A technical meeting to set up the Network of National Anti-Corruption Institutions in Central Africa (RINAC) heralded to breathe a new lease of life into the fight against the canker.

Yaoundé, 23 September 2015 (ECA) - National anti-corruption institutions of all CEMAC and ECCAS member countries are hitching horses to boost the fight against corruption in the sub-region. In is in this context that the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the National Commission for the Fight against Illicit Enrichment of the Republic of Gabon are bringing together senior officials of national institutions responsible for the issue in the said region to launch the Network of National Anti-Corruption Institutions in Central Africa (RINAC) from 7 to 9 October 2015 in Libreville (Gabon).

This technical meeting to launch RINAC is the fruit of a study conducted by the ECA based on recommendations by a group of experts of the sub-region meeting in Yaoundé-Cameroon in October 2010 and, after workshop to validate a study to way the options for such a network validation of the study held in Libreville in November 2012

The Network will serve as a tool for building capacity and for sharing knowledge, information and best practices common to Central African countries in order to better combat corruption in the sub-region.

During the meeting, experts from Central African countries, the ECA, ECCAS, the African Union Commission, the AfDB, UNDP, the World Bank and other institutions, will examine and validate several working documents, notably RINAC's first three-year plan of action. The plan will cover the period 2015-2017 and will focus on achieving visibility for the Network, establishing its credibility and developing its institutions.

Worrying situation

According to the classification of the business environment in the 2015 edition of Doing Business published by the World Bank, sixteen of the worse countries in terms of ease of doing business are African. Among the sixteen, a quarter of them are countries of the sub-region: Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola and Gabon. According to the second edition of the report on Governance in Central Africa published by the ECA, corruption is one of the main impediments to the development of Africa in general and Central Africa in particular. The scourge constitutes an obstacle to the eradication of poverty and saps the continent's ability to achieve its development objectives.

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