Mr. President,
Excellencies Heads of State, Heads of Government and Representatives.
Distinguished Participants,
First of all, I would like to congratulate all the organizers
for the successful opening of this conference for the purpose of signing the
United Nations Convention Against Corruption.
The convening of this particular conference is a testimony
to the fact that there is now a global consensus that corruption is one of
the worst crimes hindering the global economic development and threatening
international peace.
In recent years, the international community has passed resolutions
and launched joint efforts to curb corruption in any of its forms. Despite
these efforts, however, corruption continues to be one of the major threats
of the globe, requiring the exertion of more effort in an integrated and coordinated
manner.
As part of the bigger continental coalition in the fight against
corruption in
government, the top leadership in particular, is proving to be politically
willing and determined to fight corruption seriously and with strong commitment.
As the first step of launching the national anti-corruption
campaign, the government established the Federal Ethics and Anti-Corruption
Commission (FEACC) in 2001 under Proclamation No. 235/2001. It has also enacted
the Anti-Corruption Special Procedure and Rules of Evidence Proclamation in
the same year.
According to the establishment proclamation, the independent
commission is duty-bound to create an aware society where corruption will
not be condoned or tolerated by promoting ethics and anti-corruption education.
It is also obliged by duty to prevent corruption offences and other improprieties
by examining the practices and procedures in government offices and public
enterprises to secure the revision of methods of work which may be conducive
to corrupt practices. It is also responsible to create and promote integrity
in public service by detecting investigating and prosecuting alleged or suspected
cases of corruption offences and other improper ties. The commission is also
entitled to cause the preparation and follow up the implementation codes of
ethics for public officials and servants.
To realize its objectives of creating an aware society, the
commission has offered intensive training on ethics and anti - corruption
education for about 12,000 civil servants and other people drawn from different
cross sections of the society since its establishment. In addition to this,
tens of thousands of brochures, magazines and posters have been distributed
among the general public. Most importantly, however, both the private and
government media posed for their investigative work on the on-going anti-corruption
campaign.
Regarding the prevention of corruption, the commission has
thoroughly examined the practices, procedures and methods of work of several
government departments and public enterprises including the Ethiopian Privatization
Agency, the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia and Disaster Prevention and Preparedness
Commission and made public the results of the findings in the presence of
the departments themselves and representatives drawn from the different cross
sections of the society.
Based on the findings, the commission has made appropriate
and constructive recommendations and urged those departments and public enterprises
to take corrective measures sooner than later before corruption reaches a
pervasive stage. Besides, a general study overhauling the legal and procedural
loopholes in the civil and criminal codes, acts, laws and regulations that
criminalize corruption has been conducted. Based on the study, mechanisms
of plugging any legal and procedural loopholes have been proposed by the commission
so that the implementation of the anti-corruption laws and proclamations will
be more successful.
So far as creating and promoting integrity in public service
through the detection, investigation and prosecution of alleged corruption
cases is concerned, the commission is doing its utmost. In this connection,
whistle blowers tipped the commission of 1,643 alleged corruption cases since
its establishment. Based on the tips, the commission has brought
some of the suspected corrupters
to justice with the investigation of the rest of the cases underway.
Regarding collaborative work with all stakeholders in the fight
against corruption (including international organizations), the commission
has been successful. It has, for example, forged a strong partnership with
all stakeholders in the country in the fight against corruption and is currently
working in collaboration with them. The civil society, media and private sector
are our major partners in this regard. Internationally, we have been working
closely with foreign governments and anti-corruption institutions. The participation
of our delegation in the anti-corruption conferences held in
Having drawn important lessons from its own past activities
and other international bodies with similar objectives, the commission is
currently launching the anti-corruption campaign with new and renewed vigor
and passion. Among the major projects to be launched this Ethiopian year,
human resource development and capacity building and strict enforcement of
codes of ethics and anti-corruption laws take top priority. The provision
of anti-corruption education to the general public, the provision of physical
and job security protection to witnesses and whistle blowers and the issuance
of directives for the implementation of the anti-corruption proclamation and
regulations issued under them are prioritized as major agenda of the commission
this Ethiopian year. Making preparations to register or cause the registration
of the assets and financial interest of public officials and other public
servants is also high in the agenda of the commission.
In connection with restraining properties acquired through
a criminal offence on court order, the action taken so far
have plainly shown that corrupters will not get away with the properties
they loot wherever they may be hiding away. Last year for example, shares
worth 25 million Birr deposited in the names of corrupters and 57 vehicles
owned by same were restrained on court order. In the years ahead, we will
do our best to fight corrupters in courts in accordance with the anti-corruption
special procedure and rules of evidence proclamation so that properties they
plundered through the commission of corruption shall be restrained and confiscated.
To conclude, the Government and peoples of
I thank you
Presented by H.E. Dr. Berhanu Dibaba
Ambassador Extraordinary
& Plenipotentiary of the Federal
Democratic
at
the High-level Political Conference for the Purpose of Signing the
United Nations Convention against Corruption
(