African countries should focus more on opening up government contracting to be more transparent and efficient, said an expert on governance and anti-corruption issues.
In this way, citizens can follow a clear public record of how their taxes are spent in order to tackle corruption cases, said Sanjay Pradhan, chief executive officer of Open Government Partnership, who received an interview with Xinhua on Monday after attending the just concluded annual Ibrahim Governance Weekend held by Mo Ibrahim Foundation.
“Getting governments to open up and be accountable to their citizens is a struggle. It’s time for Africa to develop a truly transparent agenda, one that opens the space for the citizens to claim their rights,” said Pradhan, head of the inter-governmental initiative for governance.
Pradhan, who is also the former Vice President for Change, Leadership and Innovation of the World Bank, emphasized the need to allow civil society organisations and citizens play an oversight role in any public contracting which will ultimately reduce corruption in the public service delivery.
“Millions of Africans are deprived of public good like access to roads, hospitals, clean water, energy and schools due to corruption and lack of transparency in government contracting,” he said.
He called on African countries to adopt an open and competitive bidding process, mandatory disclosure of government contracts and tough penalties to companies and government officials involved in graft cases.
The expert also said that the discovery of natural resources like oil and mineral wealth in many developing countries in Africa has been followed by violent conflict, which results in “stunted economic development.”
The population in a resource-rich region has been on many occasions excluded from the wealth generated by the natural resources and end up being poorer, he said.
Lack of transparency in resource extraction and revenue related to resources lead to an increase in corruption cases in countries with resources, which hinders citizens to access benefits from the discovery of the resources, he said.
The African Union (AU) has designated anti-corruption as the theme for the year 2018.
The AU estimated that every year over 148 billion U.S. dollars, which represent about 25 percent of Africa’s average GDP, are drained out of the continent through corrupt activities.
by Frank Kanyesigye and Mohammed M.Mupenda
