24 Jun 2018

Botswana has been called upon to expedite her accession to African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) in order to be exemplary to other African countries.
This came after a  week-long Southern Africa Regional Conference on Corruption which ended recently in Gaborone.
In  an interview, former Liberia interim president, Prof. Amos Sawyer said like the Liberian saying that ‘one cannot host a football match without a best player in the pitch,’ so is the call by the APRM members to lure Botswana to come on board.
According to Prof. Sawyer, Botswana was a shining light and beacon of hope in the fight against corruption in Africa and had one of the best anti-corruption profiles on the continent.
He said Botswana was one of the best governed countries on the continent, where institutions worked, resources well utilised, and there was massive investment in human capital, which other countries in the continent could learn from.
Prof. Sawyer who has been working as a consultant and a panelist for APRM for the last 10 years said it was important to acknowledge and showcase Botswana as a success story on the continent in the anti-corruption drive.
“Botswana has constituted a system of accountability that is shown even by its international rankings which can be shared with other Africans as to how they do it.
The experience can benefit a lot of countries through exchange of ideas and mutual encouragement. So Botswana should come on board to lead and champion the anti-corruption agenda in Africa and to encourage other African countries to  do right,” he said.
Prof. Sawyer said APRM was Africa’s innovation that encouraged peer self-assessment by the country and its nation, and later invite fellow African countries to also come and assess them as well as enabling heads of state to learn from each other,” he stated.
APRM aims to ensure policies and practices of participating member states conformed to the agreed political, economic and corporate governance values, codes and standards contained in the African Union Declaration on Democracy, Political, Economic and Corporate Governance.
“The self-review mechanism is inclusive within country and entails the government, private sector, civil society under the leadership of government to discuss all aspects among them political and socio-economic,” he said.
Directorate of Corruption and Economic Crime, director general, Mr Bruno Paledi said the conference empowered DCEC to learn from other anti-corruption agencies on corruption dynamics as this was an era of trans-organised crime.
 “The conference was also an opportunity to enable anti-corruption agencies to consider the establishment of a network of national anti-corruption institutions in the region to strengthen the fight against corruption,” he said.
He said a lot has been achieved at the conference as anti-corruption agencies would now be able to work with other countries with regards to security check-ups of people coming into the country.
Meanwhile, Mr Paledi said the peer-review mechanism was an add-on to the already existing Transparency International review mechanism, adding that the APRM model would give an idea of what was on the ground as peers would now be reviewing each other.
Director of United Nations Economic Commission for Southern Africa, Prof. Said Adejumobi said the choice of Botswana to host the conference was deliberate because of the country’s progressive leadership which has stood above the rest of other countries in the continent.
He said 45 research papers were presented at the regional conference, and two round-tables convened.
The roundtables presented a platform on the role of the media in fighting corruption and building coalitions in the fight against corruption in Southern Africa.
Prof Adejumobi said the conference managed to generate fresh ideas, perspectives and policy recommendations in addressing the problem in the region, while the consultative meeting of national anti-corruption institutions provided a platform of information and experience sharing, best practices, and lessons learned with a view to up-scaling the capacity of national anti-corruption institutions in Southern Africa. ENDS