AFRICAN countries should strengthen transparency and ensure accountability to spur on structural transformation, a new report by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) has recommended.
BY NDAMU SANDU IN ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA
According to the African Governance Report IV 2016 that was launched last Saturday, corruption was cited as one of the major impediments to structural transformation on the continent and that the scourge could not be tackled without considering the broader governance challenges in each African country.
“Transparency and accountability are essential requisites for ensuring good governance and, in turn, reducing corruption. Weak transparency and accountability in many African countries undermine the possibility of planning and executing policies, notably those related to structural transformation,” the report said.
ECA said only 13 African countries had acceded to the Collaborative Africa Budget Reform Initiative, a peer-learning and exchange network for senior budget officials working in African ministries of Finance or Planning. Zimbabwe is among the countries yet to accede to the initiative.
ECA said African countries should improve freedom of information laws and reinforce their implementation in order to deal with information asymmetry.
“Prior to 2011, the number of African countries with freedom of information legislation stood at five, representing just 9% of the entire continent; this number has since increased to 13, representing 24% of all countries in Africa,” it said.
“At present Angola, Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Guinea, Liberia, the Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tunisia, Uganda and Zimbabwe have all adopted freedom of information laws.” ECA said there should enhanced participation by the population in development planning processes and corresponding policymaking.
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The lack of a participatory approach, ECA said, creates a significant space for corrupt practices. The report also said there was need to improve the quality of governance institutions.
“Economic governance institutions are essential, not only for combating corruption, but also for implementing the continent’s structural transformation agenda,” it said.
ECA said corruption in Africa had a significant international dimension, urging African countries to collaborate with international stakeholders to improve the global governance architecture.
The report comes at a time Zimbabwe is bemoaning the loss of $15 billion allegedly spirited from the Marange diamond fields by diamond producers over seven years.
In an interview with the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation, President Robert Mugabe said government had not received much in terms of revenue from diamonds since the companies started operating in Marange after the 2008 diamond rush.
“I don’t think we have exceeded $2 billion or so, no, and yet we think that well over $15 billion or so have been earned in that area,” he said.
Mugabe’s disclosures followed an order by Mines minister Walter Chidakwa for Marange diamond producers to cease operations, as they were dragging their feet being amalgamated into the Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company — a new company formed to halt leakages in the diamond sector.
