NPA sets up green crime dept

MATHEWS MALAZIKA
Lusaka

TO ENHANCE the handling of green criminology, the National Prosecution Authority (NPA) has established an Environmental and Wildlife Crime Department.
Director of Public Prosecutions Gilbert Phiri says creation of the department is one of the huge achievements for NPA in the last five years.
“Environmental and wildlife crime was lowhanging in terms of income for this country. We have created this department so that we have more specialisation.
“As you know, Zambia has huge extractive industries that impact the environment,” he said.
Mr Phiri said the last five years has been a busy period for the authority, as the institution has rebranded to enable it to be people-centred.
He said the authority has improved its stakeholder engagement, adding that NPA is being moulded as an institution for the future.
“We have reformed the institution and brought in professionals. The institution now has a new board that has been put in place.
“On the administrative side, we want to keep better records, we want to make decisions that are informed by data.
We are now employing a statistician, a position we never had.”
Mr Phiri said the authority wants prosecutors that are above board, citing its active and well-funded integrity committee.