Heads of anti-corruption bodies in African countries agreed in Kigali on measures to be put in place to recover public funds from their respective countries. These funds are diverted and deposited in other countries.
The communiqué read at the close of this conference reveals a request for strengthening the partnership between local, regional and international organizations. The objective is to ensure an effective prevention of corruption which is corroding African economies.
According to Ms. Madeleine Nirere, Chief Ombudsman of Rwanda, most of the measures taken by the participants in this conference focused on the recovery of public funds from African countries. All African countries that are members of the Commonwealth have been victims of these misappropriations.
This problem has also affected Rwanda. Many funds are still unaccounted for even though the office of the ombudsman has recovered six billion Rwandan francs in the past year. “There needs to be a stronger partnership between countries for the fight to be effective, cybercrime has advanced a lot,” adds Ms. Nirere.
Other recommendations made at the conference included building the capacity of those who investigate and prosecute corruption offenses.
Participants also asked Rwanda, the new presiding country, to follow up on the implementation of the decisions of this conference.
This XII th conference provided a forum for the heads of anti-corruption bodies to share experiences and exchange views on the major challenges that many African countries face due to corruption.
Among the lessons learned from the exchanges with participants from other countries, there are the applications created to detect embezzlers of public funds in partnership with the media. This approach does not yet exist in Rwanda. Nevertheless, Madeleine Nirere, Chief Ombudsman of Rwanda, considers it an important tool in this fight.
The member countries of this organization that took part in this conference are Botswana, Cameroon, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, the Kingdom of Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Uganda and Rwanda as host country.
The next conference will be held in Seychelles in 2023.
Florent Ndutiye & Gerard Rugambwa
