Assets law will help reduce corruption

Patricia Maganu
Staff Writer | Friday March 26, 2010 00:00

 

He was speaking at a workshop on corruption and corporate governance organised by City of Francistown yesterday.The senior magistrate said that the absence of the law has contributed to rampant corruption in the country. 'There are people who could have been arrested but they are protected, ' he said.

Moroka said that if this bill were to be passed and law enacted Batswana would realise that they do not know their country. 'Some investors who come here need protection and they might try to offer ministers free shares in their companies in return for protection but if the bill was in place the ministers would not take such offers because they would be afraid they would have to declare the assets,' he said.

Moroka could not stress enough how important this law was to the fight against widespread corruption. 'We need this law as a matter of urgency,' he said. He listed some factors that would lead to corruption, among them unchecked or absolute power, absence of clear rules and guidelines, greed and axis, absence of rule of law, party political funding, lack of transparency and the confidential clause and the absence of the declaration of assets and liabilities bill. 'This cocktail is a party to disaster; we need a law,' he said. HR Group Chief executive officer (CEO) Dave Bagwasi, who was the main facilitator of the workshop, said the slow and weak system could also contribute to acts of corruption.

Bagwasi said if people did not get services or products in time there were chances that they would resort to corrupt practices. He further said that relationships between management and staff, councillors and management, councillors and voters and so on could help curb corruption.

'When relations are good it is easy to institute good business management and disengage from corruption dealings,' he said.

Most councillors said that the bill needed to be passed to help curb graft in the country.

Councillor James Kgalajwe said that the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) should advise the government that the bill would be an excellent weapon againt corruption. 'We are at a stage where we should have that law. Without it we can sit here and talk for hours without seeing any progress. The absence of this law is a tool that adds to corruption,' he said.

Kgalajwe further said that corruption 'undermines democracy and bankrupts' the state.

Principal Anti-Corruption officer Canny Gaolathe, of the DCEC who were part of workshop facilitators, said that the DCEC has tried on more than one occasion to advise about the importance of the declaration of assets and liabilities law.

He said that in 2001 DCEC in conjunction with Botswana Council of Commerce Industry and Manpower (BOCCIM), sponsored by the British Council,  started the talks on the importance of this bill. 'It was then tabled by the then Minister of Defence and Justice Phandu Skelemani but it is still pending up to now,' he said.

He said that the bill would help the DCEC become more effective in prosecuting its cases.'It would help us in curbing corruption,' he said.