Zambia's civil society organizations urge concerted efforts to curb illicit financial flows

Civil society organizations in Zambia on Monday called for concerted efforts from stakeholders to tackle the problem of illicit financial flows from the country.

The organizations, which met in Lusaka, the Zambian capital, from June 21 to 23, for a meeting under the auspices of the Zambia Alternative Mining Indaba, expressed concern that the country had continued to lose colossal sums of money through illicit financial flows.

The meeting, under the theme "Our Natural Resources, Our Future! Extraction for Sustainable Development", was held to look at mining and its effects on the economy and how the country could benefit from its natural resources.

According to a communiqué issued after the meeting, Zambia was losing an estimated 3 billion U.S. dollars annually through illicit financial flows and this money could be used to finance provision of various social services.

"This is money that could otherwise be used to finance the provision of public services such as health and education, as well as critical national development projects such as roads, railways, bridges and power infrastructure which are all key to Zambia's industrialization," the communiqué said.

"We believe as civil society that if we plug this hole on illicit financial flows, we would fully finance our national development plans," it added.

The organizations have called on the government to synergize efforts of all stakeholders in tackling the problem of financial illicit flows.

The organizations have also called on the government review or terminate tax incentives given to mining firms, especially those proven to engage in tax dodging tactics and to conduct a cost benefit analysis of all existing double taxation agreements with the intent to re-negotiate the terms so that they benefit the country. Endit