Preventing corruption

Bereket Gebru

Various studies have shown Ethiopia to be among the least corrupt countries in Africa. The individual encounters people in Ethiopia have with corrupt practices are generally perceived to be much less than the average African. Although there might be a number of reasons for the fact, cultural and economic dynamics can be taken as two of those.

Trends in the past few years have, however, raised the popular perception of corruption in the country. Corruption has become a national agenda threatening social, economic and political life in Ethiopia.

Culturally, the rapid hybridization and even replacement of traditional Ethiopian values by more secular and liberal western values, especially in urban centers seems to have altered ethical standards. The social values that fostered acts of the Good Samaritan seem to have increasingly shifted to a ‘compensating help’ sort of mentality. People on the street who push somebody’s malfunctioning car are more likely going to expect some compensation for their help with these days. Although not in Adam Smith’s direct words, Ethiopians are getting more familiar with the concept of “there is no free lunch.”

Economically, tremendous price surges that shore up the cost of living in the face of unbalanced income levels for the majority of the population have injected a sense of desperation in people. As a result, people tend to look for ways of making extra money through any means possible. That tendency seems to push them more towards various acts of corruption.

Yet another aspect of the economic dynamics in the country in the past few years is rapid economic growth. There has been a huge increase in the number of local and foreign private businesses operating in the economy at different capacities. Considering one conducive environment for corruption is the interaction of private and public enterprises, the rise in the number of private businesses and their urge for profit likely increases the possibility of corruption.

Cognizant of the considerable powers pushing corruption up the ladder of social, economic and political threats, the Ethiopian people and government have taken concrete combative measures.

One of the most notable of these acts was the establishment of the Federal Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission about fifteen years ago. A major progress that came out of the Federal Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission has been the National Anti-Corruption Coalition. With the authority entrusted to it, the Commission forged consultation forums with various associations and segments of society to curb corruption. As the fight against the vice of corruption requires more concerted efforts, the commission eventually exerted its full efforts and established an inclusive National Anti-Corruption Coalition six years ago.

An article entitled “Ethiopia: Commanding Coalition to Combat Corruption” states that “Members of the coalition, the well-built convergence, include the representatives of government, civic societies and the private sector as well as opposition parties which have seats in the parliament. Most importantly, as the executive, judiciary and legislative arms of government are members of the coalition, it would offer an opportunity to lead and direct the fight against corruption comprehensively.”

The coalition holds its conference every two years. Accordingly, the third conference was held on December 17 and 18, 2015 at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) hall. One of the important milestones of this conference was the announcement that the government has decided to make every governmental institutions design and implement its own corruption prevention strategy.

Reports state that Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn disclosed the preparation of a document by the Federal Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission that enables governmental institutions design and implement their own corruption prevention strategy at his opening speech of the conference. The reports further indicated that the Premier accorded the highest responsibility of implementation of the plan to the management of these institutions stressing that the government will closely follow the progress made through the channels of accountability.

Corruption prevention has been one of the activities of federal and regional anti-corruption bodies in our country. Towards that end, these bodies expand ethics and anti-corruption education and review corruption-prone working procedures to close loopholes that are conducive for corruption.

The prevention work of the Commission gives special focus to strategically identified areas such as tax and revenue collection, justice sector, procurement in major infrastructural projects, land administration, financial administration, and promotion of ethics education among children and the youth. The Commission reviewed work procedures in these areas with a view to making them more transparent and less cumbersome.

The transfer of these corruption prevention responsibilities to every governmental institution exponentially multiplies the number of public institutions benefitting from these anti-corruption methods. Instead of waiting for the federal and regional anti-corruption bodies to conduct work procedure reviews or carry out educational activities, these institutions are now entrusted with the responsibility of engaging the problem themselves.

With the anti-corruption bodies carrying out supervision and assistance in these endeavors, their efforts are more efficiently used. With such infrastructure in place, the 645 million Birr prevented from being lost to corruption in the last fiscal year alone is going to skyrocket.

The introduction of such a step in governmental institutions also has its perks on anti-corruption activities elsewhere. Until last year, the Federal Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission dealt only with corruption in the public sector. The private sector remained out of its realm unless it colluded with the public sector in corrupt practices. Prevention of public funds from being exploited illegally was given a priority until recently.

The transfer of preventive responsibilities of governmental institutions themselves, however, provides the perfect opportunity for the Commission to deal with the private sector more closely. The time, material, financial and human resources that used to be spent on preventive efforts in governmental institutions can now be used to carry out preventive activities in the private sector.