July 21, 2021
By: Alhaji Sorie Kondeh
If it had been the case that continents are to be given last names or surnames, Africa’s would have been “Corruption”. Simply puts it would have sounded “Africa Corruption”.
The name Africa is synonymous to corruption. The corruption type in Africa encompasses all – be it political or bureaucratic corruption.
Since independence to date nothing has changed, it has just gotten worst. Before the advent of Anti-Corruption Commissions (ACCs) in Africa, corruption was less popularized because no one talked about it and our kids were not growing up thinking of what to steal when eventually got employed in the public sector.
A survey conducted by Transparency International in July 2019 states that corruption in African countries hinders economic, political, and social development. It is a major barrier to economic growth, good governance, and basic freedoms such as freedom of speech or citizen’s right to hold government to account.
The tenth edition of the Global Corruption Barometer (GCB) Survey – Africa shows that most people in Africa thinks that corruption increased in their country. The research further revealed that more than half of all citizens think corruption is getting worse in their country and that their government is doing a bad job in tackling corruption.
The report further reveals that more than one in four people who accessed public services, such as health care and education paid a bribe in the previous year.
Could this be different in our own case?
The adoption of the African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption (AUCPCC) in 2003 was thought of as a huge step towards resolving the continent’s sickening corruption challenges. AUCPCC was designed as a shared roadmap for member states to implement anti-corruption and governance measures, and also aims at eradicating corruption in governance and business.
As of today, 44 of the 55 member countries have ratified the convention yet it implementation is still a concern. A recent report by Transparency International looked at it under three (3) core areas:
(1) Money Laundering
(2) Illicit Enrichment and Political Party Funding
(3) The Role Civil Society and the Media play in combating Corruption.
MONEY LAUNDERING
According to the report, money laundering facilitates heinous crimes that damage the lives of millions of Africans. For instance, when individuals make money through illegal arm sales, poaching, or corrupt means, they need to make the cash look clean before they can use it.
In accordance with the AUCPCC, money laundering is illegal and also classified among economic crimes. However, the convention lacks the framework on how to prevent it, nor does it equip member countries with the tools necessary to investigate and prosecute money launderers.
African governments need to put more resources in specialist skills such as financial analysts and tax inspectors and to ensure a complete independence of the Judiciary to prevent well connected money launderers from dodging prosecution and conviction. This makes it looks like the African governments are also part of the problem itself making it difficult to win the fight. For instance, in 2020, a Mozambican court stood firmly against the high level of corruption in that country. A former Mozambican Transport Minister, Paulo Zucula and a middleman were prosecuted for money laundering and corruption in relation with the national airlines purchase of two Embraer planes. Embraer admitted to paying bribes to secure the deal from Mozambican officials.
The Mozambican case can never be unconnected to the realities in Sierra Leone and other African countries. In Africa, the awarding of contracts is based on who is willing to share a certain percentage of the contract sum with the awarders. This is the reason why tangible infrastructural projects are poorly executed and sub-standard equipment or materials are supplied without any recourse on the part of the supplier or contractor.
ILLICIT ENRICHMENT
The AUCPCC makes illicit enrichment a criminal offence. In Africa, it is not uncommon to see an individual who was broke and becoming rich the following day when giving public office today. When public officials channel public funds in their private purse, they hinder not only the development of local communities but the country as a whole.
This offence seems difficult to fight because many of the alleged offenders are high-profiled and highly connected personalities within societies who enjoy political immunity and are in the good books of the party in power. Therefore, many of the allegations die before they are even investigated. Take the former Chief Minister, Dr. David Francis saga with journalist Salieu Jalloh, the funds allocated to the First Lady’s office, the Chinese rice saga and so many others.
Corruption is rooted in the heart of Africa. Even institutions that are supposed to be of high moral standing are often mentioned in corrupt allegations. For instance, a serving Judge of the Federal High Court of Nigeria, Justice Mohamed Yunusa had 200,000 dollars paid into his personal bank account over a two-year period and was unable to provide a legitimate source of the deposits. Despite all the evidence before the court, the Court of Appeal dismissed all charges on procedural grounds.
Another thing that baffles me about Africa is that institutions set up to fight corruption are more or less doing the opposite. Instead, they aid the corrupt officials to be more corrupt. As in the words of professor P. L. O. Lumumba, “in Africa, when you are appointed as the chairman of the anti-corruption commission, you are not required to fight corruption, but you are required to appear to be fighting corruption”.
Africa has a tick skin. It seems a normal routine and most individuals who speak against it in this part of the world are because they have not been privileged to be in Africa, be it civil society activists or media practitioners.
POLITICAL PARTY FUNDING
According to Transparency International report (10th edition), “when money from opaque and unregulated sources is allowed to infiltrate politics, it becomes difficult to hold politicians and their parties accountable.
Lack of transparency in political party funding also allow hidden actors to finance and buy politicians for their own interests – states get captured by the CORRUPT”.
Sierra Leone is pictured in the above statement. Do we care how our parties are funded? Or how they get money to run their campaigns and other projects during electoral period?
Have we ever thought for once to ask, who are the individuals funding the SLPP and APC activities?
I guess the answer is ‘NO’, but it is our duty to ask, and they are obligated to answer our questions. According to AUCPCC, political parties are obligated to make all financial reports publicly available every year, with additional reporting before and after every major election.
CIVIL SOCIETY AND THE MEDIA
With regards to investigating and drawing attention to corruption and abuse of office, the media and civil society must play a critical role. Effective oversight by the media and civil society organization can have an overall positive impact in the governance of a country and minimize the high rate of corruption practices. For instance, in 2017 a South Africa journalists exposed the corruption connection to a campaign of provoking racial tensions that was master minded by the Gupta family and the British public relations firm. In all these, freedom of expression and of the press is the key.
Both the media and civil society can only hold governments and public officials to account when citizens freedom of expression is guaranteed and protected. In Sierra Leone, Chapter 3, section 25 of the Constitution of Sierra Leone, Act No. 6 of 1991 guarantees our right to the protection of freedom of expression and the press, and quite recently, part five (5) of the Criminal Libel Law was repealed despite that the media, journalists, and individual citizens are still frightened to express their thought freely because public officials still see the media and civil societies as threat to their existence. So, the harassment, violence and indiscriminate arrests and detention of journalists were normal routine.
The instruction of the new Cyber Crime Law has further heightened the fear in many.
According to AUCPCC, all member nations should receive their legislative framework on freedom of expression and of the press, and access information to enable their media and civil society operate freely and without interference and intimidation.
One peculiar thing about Africa is that abnormalities are now considered normal. Giving bribe or receiving one is normal as a result many nomenclatures or names are associated with it to make it seem as though one is not committing a crime.
In July 2021, the government of Sierra Leone failed fiscal transparency assessment carried out by the United States government after series of allegations of corruption reported by the Africanist Press. According to the United States government report, Sierra Leone failed to meet the 2021 fiscal transparency threshold nor did the government make significant improvement towards meeting the threshold. This will seriously affect the government’s credibility and image across global financial systems and will also affect the government chances of mining the compact grant.
Corruption is a cancer, once detected must be uprooted, detached, or amputated to avoid it spreading over or affecting the other parts. The fight must not be treated with levity or mediocrity if not, doom is the headway.