Khama troubled at rise in complicated sleaze
Pini Bothoko | Tuesday December 12, 2017 17:29
President Ian Khama said this when officiating at the United Nations (UN) International Anti-Corruption Day held at Tlotlo Hotel and Conference Centre yesterday.
He said government through the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) has been working tirelessly for the past 23 years to tackle the scourge of corruption. He added that in the early years of the DCEC, the most common form of corruption was bribery where the exchange of money for a favour was the common thing.
“Bribery is still a common offence, but over the years the trend has shifted to highly complicated and complex corruption offences.
Corruption hotspots are in the land sector where there are illicit land dealings, procurement and supplies where there is collusion between officers and bidders, the education sector where tertiary institutions receive tuition fees for students who are either no longer enrolled, deceased or purported to have failed remains a challenge. There is also a great concern of fraudulently acquired driving licences,” Khama said.
He said that corruption also exists in the employment sector where positions for employment are secured through unscrupulous means.
He added that the construction sector is another area of concern where there is an emerging trend whereby some government project implementing officials connive with contractors to swindle government millions of pula through approval of inflated claims and sub-standard work.
Khama said corruption is one of the major impediments to development and good governance, as it undermines democracy and the rule of law. He stated that it affects education, health, distorts fair competition and slows economic development.
He further stated that corruption distorts equitable allocation of vital services to citizens and the poor who, together with other vulnerable people, feel the brunt the most.
“These groups are more reliant on public services and if officials solicit bribes from them in order to assist them, it means they can never enjoy the public services meant for all. If left unchecked, corruption can slowly bring the economy to its knees and eventually lead to social inequality and exclusion,” he said.
He pleaded with everyone to rise, unite and nip corruption in the bud through collective efforts as it affects everyone. He said DCEC has formed collaborative partnerships with various stakeholders with a view to eradicate corruption, but they cannot succeed without everyone’s support.
“Botswana has consistently been ranked for the last two decades as the least corrupt country in Africa by the global coalition against corruption. To continue strengthening these efforts, DCEC established anti-corruption units in various ministries since 2011 whose primary roles are to provide early detection and proactive approaches to the fight against corruption,” Khama said.
He pleaded with Batswana to be informed on corruption issues and to teach their children that corruption is unacceptable.
The new DCEC director, Bruno Paledi said as DCEC, they are commonly known to handle high profile cases, but corruption does exist at lower levels of society, starting with a small things, hence a need for collective efforts to curb it from cradle. He said more needs to be done on corruption, as it remains the country’s greatest challenge.