Best Practices

Corruption, Threat to Development

      Nowadays, corruption has become a major threat to global economic development, social justice, security and stability. Cognizant of the unpleasant fact, the international community has launched a coordinated campaign against the social evil. 

            As part of the global world, the Ethiopian Government upholds a similar conviction in its drive to fight corruption. With a view to curbing corruption and impropriety in partnership and collaboration with development partners and the society at large, it established the Federal Ethics and Anti-corruption Commission (FEAC) in 2oo1. Since then, the Commission has launched a three-pronged campaign (prevention, investigation and prosecution) against corruption. 

            When we look back the development of corruption in Ethiopia in retrospect, we could see that there were times when bribery and nepotism were not considered to be corrupt practices. Up until the fall of the unpopular Military Government, the Ethiopian people had been paying for monarchies, dictators and their cronies both in cash and kind getting nothing in return. Surprisingly, the payment was considered to be sort of  "motivation" by both the providers and recipients. Nepotism was also mostly regarded as a positive approach to" help friends and relatives." 

               Having passed through such miserable periods of monarchical rule and military dictatorship, the Ethiopian peoples reached a stage where they couldn't bear the brunt of corruption and impropriety any longer. According to some reliable sources, the political corruption by the military government was so devastating that it prompted the public to rally behind the Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) against it. People began to speak openly about corruption and impropriety without hiding their real feelings and stressed the need to curb it. Presently, it seems that Ethiopians have started to call a spade a spade and deal with graft seriously.

            As many scholars and experts in the area would agree, corruption is not a social phenomenon that can be explained by a simple cause/effect model. It is a complicated issue, often the result of many contingent circumstances, which produce varied and wide-ranging effects. Without limiting the generality of this argument, however, one can cite numerous factors that are widely believed to be the major causes of corruption in Ethiopia.  

            According to the expert analysis of the Ethiopian civil service reform programme and some other sources, poor governance, lack of accountability and transparency, low level of democratic culture and tradition, lack of citizen participation, lack of clear regulations and authorization, low institutional control, extreme poverty and inequity, harmful cultural practices, command economy during the Derg regime, weak financial management, inadequate accounting and auditing, weak legal and judicial system  are the major causes of corruption in Ethiopia.   

            During the Imperial and the Derg Regimes, corruption resulted in undermining the legitimacy of the government, eroding the confidence in leadership, weakening their structures, diverting public money away from development projects, worsening poverty, creating social unrest and finally speeding up their downfall.

           Even after the tall of the doctorial regime, corruption has cost its shadow on the democratization process. 

          Understandably the Government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia   decided to design and launch the ethics sub-programme as a major component of the reform which stemmed from its conviction that the promotion and expanding of ethics and anti-corruption education was the most effective and sustainable way of preventing and prosecuting corruption offences. Hence, the establishment of the Federal Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission /FEAC/ following the finalization of several participatory preparations. 

               To the conviction of the FEAC, expanding ethics and anti-corruption education among the public and plugging loopholes that exist in the working procedures of public institutions and enterprises are at the heart of preventing corruption offences. It is for this very reason that the Commission has launched a wide-ranging awareness raising    programmes through formal and informal arrangements. 

                  With a view to preventing corruption before it is committed, the FEAC examines the working procedures in government departments and public enterprises thereby securing the revision of methods of work, which may be conducive to corrupt practices, and, in parallel, takes curative measures.          

               In the last four years or so, the Commission made some achievements, which, indeed, are worth mentioning. The activities undertaken in the areas of expanding ethics and anti-corruption education and preventing, investigating and prosecuting corruption offences were particularly exemplary.

            Since its establishment, the FEAC has been working in close partnership and collaboration with various stakeholders including donors, development partners, civil society, media, religious groups, regional states, foreign governments and federal government offices. 

            In the course of the anti-corruption campaign, the Commission has encountered some problems. Of all of them, capacity constraints have (up until now) remained to be the most serious and challenging ones.  Lack of skilled work force in all areas of concern in general and investigation and prosecution areas in particular was the major shortcoming.  

            The low level of public participation and the absence of a vibrant media, which presents a balanced report about the ongoing anti-corruption campaign in the country, have also negatively affected FEAC's performance. 

            In the years ahead, the Commission has wide-ranging plans to redouble its efforts to mobilize the public and other resources against corruption in a more vigorous and vibrant manner. The prevention of corruption will particularly be given top priority, as it is the most cost-effective and sustainable way of fighting corruption and impropriety. It also attaches a very high premium on tackling corruption before it happens. To the Commission's conviction, corruption can be effectively prevented through the expansion of ethics and anti-corruption education. It has, therefore, plans to do so in collaboration and partnership with development partners and stakeholders in the years to come. To effectively execute the afore-mentioned projects, the Commission is trying its level best to raise its capacity up to the standard and desired level. The creation of a broader coalition and wholistic approach in which all stakeholders and actors can take part in the campaign against corruption which is menace to overall development of the country is also high on its agenda.