African forum warns of graft in public sector

Unless corruption-related cases are uprooted, the public sector will continue to lag behind in terms of strategies that support the economic and social transformation of Africa. The delegates attending a high level African meeting on Public administration and management in Kigali said this yesterday. The three-day African Association for Public Administration and Management (AAPAM) and the government of Rwanda organised forum, seeks to strengthen the capacity of public service to respond to the global economic and financial crisis. The meeting expects to propose concrete measures African governments need to implement in order to enable public service function at a level that drives the continent’s growth. Speaking to The New Times, Xavier Daudi, a participant from Tanzania, said a lot needs to be done in the public service, in order to champion good working conditions in the sector. “African countries have a lot of problems in the public administration for instance corruption. It has become a common disease when you look around many African nations,” he said. “If our governments manage to control corruption, there is a likelihood for our countries to move very fast in terms of development and poverty eradication.”Daudi, who is the secretary of public service recruitment in the Office of President in Tanzania, said African governments should embark on uprooting graft instead of showing leniency to corrupt people. “We have a lot of resources but we don’t know how the resources are being utilised for the benefit of every citizen. If these resources are utilised in a very good manner, our countries would be very far in terms of development,” he said. The conference was organised under the theme “Africa in post-crisis global economy: the role of the public administration in Africa’s transformation. It brought together hundreds of high-level participants, including academics, political leaders, representatives of international organisations, chief executive officers, and civil society organisations among other officials from all over Africa and outside the continent. Promoting accountabilityGabriel Negatu, the regional director of East Africa Resource Centre, African Development Bank, said promoting public service integrity, ethics, accountability, competence and responsiveness will be a force to reckon with when it comes to the growth of the public sector. “Lack of strong and effective institutions, especially in the extractive industry, which is a major victim of corruption and lack of transparency and accountability is still a challenge in the public service,” he said. Negatu highlighted Rwanda’s success story which has been a result of political leadership that is committed to development. Wellars Gasamagera, the director-general of Rwanda Institute of Administration and Management, said his institution was trying to survey and build public service competence framework. “The framework is based on assessing the people in public services who are not qualified to occupy those positions. We need to put it together and know the general needs of the public service and then out of the needs, we define the training and bridge the gap,” he explained. “We know in every community there’s a bit of corruption and you cannot say that we have eradicated it. It’s a permanent fight to deal with it. Graft in the public service in many of the African countries is mostly due to leniency in dealing with people involved in corruption related cases,” said Gasamagera. “If you see evil and don’t uproot it, you will let it grow.” Rwanda continues to maintain a lead in the war against corruption in the region, according to several reports released by Transparency International for the last four years. Promoting growthAnastase Murakezi, the minister of public service and labour stated that, the meeting will provide a platform to learn and share ideas on how to strengthen the public service. “When international markets are unsteady, governments are forced to cut down budgets and people lose jobs. We should find mechanisms to address this global challenge,” he noted. The continental meeting is expected to assess the role of public administration in African countries and devise means to promote growth. According to Abdon Agaw Jok Nhia, AAPM president, the forum is designed to encourage academic institutions, social interactions and forge the possible ways to enhance services in the public sector. “This is the time to strengthen our works and partnerships as public administrators for the benefit of African population,” he said. AAPM is an international professional organisation for those who practice, teach, conduct research and offer advisory services in administration and management in both public and private sector. Rwanda has recently established a National Capacity Building Secretariat to boost the activities of both the public and private sectors to achieve the targets outlined in the country’s second Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy.