Africa Day Against Corruption: Accelerated asset recovery will boost graft war
By K24 Editorial, July 26, 2019Caroline Gaita
This past week marked the 2nd commemoration of the Africa Day Against Corruption. The celebrations were aptly themed “Towards a Common Position on Asset Recovery”. This focus could not have been timelier.
According to a presentation by the head of EACC, an estimated $148 million or 25 per cent of Africa’s GDP is lost to corruption.
Put simply, for every dollar available, mainly through debt, 25 per cent is pilfered, stolen and lines up personal pockets.
This figures are collaborated by an African Union 2018 report “Stolen Futures: The Impact of Corruption on Children in Africa.” According to the report, two to three per cent of household budgets go to bribes and seven per cent of national budgets lost to illicit flows.
The Mbeki Report on illicit financial flows estimated that $1 trillion has been lost to corruption in the last five decades in Africa. The losses are evident in the deteriorating quality of public services available in health, education, sports and housing sectors.
For example, the AU report says an estimated 25 million children in primary school across the continent have been affected by corruption.
Why are these figures important? In recent times, corruption seems to have become mainstreamed to our social psyche, due to the frequency, size and spread of scandals in Kenya and Africa.
Words like mega scandal and grand corruption are now a common feature in media outlets. In so doing, we seem to be losing the opportunity to interrogate the cost of corruption, especially at a personal level.
As citizens, we are yet to equate the astronomical resources lost to corruption directly to increased cost of living and especially in the provision of services that highly affect a majority such as education and health.
This is especially poignant when you consider that privately, we are paying dearly for services in areas that should be public, accessible and affordable.
Back to the conference, it is encouraging to note that the multi-agency efforts by different state and non-state actors are bearing fruit, albeit slowly.
According to reports from EACC and the Asset Recovery Agency (ARA), Sh11 billion has so far been recovered, including proceeds from the ChickenGate scandal.
Additionally, Mutual Legal Agreements, regional and internal co-operation and sharing of intelligence seems to be closing loopholes for corrupt persons intent on moving wealth across the borders.
The adoption of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms has also encouraged those who benefitted from the illegal allocation of public resources, especially land, to forfeit them to the state.
The return of land worth Sh2.6 billion to the University of Nairobi is a case in point.
While the efforts are commendable, more remains to be done. The pace of arrests, convictions and asset recovery as the case maybe, must be seen to be in tandem with the high reported cases of corruption.
The legal and institutional frameworks, including the proposed amendments to the Proceeds of Crime and Anti-Money Laundering Amendment (2017), regulations to operationalise the Bribery Act of 2016 and others must make corruption very painful and expensive.
Indeed, focus should be geared towards the detection, disruption and deterrent of corruption. The strengthening and institutionalisation of wealth declarations and lifestyle audits will also be a step in the right direction.
Recently, Kenya negotiated and signed two treaties on Mutual Legal Assistance and one, which make provision for negotiations on mutually acceptable arrangements on final disposal of confiscated property—between China and Italy.
It has also entered into an MoU with the Swiss government among other agreements; the agreements will go a long way in facilitating repatriation of stolen assets.
The role of citizens in the fight against corruption cannot be gainsaid and this was evident from the passionate comments from members of the public at the forum. To enrol and win support, State and non-State agencies should enhance their communication with citizens.
They should also ensure recovered assets are handled in a transparent manner and the proceeds put into good public use. Beyond assets recovery, the state should enhance its recovery of benefits of proceeds of corruption.
Finally, the enactment of the Whistle Blower Protection Act will go a long way in creating a safe environment for easy reporting of corrupt activities.
The sustainability of our continent and the future of our children is dependent on how fast and effectively we win the fight against the corruption and recover stolen assets. This is, therefore, one battle we cannot afford to lose. —The writer is the ED of Mzalendo Trust.—carole.wanjiku@gmail.com