Zephania Ubwani
20 August 2008
Arusha — Former Tanzanian prime minister Joseph Warioba warned here today that corruption was rife in East Africa and that it poses a serious governance problem.
He said despite the political rhetoric by leaders, efforts to fight corruption in the region have not succeeded while the chances of doing better are not clear because of interference by the executive.
He suggested that instead of forming commissions and task forces to find cures to corruption, the EA governments should strengthen their anti-corruption agencies to make them more effective.
Mr Warioba, who was giving a key note address at a Regional Workshop on Strengthening Public Accountability in EA, said commissions formed to investigate corruption cases have done little.
He noted that the commissions of enquiry were normally established as a result of activism in parliament and pressure from the media, describing parliamentary activism as simply power play.
The former PM added that MPs normally become vocal on the vice not because they want to eradicate corruption but because they want to change the leadership so that they in turn occupy the government.
"Sometimes those who used corrupt means to get elected become the ones most vocal and whey they gain power they become very corrupt" he pointed out. Mr Warioba, who himself headed the famous Warioba Commission established by former Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa upon taking over power in 1995, said commissions formed to investigate corrupt cases in the region consumed a lot of public money.
He told a workshop organised by the Kampala-based Kituo cha Katiba that the war on high profile corruption should be intensified by strengthening the anti-corruption agencies with more independence and autonomy.
There should be less of commissions and task forces and more work by the anti-corruption agencies. It is possible a strong anti-corruption agency would have done much better in the Goldenberg and Anglo Leasing cases in Kenya" he said. Similarly, he said, a good Inspector General of Government in Uganda would have done much better in the Global Fund case in which $ 148 million were misused than a commission.
"In Tanzania, a strong Prevention and Combating Corruption Bureau (PCCB) would certainly do a better job than a task force" the former PM and respected lawyer suggested.
Moral authority
Mr Warioba, who served as Prime Minister from 1985 to 1990 and Attorney General 1975 to 1985, said the anti-corruption rhetoric often made by political leaders in EA lacked moral authority. "In most cases it is intended to achieve something like regime change. A political party will campaign on an anti-corruption platform using corrupt means in order to stay in power or defeat their political opponents.
"Once in power, corruption continues or even increases" he told officials of the civil society organisations, anti-graft agencies and academic institutions in the region at an Arusha hotel.
He further noted that although the anti-corruption bodies in EA were autonomous by law, in practice they are heavily influenced by the executive. "They are small in size and they are supposed to concentrate on grand corruption or what is defined as corruption."
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