Graft not only survives but thrives in opacity, bureaucracy

A lot has been written – and will continue to be written – about corruption in Tanzania. But, it will remain “public enemy number-1” despite commendable government efforts to eradicate it.

Indeed, if corruption is not drastically reduced, it may hinder achieving middle-income status by 2025.

Silver bullet

There is no silver bullet to kill corruption. But, importantly, we should not create fertile ground for corruption to thrive. Amongst the factors that foster corruption are undue secrecy and red tape in government.

Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa is doing a praiseworthy job in curbing corruption especially at the district level and in farmers’ associations. His recent directive that leaders must publish financial and other statements in their respective areas is a positive step in reducing corruption.

But fighting corruption requires openness. Yet, there is still too much secrecy in government. Top leaders should regularly meet with the press and people’s representatives to brief them on what is going on – and respond to questions on public issues.

Countries that have successfully curbed corruption have a long tradition of open government/transparency, press freedom, and much more. Access to information increases responsiveness of government bodies, while positively boosting the levels of public participation in the nation’s daily life.

Governments ought to be “all-outside” and “no-inside” as corruption thrives in “dark” places and avoids “open” places.

Besides, information is the currency of democracy; and the right to know is the right to live.

Grand corruption is oiled by secrecy. When regulatory and administrative authorities work in secrecy, corruption thrives.

What if all their activities were mandatorily captured on camera?

Also, substantial corruption prevails among law enforcement and justice administration institutions. What are clearly bailable offences are cleverly presented as non-bailable so that bribes change hands for the accused/suspects to be freed on bail.

Deliberate delays in delivering Justice are created so that corruption takes place.

The level of corruption is not proportional to the number of people taken to court. Seems like there is some sort of impunity; and there is a need to end the impunity.

The same story is repeated in other government ministries, departments and agencies where corruption is high because of secrecy and red tape. Unfortunately, secrecy, once tolerated, becomes an addiction, a habit that is difficult to kick.

Perhaps the most effective weapon of an authoritarian regime is secrecy, while the best weapon of democracy is openness.

The public has a right to know about misconduct by public officials who are paid with taxpayer money.

“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life’s when adults become afraid of the light.” [Plato, 428–348 BC].

Effective law enforcement is essential to ensure that the corrupt are punished – thus breaking the cycle of impunity, the misplaced “freedom from punishment”.

Punishing corruption is a vital component of any effective anti-corruption effort.

Civil society can also support anti-corruption campaigns by initiating popular movements in favour of full transparency.

Lack of the right information isn’t the only hurdle to building effective citizen-government ties. But, more often than not, community participation is seriously wanting. There should be a community participation law enacted to involve citizens in policymaking at the neighbourhood level. Citizens rarely know how their local government spends the money it collects from them.

Reforms focusing on improving financial management and strengthening the role of auditing agencies have in many countries had greater impact than public sector reforms on curbing corruption.

One such reform is the disclosure of budget information, which prevents waste and misappropriation of public resources.

Important role

Automation is playing an important role in reducing discretionary practices in taxation. Taxpayers looking to pay less, and tax administrators seeking to collect more, can easily lead to corruption all round.

There is a need to introduce ethos of transparency, accountability and efficiency in financial and related management to curb corruption rather than rely on punishment alone. After all, those responsible for punishment may be more corrupt; it’s like using the fire brigade to extinguish fire using petrol.