A coalition of five civil society organisations (CSOs) has called for public disclosure of assets held by public officials, linked to beneficial ownership information, to curb conflicts of interest, fronting and illicit financial flows in Zambia.
The coalition, comprising the Alliance for Community Action, Chapter One Foundation, Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection (JCTR), LCK Freedom Foundation and Transparency International Zambia, has issued a joint position paper on asset and beneficial ownership disclosure in the country.
The position paper, attributed to JCTR Executive Director, Father Daniel Mwamba Mutale, was released for wider circulation in Lusaka on Tuesday.
The paper noted that Zambia made progress through the Companies Act No. 10 of 2017, as amended by Act No. 2 of 2020, which introduced a definition of beneficial ownership and established a centralised beneficial ownership register at the Patents and Companies Registration Agency (PACRA).
However, the coalition said implementation remained weak, with compliance among registered companies estimated at about 15 percent. It attributed the low compliance rate to limited awareness, a lack of specific sanctions and inadequate verification of information submitted to PACRA.
The paper argued that asset declarations should require public officials to disclose all sources of income, including benefits received from private businesses or companies, noting that people in prominent and influential positions can create or exploit vulnerabilities to corruption.
“Without beneficial ownership transparency, public officials can hide companies that bid for government contracts, raising questions about whether awards are based on value for money or political connections,” the coalition argued.
The paper defines beneficial ownership as identifying the individuals who ultimately own or control a company, helping to uncover those who exercise significant influence over corporate structures and benefit from their activities.
It said the current legal framework, under Section 12(3)(e), read together with Form 21, requires information on the true owners of companies but does not prescribe specific sanctions for failure to comply. As a result, authorities rely on general offences under Sections 372 and 373.
“Despite Section 124(1) providing that the registrar should ascertain and verify beneficial ownership information before registration, PACRA only depends on information on application forms, leading to data quality issues that undermine effectiveness of disclosure,” the paper said.
The coalition said effective deterrence required a legally mandated enforcement mechanism to monitor compliance and impose sanctions when companies failed to meet their disclosure obligations.
It added that identifying the beneficial owners of companies bidding for public contracts was critical to detecting and mitigating corruption risks, particularly in mining and public procurement, which are important sectors of Zambia’s economy.
“When someone in a prominent influential position owns a company that continues to be awarded massive public contracts, the public is absolutely right in asking whether it was because their company provides best value for money for Zambian people or whether it is just their time to eat,” the paper stated.
The coalition acknowledged that the Treasury now required bidders for public contracts to submit certified beneficial ownership information, while the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) consults the beneficial ownership register daily as part of its standard practice.
However, it argued that further measures were needed to make the system more effective.
The coalition recommended mandatory public asset declarations linked to the disclosure of beneficial interests, specific sanctions for non-compliance, systematic verification of PACRA’s data and interoperability between PACRA, the Zambia Public Procurement Authority (ZPPA), the Ministry of Mines and the FIC.
It also called for stronger protection for whistleblowers to encourage the reporting of suspected corruption and concealed ownership interests.
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