We are losing the war on corruption
Duma Boko | Wednesday November 20, 2013 11:36
The overinflated fanfare of the State of the Nation Address is slowly fading away I hope. It is opportune to take up one very important issue which will bulk large in the lead up to the next General Elections.
This is the issue of corruption. The government spin doctors are ever so quick to point out what appears to be favourable ratings by outside bodies like Transparency International. These ratings seem so potent and validating, not so much because they express any truth, as the fact that they are from outside. They are relied upon to dismiss any concerns and criticisms of local provenance. Any serious engagement on issues of corruption is then supplanted and sacrificed because Transparency International has failed to appreciate the complex local web in which corruption manifests and thrives.
A fleeting examination of the legal framework in Botswana, in relation to corruption, shows it focuses on the conduct of public officers. Corruption is defined and understood mostly in regard to the public officer. It is this narrow locus that enables Transparency International to issue fanciful and overgenerous assessments of the state of corruption in our country. The truth is that corruption is not only extant in Botswana but that it is growing at pandemic velocity. It afflicts the public sector as much as it afflicts the private. Botswana presents the most conducive environment for corruption. The wages of many workers are so low that they fall below the minimum reasonably necessary for survival. The worker is forced in many cases to seek to supplement his or her income by demanding facilitating payments from those he or she deals with in the course and within the scope of employment.
Those from whom such payments are sought are also quick to understand that the worker is financially challenged and can only survive by exacting such payments. In fact some are themselves in the same situation and take it as acceptable for one to use his or her position to gain some financial advantage. In that case corruption is not seen as morally reprehensible, it is invested with an aura that makes it somewhat irresistible. In a great many of these cases “grease payments” have now become the norm and unwritten expectation. It is critical for any government that is serious about fighting corruption to operate on a more expansive understanding of corruption. Some useful guidance in this regard may be obtained from a definition proposed at the 19th Conference of the European Ministers of Justice way back. They understood corruption as “extending to all fields of activity, both private and public, and to all persons invested with private or public functions who acquire undue advantage linked to the exercise of such functions.” The challenge then would be to develop and model a legal definition that captures the broadest range of corrupt dealings possible.
The establishment of the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) seemed to present some hope that the country may be well on its way to effectively addressing corruption. All such hope has faded. Those who have dealt with DCEC, especially lawyers and other professionals will readily agree that the Directorate is woefully incapable of handling serious investigations into acts of corruption. Even under the existing tepid legal framework, DCEC is incompetent. The DCEC lacks professionals who can investigate complex transactions and unearth corruption. DCEC needs skilled and competent accountants, auditors, lawyers, forensic specialists of all sorts to pursue the kinds of investigations required to snuff out corruption. It also needs IT specialists who can support these complex investigations. More importantly it needs the credible leadership of professionals with a well attested track record. One searches the DCEC, as presently constituted, in vain for all these critical requirements.
What we see in Botswana currently is that criminals are using corrupt practices to gain advantage and control over democratic institutions. Corrosive influence peddling is rife in Botswana. We see a great deal of it in the arena of tender issuance and award. Examples abound of tenders issued in terms of specifications already availed to and agreed with potential bidders. This happens in the public as well as private sector. This conduct applies at all levels and in relation to a wide variety of settings. Syndicates exist in parastatals that give out work and outsource services. Many law practices as well as other small business are active players in this game. Merit and excellence are robbed of any meaning and relevance. What matters is how well one can wiggle close and gain advantage by making “grease payments” to these officials who give out the tenders and the work.
Many people, especially those with connections to the ruling party seem to be doing exceptionally well in business. They, by reason of their mere association with the ruling party, seem to become imbued with amazing business acumen that makes them achieve super wealth in the shortest time. Unchecked lust for wealth together with an uncontrolled and far from transparent orgy of spending on the part of many institutions encourages corruption. The phenomenon of select panels in banks for the provision of certain services has resulted in amazing levels of corruption.
It is important to build, from scratch pretty much, and strengthen the country’s frontlines of defence against the gangrene of corruption. This requires the promulgation of whistle blower protection legislation and institutions. The DCEC Act itself demands immediate amendment, improvement and strengthening to broaden its sweep and penetration. There is so much that this country must do if its rhetoric of zero tolerance is to have any serious resonance. As things stand the ideal of zero tolerance remains a shimmering mirage.
More immediately, this country needs a serious and competent legislature, made up of professionals of diverse skills and competencies to properly discharge the mandate of Section 86 of our Constitution. One hopes that the electorate seizes the opportunity presented by the coming General Elections to liberate Parliament from the stranglehold of sycophants and deadwood. In a word, free Parliament itself from corruption!
*Duma Boko is a lawyer.