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International Anti-corruption Day - Will African governments finally tackle corruption and implement their much awaited right to information laws?
Cecelia Burgman, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative
December 06, 2006

Last year, the United Nations Convention against Corruption became the first legally binding, global anti-corruption agreement, marking a historic milestone in the fight against corruption. One year on, with 9 December being celebrated as International Anti-corruption Day, 28 African countries have committed to tackling corruption by signing the Convention.

This is not the first time that many African governments have committed to cracking down on corruption. Yet, actions speak louder than signatures and corruption remains rife across the region. In fact it was once estimated by Transparency International that over $30 billion in aid for Africa – an amount equal to twice the gross domestic product of Kenya, Uganda and Ghana combined – has ended up in foreign bank accounts. It is safe to say that corruption has played an undeniable role in preventing economic prosperity, democratic development and civil society’s trust in governments across the African continent and this has been reflected yet again in Transparency International’s latest Corruption Perceptions Index. Of the African countries surveyed, Botswana was viewed as the least corrupt, being ranked at number 37, while Guinea performed especially badly, coming in at 160 out of a potential 163.

For the first time, the UN Convention against Corruption provides a single, overarching means for all countries in the region to fight and eventually remove the scourge of corruption. More specifically, chapter two of the Convention provides different measures that a country should implement in order to achieve the ultimate goal of stopping corruption and removing the fog of secrecy that often clouds government operations and decision-making processes.

One means by which African countries can go a long way to battling corruption is by adopting and implementing an effective right to information law, which would also underpin many of the other measures set out in the Convention.

The right to information, or freedom of information as it is more commonly known, has long been recognised as a human right, ever since the UN General Assembly declared in 1946 that "freedom of information is a fundamental human right and a touchstone of all freedoms to which the United Nations is consecrated."

An effective right to information law puts an obligation on the government to regularly disclose as much information as possible about its policies and decisions to the public, and provide information to individuals when they request it. Disclosing information should be subject to an overriding principle that all information should be disclosed, unless the harm caused by disclosure is greater than the public interest in accessing the information. The information should be easily accessible in a quick and simple way and the government should be required to conduct ongoing training for government officials and educate the public on the right to information.

If a right to information law is introduced, then it can act as an important tool in fighting corruption - it can effectively transform the strong and traditional culture of secrecy within government into one of transparency and openness. In Africa, politicians and government officials have for too long taken advantage of this culture of secrecy,- how many times have we read or heard about the numerous ways in which officials have lined their own pockets with public funds? The adoption of a right to information law can shed light on the behaviour of government officials by empowering citizens with a tool to help scrutinise and monitor government decision-making and bring public officials and politicians to account.

Empowering citizens in this manner can also help strengthen democracy by making government directly accountable to its citizens on a day-to-day basis rather than just at election time. Even at election time, a right to information law ensures that voters have better access to information concerning the government’s record in office, allowing them to make a more informed decision at the ballot box, instead of relying on often dubious political propaganda.

An effective right to information law also helps to ensure that governments formulate and implement development projects in a responsible, transparent and participatory manner. Development projects often significantly suffer as a result of funds being siphoned off, resulting in severe delay, and sometimes even a failure to complete projects. With a right to information law in place, governments would be obliged to share information on such projects with the public who can then monitor their development. In fact, the right to information would give the public a voice in determining what local projects should take place in the first place and how these can be designed to more effectively improve their lives.

Given all of the benefits of the right to information, more countries in the region now need to recognise its impact and implement a RTI law as soon as possible. Indeed, there have been positive signs that African countries are beginning to understand the benefits of adopting a right to information law with Uganda’s Access to Information Act coming into effect earlier this year, and South Africa’s Promotion of Access to Information Act continuing to prove one of the world’s best practice laws. Civil society organisations in countries such as Ghana, Lesotho, Zambia and Sierra Leone have also drafted their own RTI bills and are all lobbying their governments to pass these Bills into law.

If governments in Africa are serious about cracking down on corruption, cleaning up their governments and securing the long term democratic development and economic prosperity for their citizens, then there is no better time to implement their commitments under the UN Convention against Corruption and prioritise the drafting and implementation of an effective right to information law.

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