DESPITE INCREASE IN FOCUS ON CORRUPTION THE
LEGAL FRAMEWORK CONDONES CORRUPTION
IN Tanzania, repeated
corruption scandals have raised doubts about the effectiveness of the
institution, the country's legislation and the government's willingness to
pursue high-level corruption to its logical conclusion.
The most prominent scandal involved Tanzania's Central Bank (BoT), an independent international audit revealed that more than USD 131 million from the BoT External Payment Arrears (EPA) account had been improperly paid to 22 local companies between 2005 and 2006, many of them allegedly fictitious.
As a result of the scandal, the former governor of the Central Bank Daudi Balali was dismissed in absentia while the former BoT director of personnel and administration was found guilty of abuse of office and sentenced to two years in prison in 2010.
Another scandal, according to several sources published in 2008, including the International Herald Tribune, led to the former Prime Minister, Edward Lowassa, and two other ministers to resign in February 2008, due to their involvement in granting a large contract to an American-based company, Richmond Development Company, in which they had personal interest.
As a consequence of these scandals involving higher echelon members of government, the entire Cabinet was dissolved and new members appointed with Mizengo Peter Pinda being appointed Prime Minister in place of Edward Lowassa. As a result a number of the committee's members resigned.
Corruption remains a major concern for foreign companies and investors in Tanzania, according to the assessment by the US Department of State 2011. According to the report, corruption is economic-wide, and measures to combat it are applied impartially to foreign and domestic investors.
It is particularly petty corruption that has been identified by foreign companies as an obstacle to investment.
This perception is supported by the World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Report 2011-2012, in which, business executives have identified corruption as one of the most problematic factors for conducting business in Tanzania, only preceded by access to financing.
According to the report, companies consider the occurrence of irregular
payments and bribes in Tanzania as common. In addition, companies behave
unethically in interactions with public officials, politicians and other
companies to the point that their behaviour constitutes a competitive
disadvantage for the country. The most prominent scandal involved Tanzania's Central Bank (BoT), an independent international audit revealed that more than USD 131 million from the BoT External Payment Arrears (EPA) account had been improperly paid to 22 local companies between 2005 and 2006, many of them allegedly fictitious.
As a result of the scandal, the former governor of the Central Bank Daudi Balali was dismissed in absentia while the former BoT director of personnel and administration was found guilty of abuse of office and sentenced to two years in prison in 2010.
Another scandal, according to several sources published in 2008, including the International Herald Tribune, led to the former Prime Minister, Edward Lowassa, and two other ministers to resign in February 2008, due to their involvement in granting a large contract to an American-based company, Richmond Development Company, in which they had personal interest.
As a consequence of these scandals involving higher echelon members of government, the entire Cabinet was dissolved and new members appointed with Mizengo Peter Pinda being appointed Prime Minister in place of Edward Lowassa. As a result a number of the committee's members resigned.
Corruption remains a major concern for foreign companies and investors in Tanzania, according to the assessment by the US Department of State 2011. According to the report, corruption is economic-wide, and measures to combat it are applied impartially to foreign and domestic investors.
It is particularly petty corruption that has been identified by foreign companies as an obstacle to investment.
This perception is supported by the World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Report 2011-2012, in which, business executives have identified corruption as one of the most problematic factors for conducting business in Tanzania, only preceded by access to financing.
One of the main problems regarding business corruption is the lack of enforcement of the various anti-corruption initiatives. Business-relevant areas in which corruption persists include government procurement, licensing, privatisation, taxation, ports, and customs clearance, according to the US Department of State 2011.
According to the report, the traffic police, the revenue authority and immigration officials are cited as being very prone to corruption.
However, according to Anti-Corruption Handbook For Development Practitioners by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, Department for Development Policy, 2012; while governance comprises the complex mechanisms, processes and institutions through which citizens and groups articulate their interests, mediate their differences and exercise their legal rights and obligations, corruption is an outcome and a failure of this complex system.
Sometimes an exclusive focus on corruption causes simple-minded anti-corruption initiatives, which neglect the complex challenge of strengthening national governance systems.
Thus, the focus has to be in strengthening governance structures of the partner country, but also in building capacity in the way Finland implements its development co-operation.
Anti-corruption work is an essential part of good governance work. Anti-corruption work includes activities, which strengthen not only national but international governance structures.
It normally strengthens checks and balances institutions like parliaments, independent oversight agencies, the judicial system, a free press, and democratically accountable local institutions.
The United Nations against Corruption (UNCAC) is a good example of an international level initiative, which promotes transparency and accountability – the key principles of good governance.
Anti-corruption work can take many different forms in development operations since the checks and balances structures are not always the national anti-corruption structures, but structures which have been incorporated into the development programme.
Anti-corruption activities at the programme level can take the following forms, for example: supporting the formulation of the legal framework, sound public financial management, inclusive structures for participation in decision-making or involving independent financial agents to follow the financial management of the programme.
Governance and aid effectiveness: The Paris Declaration (2005), the 2008 Accra High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness and the 2011 Busan High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness show many entry points for linking with the governance agenda in general and especially, with the anti-corruption agenda.
Among other things, the Paris Declaration insists on results-based reporting and assessment. The Accra Agenda takes this further towards pro-poor development being the ultimate goal for results-based management.
The Agenda also makes clear that transparency and accountability are at the core of the aid effectiveness agenda.
National governance systems consist of many institutions and actors, which do not only need to have the capacity to perform their functions, but who also need to be accountable to someone if governance is to be effective.
In addition, transparency is an essential cross-cutting aspect of the governance system, contributing to the efficacy of both the actors and the accountability relationships. Transparency is, of course, also important if a governance system is to be monitored regarding its effectiveness to produce development results.
All this not only shows the relevance of good governance for the aid effectiveness debate. It also puts a convention like UNCAC at the centre of the Paris Declaration and re-emphasises UNCAC as a good governance convention, not a convention solely focused on anti-corruption.
UNCAC is not only a technical guide for targeted anti-corruption measures, but also a comprehensive development and governance framework. In order to know how much governance matters in development, one needs to understand the multifaceted phenomenon of corruption.
Key issues to be considered: Strengthening governance. Addressing corruption through “preventive lenses and tools” and strengthening the preventive governance structures through political dialogue and operational activities both at bilateral and multilateral forums, form the basis of Finnish anti-corruption work.
Delivery side of governance: The real test on the success of governance work is how much it increases development effectiveness. In order to follow the delivery side of governance, one has to take governance into account in all development interventions.
Good governance as legal responsibility:
Good governance as a concept is not directly a topic in itself in any legally binding international instrument but there is a wealth of international legal instruments of direct relevance and applicability to questions of governance.
Conceptual understanding: What is meant by governance, good governance and anti-corruption?
No comments:
Post a Comment