Will African governments finally tackle corruption?

In 2005, the United Nations Convention against Corruption became the first legally binding, global anti-corruption agreement, marking a historic milestone in the fight against corruption. On 9 December 2006, a day set aside to celebrate international anti-corruption day, 28 African countries committed themselves to tackling corruption by signing the Convention.

This is not the first time that many African governments have committed to cracking down on corruption. Yet, actions speak louder than signatures and corruption remains rife across the region. In fact, it was once estimated by Transparency International that over $30 billion in aid for Africa – an amount equal to twice the gross domestic product of Kenya, Uganda and Ghana combined –has ended up in foreign bank accounts. It is safe to say that corruption has played an undeniable role in preventing economic prosperity, democratic development and civil society’s trust in governments across the African continent. This has been reflected yet again in Transparency International’s latest Corruption Perceptions Index. Of the African countries surveyed, Botswana was viewed as the least corrupt, being ranked at number 37, while Guinea performed especially badly, coming in at 160 out of a potential 163.

For the first time, the UN Convention against Corruption provides a single, overarching means for all countries in the region to fight and eventually remove the scourge of corruption. More specifically, chapter two of the Convention provides different measures that a country should implement in order to achieve the ultimate goal of stopping corruption and removing the fog of secrecy that often clouds government operations and decision-making processes.

One means by which African countries can go a long way to battling corruption is by adopting and implementing an effective right to information law, which would also underpin many of the other measures set out in the Convention.

An effective right to information law places an obligation on the government to regularly disclose as much information as possible about its policies and decisions to the public, and provide information to individuals when they request it. If a right to information law is introduced, then it can act as an important tool in fighting corruption - it can effectively transform the strong and traditional culture of secrecy within government into one of transparency and openness.

An effective right to information law also helps to ensure that governments formulate and implement development projects in a responsible, transparent and participatory manner. Development projects often significantly suffer as a result of funds being siphoned off, resulting in severe delay, and sometimes even a failure to complete projects. With a right to information law in place, governments would be obliged to share information on such projects with the public who can then monitor their development. In fact, the right to information would give the public a voice in determining what local projects should take place in the first place and how these can be designed to more effectively improve their lives.

If governments in Africa are serious about cracking down on corruption, cleaning up their governments and securing the long term democratic development and economic prosperity for their citizens, then there is no better time to implement their commitments under the UN Convention against Corruption and prioritise the drafting and implementation of an effective right to information law.