This week Zambia had the pleasure of hosting our very first Africa International Anti-Corruption Conference (A-IACC) in Lusaka. The event, which has gathered 113 delegates from 36 nationalities from all over the continent and beyond, is meant to serve as a regional platform to discuss ideas, achievements, challenges and share best practices and recommendations among anti-corruption activists in Africa. The event is a lead-up to the 21st International Anti-Corruption Conference which will take place this June in Vilnius, Lithuania.
Let me start by stating that it was with great pride that we first received the request to organise this event by the IACC team. We consider this to be a significant show of trust in our capacities and appreciation for the work that we carry out at Transparency International Zambia.
I would like to express a word of appreciation to the Chair of TI Francois Valérian and the CEO of TI Daniel Eriksson, and the other colleagues from the TI movement who joined us for this important event. I also want to thank the Chair of the IACC Council, our fellow countryman Mr. Rueben Lifuka, for the support received and for the leadership he continues to provide at the global level, and all the participants, from Zambia and other African countries who took the time to participate in this regional gathering.
Thanks to the valuable contributions by the many panelists and moderators which have led the discussions during these 2 days, we have delved with great depth into different topics under the overarching theme “Standing up for Integrity in Africa”.
Allow me therefore to unpack for you some of the main take-aways from this Africa IACC.
Corruption is a global phenomenon: public funds are embezzled, transferred abroad typically to the global North, converted into vehicles and goods, and stored in safe havens. Indeed, it is very rare to observe today a purely national manifestation of corruption. Even when we look at the most basic petty episodes of corruption, which are unfortunately an everyday occurrence for most Africans, the links with the global dimension are strong: it is the very lack of resources that on one side constitutes a push for public servant to demand bribes and on the other creates a vacuum for individuals to exploit.
Corruption is global and the solution must, therefore, be global. It is imperative that we don’t limit ourselves to our own individual spheres of action, but that we come together at the regional and global level and discuss strategies and opportunities for addressing this scourge. Together, we can define common global as well as specific regional trends, threats and the needed responses.
The fight against corruption cannot be left to the government alone. As civil society, we are called to a higher standard – to occupy maybe the most important role in this fight. The space for action for CSOs in Africa is increasingly restricted by governments, scared of the mounting popular demand for accountability and transparency. CSOs, media houses, and individuals are increasingly targeted through threats, arrests, assassinations, and abuse of public order laws in what has become an alarming quest for silence and consensus; exacerbated by the rise in authoritarianism on the continent.
As our TI Chair, Prof. Valérian, rightfully highlighted, information is our raw material, our most important weapon. By sharing information, experiences, and best practices we can keep up with the constantly evolving challenges brought by the global economy of corruption and improve our effectiveness. Indeed, this is the nature and objective of the present conference.
As CSOs, “standing up for integrity in Africa” means taking up the great number of challenges that affect our continent and fighting for changes towards transparency in our society while always ensuring to uphold ethics and integrity in our own behaviour. This is often not the easiest path to take and it costs us a great deal of efforts and time; however, it is the only way to achieve our ultimate goal, a corruption free Zambia anchored on citizens, businesses and institutions of integrity.
Unfortunately, integrity is increasingly threatened in a number of sectors and domains.
Electoral integrity is a central topic of the political conversation in 2024, which stands out as the biggest election year in history. Few elections in Africa can stand the quality test. Stakeholders should do more to evaluate and assess the weak points in order to reduce the trust deficit in electoral processes.
Integrity is threatened not only during the electoral cycle, but throughout the democratic life in Africa. African democracies are currently experiencing the fiercest challenge since the 1990s, with a rise in coups in the Sahel, the increase in conflicts in the region, the persistence of kleptocratic regimes, and the reversal of democratic processes in many countries. This development entails a growing window of opportunity for criminals and corruption enablers (such as corrupt public officials) to bend the rules and abuse public power.
As the Corruption Perceptions Index confirms, corruption is on the rise globally, with over 90% of the countries worldwide showing no significant improvement in the last decade. Indeed, forms of corruption, and perceptions thereof, have evolved in recent years; new sectors are being affected, and new threats to public integrity are developing, reflecting socio-economic and technological dynamics. These include environmental corruption, technological threats and cybercrime, sextortion, peace and security (including the safety of whistleblowers and journalists), and others.
As a collective forum of TI chapters in Africa and CSOs active at the national and regional level, we would like to highlight a set of key recommendations that emerged out of the debates during the last two days, primarily addressed to civil society and activists in Africa, and more generally to the stakeholders involved in the fight:
- African countries should put in place legal frameworks that allow for asset declaration and lifestyle audits to enhance public accountability. We recognized that the lack of transparency around declaration of assets for public institutions links back to issues of kleptocracy and state capture on the continent. The range of these phenomena is so pervasive, that, quoting prof. Thuli Madonsela, former Public Protector of South Africa, “when spider webs combine, they can tie up a lion”.
- More needs to be done to “defend the defenders”. Whistleblowers, journalists and activists are increasingly targeted by governments in the continent; their role is essential in upholding integrity and exposing wrongdoers. It is crucial that we push for reforms and for the meaningful implementation of provisions to protect those who have the courage to speak up.
- Anti-corruption activists must invest more serious efforts to raise awareness about sextortion and its dimensions. Stakeholders should scale up efforts to mainstream gender across anti-corruption interventions and effectively address this issue.
- To contain the spread of environmental corruption, civil society should form broader coalitions and synergies between anti-corruption and environmentalist actors, develop a set of outreach activities targeting also stakeholders outside of the anti-corruption arena, pursue the creation of a nexus including environmental sectors, land and extractives (mining, fisheries) through a human rights lens, and adopt corruption risk assessments.
- As we adapt our research and monitoring approaches to take into account the ways in which technology facilitates corrupt practices, we should also look into leveraging the new set of opportunities that technology offers, both concerning evidence generation and advocacy. CSOs should strengthen data capacity, explore linkages and collaboration opportunities with tech companies, promote transparency and open data, and deploy tech solutions in research and advocacy. This conversation is particularly significant for the African context, where technology is often celebrated for its potential to leap-frog development.
Ladies and gentlemen,
The Africa IACC has infused renewed motivation and energy in our mission to fight corruption. It was an honour to welcome to Lusaka so many international delegates from Africa and the world, and a privilege to discuss with all participants strategies, experiences, best practices and opportunities.
While recognizing the mounting pressure of the challenges we face as anti-corruption activists, our action will grow in size and effectiveness if we unite our voices and coordinate our efforts. Quoting the IACC’s Chair Rueben Lifuka – we hope this is just the beginning of a lasting process of cross-country cooperation and dialogue at continental level, and we look forward to continuing this dialogue at the global IACC in June.
With these few remarks, I thank you.
