Waging War on Corruption
By:-Dahir Salad Hassan
Permanent Mission of Somalia to the United Nations,
New York
Waging a well-thought
out and systematic war on corruption is paradigm-shift that would lead to efficient,
effective and result-oriented public sector management as well as institutional
check and balance. Somalia’s current government is on the right track to increase
political accountability and retrace and re-claim the democratic values which
we championed the African continent as being a young, unified, an independent country
in the sixties (60).
Our own
history admits that democracy not only ensures good and accountable government
institutions with checks and balances, but also empowers the citizens to
participate and hold their government accountable. Our forefathers fought for
the liberation of the country from European colonial rulers, therefore, it us, our
generation that must stand up and liberate the country from the extremist
ideology and corruption.
Corruption is a dangerous epidemic that has a wide range of destructive effects on our society. It sidetracks funds intended for development, undermines the ability of governments to provide basic services, breast-feeds inequalities and injustices, while discouraging the trust to invest in the country's many resources such as oil, gas, blue-economy, large, divergent livestock, Unfortunately, these are resources that would eventually generate hard currency and will allow us to make better life decisions without being overly stressed about the financial fallout for the country and allow us to make better development decisions.
The significance of
impairments and risks posed by corruption to the stability and security of
Somalia gets to the point where it is the main factor that has weakened our
government institutions for long time.
Enough is enough, corruption
is the number one issue that triggers destruction of our moral values, justice
and it endangers the stability of the system of governance and development. We
need to look deeply at the connections and linkages between corruption and
other forms of terrorism and organized crime, including money- laundering
The current Somali
government has been paying increased attention to corruption and how to control
it. For one thing, we all realize that corruption has very high costs for our
society in particular since we are emerging from conflict. Corruption keeps the
country in a cycle of weak governance, constant threat to fall back to conflict,
and violence from armed groups and criminal networks like Al-Shabab. When money
and resources that are available to the government are diverted by corrupt
officials, instead of being channeled for the benefit of citizens and social
protection services, it ruins all prospects of economic development. This, in
turn, can create further instability and violence. Therefore, corruption,
governance, and conflict are all intertwined.
Somalia is
facing multifaceted setbacks which include, infestation of global terrorism in
the country, as well as drought and famine where thousands of people die every
year. Following this, there’s the rainy season, which comes with heavy floods
which wreak havoc to communities. To break this cycle crisis and disaster, we
must fight corruption.
The private gain
obtained by corrupt public officials, who have been entrusted with guiding and
implementing public policy and service, is at the expense of both the common
good and of those who don’t cheat the system. In this sense, corruption is
widely viewed as an immoral practice and must be dealt with severe punishment
and long jail terms.
“Where and how did
you obtain this” must get to the ears of corrupt officials and every
government institution must be assessed and audited. Corruption creates a
system where money and connection determine who has access to public services
and who receives favorable treatment. These practices have particular
consequences in countries, like ours, emerging from conflict. Money collected
through taxes and needed for development of public services, like roads,
utilities, education, health care for all, and transportation, are diverted by
greed and desire to survive and get ahead thoughtlessly.
Another public cost is
that corruption is linked to the development of organized crime, including the
involvement of criminals in money laundering and trafficking people and drugs.
Less known is the fact
that Al-Shabab terrorist, for-example, are involved in drug trafficking and
extortion of business, but also they are deeply involved in the illegal arms
trafficking in the region.
Finally, corruption has
links to conflict. Certainly, thirty years of conflict takes its toll on
the government and people of Somalia, nevertheless, it’s rewarding that
president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud declared a war to be waged against corruption. The success of this war will not only lead us to a rapid
development and progress in Somalia, but it will pave the way that
international organizations, such as INGO's and local NGO’s are also held
accountable, with rigorous auditing and assessment of the whereabouts of
billions of dollars these organizations received in the name of Somalia. With
that, I am certain, the cycle of corruption, conflict, crises and disasters
will be weakened to the margins of decline.
Corruption
undermines the ability of the federal government of Somali to achieve the set
goals and priorities for stabilization, good governance and development of the
public services. It will also pave the way in allowing the public to trust and
have confidence in governing institutions.
The
Federal parliament, very specifically the upper-house, should attain the task
to adapt laws that support the campaign against corruption. They should also
hold the heads of federal member states accountable in their institutions and
make them clean up
corrupt individuals, powerful and competing groups, and networks of elites who
have a mutual stake in corruption in the federal member states. This will
exponentially increase the good will and the trust of the Somali people.
Dahir Salad Hassan
Political Counselor
Permanent Mission of
Somalia to the United Nations
New York
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