector, and improve border management and trade.

For more information, contact Jason Villar, senior advisor, Millennium Challenge Account Threshold Program, USAID/Zambia, Tel: 254303/6, Fax: 254532.

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