This year’s International Anti-corruption day 2020 theme is 'Recover with Integrity to Build Forward Better.' The theme focuses on corruption as one of the biggest obstacles to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
In simple terms corruption can be defined as an act of bribery or misuse of public position or power for the fulfillment of selfish motives or to gain personal gratifications.
As the world observes International Anti-Corruption Day today, Radio Tamazuj spoke to Edmund Yakani, the Executive Director of the Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO), which promotes civil society values in South Sudan, and sought his take on the vice of corruption.
Q: Mr. Yakani, thank you for speaking to us, how do you evaluate the level of corruption in South Sudan?
A: Corruption has become one of the elements of the political activities, which means most of the South Sudanese politicians have been practicing corruption at a very high level. Not only politicians but even the civil servants in different government institutions have also been engaged in many corrupt practices in various ways.
For example, a few months ago, there was a report that said nearly 3.1 million US dollars got lost in the immigration office. And there was a committee which was formed by the government to inspect the revenue collections and boost the country’s economy. The committee found out that revenue collected at the airport is not being deposited in the Central Bank. So, this committee found out that most of the civil servants including administration and finance have been engaged in corrupt practices at a very high level.
So, corruption is very high in South Sudan and I can conclude that it is the reason behind the continuous conflicts that are hitting the country. And that is reflected in the lack of sufficient service delivery to the citizens.
Q: What are you doing about corruption as civil society?
A: The most important thing is that we have been presenting regular reports about these kinds of practices. Now and then, we raise our voice that those individuals who got involved in any corrupt practices should be held accountable.
Take the former Minister of finance as an example. When he used his position to take 30 million South Sudanese pounds from the public fund to mourn his son. We expressed concern publicly till this minister was sacked. But up to now, he has not been held accountable.
Many South Sudanese civil servants got involved in corruption and we as civil society have been calling the government to hold them accountable but up to now, the government doesn’t have the political will to take these individuals to the court. Most of them leave the public offices without being held accountable for corrupt practices that they have been doing.
Q: Now if that is the situation, what could be the way forward to resolve this?
A: We believe that if the high authority in the country has not taken a serious political and administrative decision to hold the corrupt civil servants accountable for their deeds, corruption will grow and become part of the routine in our public offices. This will affect service delivery and it will affect the efforts of the government to boost social and human development in South Sudan.
As a civil society, the only solution is that any civil servant who participates in any corrupt practices should be held accountable. They should be taken to court and not let go like nothing happened.
There are reform provisions stipulated in the revitalized peace agreement and if these reforms are effected it will help in fighting these practices. And those who are found involved in any corruption will not go free, not until they are held accountable. Evidence is in our hands.
Q: What does the peace agreement say about these reforms in particular?
A: There are suggestions on various reforms including economic and financial reforms. Part of these reforms is that the economic and financial institutions will be empowered to account for any politician or civil servant found involved in any corrupt practices. But the level of political will among the peace partners is very low. Up to now, we have entered the transitional period but we are still implementing activities of the pre-transitional period.
Q: Are there some crimes committed during this time, can you give us an example?
A: Yes, some crimes have been detected during this period. For example, a huge amount of money has been allocated for implementing the security arrangement during the pre-transitional period, but this money has not been utilized well. And to this moment, only less than 30% of the security arrangements have been implemented. Some management officers of the security arrangement have misused the training fund.
Even on the political arrangement, it became clear that parties are looking for where they can eat money without looking at the real peace implementation. There is a huge amount of funds that have been allocated for the states but up to now, no government has been formed in the states nor the legislative councils.
What we have in Juba today is just an executive government in the center but when you look at the states or local governments, nothing has been implemented. So this is a clear result that both civil servants and military officers are involved in corrupt practices. And this has affected the peace implementation.
They keep on saying there are not enough funds to implement the agreement, but yet 3.1 million dollars goes missing from public funds in the immigration department. And the country has lost nearly 9 billion South Sudanese pounds between June and August 2020 from the taxation department. So this money, if it was collected and used for peace implementation, would have been a good step forward.
Q: Are South Sudanese women also participating in this development, and what can we do to end corruption in South Sudan?
A: When we talk about civil servants, we don't make exceptions for men or women. Both of them have contributed to this, but men lead with the lion's share among them. Yes, there is a percentage of women who participate in corrupt practices but they are very few compared to the number of men.
I repeat once again if the country doesn’t fight the corruption in its public institutions, it will continue to be part of day-to-day life. And if it continues to exist during the peace implementation, it will affect the efforts in implementing the peace deal.
Some reasons that triggered the war in 2013 are related to corruption. Some government officials were asking why the corruption level is very high and others couldn’t tolerate this and the war broke out.
So if we all don’t fight corruption in this country, it will continue to be the source of a continuous conflict in South Sudan. And the current revitalized peace agreement will not be implemented if there is no serious commitment to fighting corruption.
Q: There has been a delay in the formation of government at state and local levels, as civil society, what are you doing about this?
A: I want to encourage the presidency, which is composed of the president, the first vice president, and other vice presidents, that they should make an effort to complete the formation of the government at the national, state, and local levels by the end of December 30, before we get into the new year. If we begin the new year with an incomplete government structure, that means they have ignored the peace deal.
They should prove to the South Sudanese that they are serious about peace implementation and not their positions. So, I humbly and with due respect appeal to the presidency that they should speed up the formation of all government structures in the country.
Q: Any final message?
A: What I want to tell our politicians and civil servants is that in times to come, corruption is going to be labeled as one of the crimes against humanity because corruption has an impact on human lives.