Watchdog Group Urges Africa to Create Anti-Corruption Organizations  | Voice of America - English
Anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International says the African Union and regional institutions must do more to encourage good governance in East Africa.
Calling the results of the survey for Eastand Horn of African countries "grim," Transparency International'sexecutive director in Kenya, Job Ogonda says the time has come for theAfrican Union and the East African Community to create anti-corruptionbodies, which are solely accountable to the people and have the powerto curb abuses. "If I, as a Kenyan, do not trust in mygovernment to uphold good governance and accountability, then I have tobe able to appeal to the African Union or the East African Community. That means institutions within the African Union, such as the AfricanUnion Convention against Corruption, need to have teeth and they needto begin biting. Right now, there is an advisory council that has beenset up within the African Union. That advisory council needs toscrutinize the reports that have been submitted by countries that aresignatories to the convention. They also need to tender the samereports during the general meeting of the African Union and demand anexplanation or action." War-ravaged Somalia topped TransparencyInternational's index as the most corrupt out of 180 countriessurveyed. But other countries in the region did not fare muchbetter. Djibouti, Rwanda and Tanzania were the region's best byplacing 102nd. Existing anti-corruption agencies, such asKenya's Anti-Corruption Commission and Uganda's Inspector General ofGovernment have been widely criticized for lacking independence becausethey are funded by their respective governments, where power largelyrests in the hands of a few elite politicians. Ogonda notes thatUganda, for example, dropped 15 places in the Corruption PerceptionIndex, from 111 last year to 126 this year, on the belief that thegovernment of President Yoweri Museveni has been weakening the officeof the Inspector General of Government. "The office of theIGG, it is largely toothless. Parliament has also been largelydisempowered from its oversight role. As a result of that,institutions such as the National Social Security Fund is beginning toengage in shenanigans, where they buy property for thepolitically-connected for inflated prices, passing on tax money orcitizen savings to politically-connected people," he said. Kenya's ranking of 147 was little changed from last year, placing it just barely ahead of Zimbabwe. Ogondasays the formation of a coalition government in Kenya earlier this yearhas done little to stem rampant corruption in the form of bribery,kickbacks, and embezzlements in the public sector. "You find that allinstitutions of government are working not in the interest of citizensbut in the interest of either individuals or a narrow group ofpeople. When politics is arranged like that, how then do you expectthe civil service to deliver services to the citizens?" Lastweek, the President of the East African Association of Anti-corruptionAuthorities Edward Hoseah suggested that the best way for existinginstitutions to combat corruption is to work closely with the localmedia. He did not say how this would work in countries where governments are under equal pressure to allow more media freedom.