01 Jul 2015

Information and Communication Technology can help combat corruption, says University of Botswana lecturer in supply chain logistics, Mr Rudolph Boy.

Giving a keynote address during a Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) seminar on Tuesday (June 30), Mr Boy said ICT could be used to rebuild integrity awareness in all segments of society and business thus fighting corruption.

“ICT allows greater accessibility, wider reach, instant communication and dissemination of information, automatic record keeping, systematic classification and recovery of data, better knowledge management and the sharing of information,” he said.

Mr Boy said the possibilities offered by harnessing ICTs in public administration provided a powerful tool to combat corruption. He said e-governance introduced transparency in data, decision-making, rules, procedures and performance of government agencies.

He said it also simplified processes and rules, taking away discretion by automating processes, making decisions traceable and building accountability. He added that it provided greater access to information through web publishing, and documentation for citizens to make follow-ups.

“ICT also introduces competition amongst delivery channels, and standardises documentation of comments and objections leading to effective supervision,” said Mr Boy.He further said it centralises and integrates data for better audit and analysis, and enables unbiased sampling for audio purposes.

Mr Boy, however, warned that ICT could also be used to perpetuate corruption if the risks inherent in it were not properly assessed. He added that ICT managers should protect systems and data in their organisations.

This, he said, could be achieved through preventive control which was meant to inhibit attempts to violate the security of IT systems.

He said detective controls warn of violations or attempted violations of the security of IT systems.

Mr Boy warned that inappropriate risk management practices result in violations of IT systems and manipulation of data to facilitate corrupt practices.

He said some of the weaknesses which fuel corruption were lack of proper access controls and user ID management.

This includes sharing of passwords and user names, maintenance of dormant user accounts and failure to disable user accounts after several unsuccessful login attempts, which makes the system vulnerable to penetration by unauthorised persons.

Mr Boy further said research has shown that there was no separation of duties between IT administrators and other departments hence they might perpetrate fraudulent activities in the system.

He said ICT interventions such as transparency portals, open data portals service automation, online services, crowd sourced reporting and online corruption reporting have the potential to prevent, detect, analyse and address corruption.

“When business transactions are affected by payment of bribes, they are not transparent and disrupt a sound competitive environment,” he said. Ends