President Hakainde Hichilema has reaffirmed the government’s commitment to fight corruption which he described as a cancer that retards economic development.

Speaking when he launched the National Policy on Anti-Corruption in Lusaka , Mr Hichilema said his government is poised to heighten the fight against corruption in order to achieve a corrupt free Zambia.

President Hichilema called on the Judiciary to speed up the disposal of corruption cases in order to send a strong warning to the perpetrators of the vice.

“This policy we are launching is part of our commitment to stamp out the vice, immediately we formed a government, we looked at the possible ways of how best we can fight corruption which has been affecting people for so long, so we changed some pieces of legislation,” he said.

President Hichilema added that due to his government’s strong commitment to stamp out corruption, he had engaged his Angolan counterpart on how he managed to recover stolen assets in that country.He explained that when he returned home he dispatched officers to Angola to learn the skill in the corruption fight.

President Hichilema further indicated that in his quest to address corruption and recovery of stolen assets, he has been engaging cooperating partners such the European Union, United Kingdom among others to work together to fight the vice.

He expressed happiness that the corruption fight ranking for Zambia is rising and impressive according to Transparency International Zambia (TIZ).