Pan-African Parliament says leaders need to be accountable

The Midrand-based Pan-African Parliament (PAP) recently hosted a talk on how leaders can remain transparent and accountable during Covid-19.

The theme of the webinar on 13 July was: Sustaining the fight against corruption in Africa in the time of Covid-19 pandemic.

Honourable Ahamat Tahir Amahat of the PAP Committee on Audit and Public Accounts moderated the meeting, which was aimed to assess the effectiveness of anti-corruption initiatives taken in Africa, especially in the context of the pandemic.

The panel of experts gathered for this occasion urged African parliamentarians and relevant stakeholders to ensure that Covid-19-related emergency public spending measures adhere to the highest levels of transparency and principles of good governance.

Honourable Chief Fortune Charumbira, PAP vice-president, said that in addition to its health, humanitarian and socio-economic effects, the coronavirus also poses a governance issue. He called on African Union institutions and Africans at large to use the commemoration of the African Anti-Corruption Day as an incentive to enhance collaboration to ensure effective detection, tracking, reporting through to prosecution of crimes of corruption especially in the time of Covid-19 pandemic.

“Parliamentarians can play a role in curbing corruption during these difficult times by ensuring, among other things, that state institutions that are tasked with defeating corruption are adequately resourced and competent to execute their mandate. With governments taking a series of important decisions and allocating resources in the fight against Covid-19, this has created an opportunity for corrupt practices,” said Charumbira.

“Our engagement with stakeholders such as civil society, judiciary and anti-corruption institutions as part of this webinar will allow us to deliberate on ways to strengthen our oversight role in the fight against Covid-19.”

Judge Virgile Samba-Moussinga, co-founder and coordinator of the Pan-African Online Platform for Justice and Ethics, highlighted the role of an independent and credible system. He reiterated how crucial an effective justice system is in the fight against corruption.

Samba-Moussinga concluded, “Our capacity to eradicate corruption depends on the strength of our judicial system, acting without any interference from other powers of the state. Unfortunately, the independence of the judiciary is still fragile on the continent despite landmark rulings that recently given hopes in countries such South Africa, Malawi or Kenya. The principle of separation of powers has to be upheld to allow the judiciary to fully play its role in the fight against corruption.”

Details: Pan-African Parliament media officer Jeffrey Onganga jeffrey.onganga@panafricanparliament.org.