Mozambican Justice Minister says country needs to improve fight against corruption

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Mozambican Justice Minister says country needs to improve fight against corruption

11:54 CAT | 15 Jun 2017

File photo / Isaque Chande, minister of Justice

The Minister of Justice, Constitutional and Religious Affairs, Isaac Chande, said yesterday in Maputo that the country needs to improve its ability to prevent corruption, and strengthen the institutions involved in fighting it.

Speaking at the opening of a seminar on corruption organized by U4, an independent international centre for corruption research, in partnership with the Swiss embassy of in Maputo, Chande acknowledged that the fight against corruption in Mozambique was still not as effective as it should be.

“We need to improve our instruments of prevention and combat to corruption by bringing more prosecutions and empowering the courts to try these cases better,” Chande said.

The Prosecutor General’s Office, Chande continued, must also have more material and human resources in order to be more effective.

“[Corruption] is not an evil that is fought and finished with in one day. We cannot wake up and think today is the day we are going to end corruption,” the Mozambican minister said.

The minister said civil society must mobilise in the fight against the diversion of public resources, and acknowledged that corruption seriously undermined development.

Chande said that the country had made progress in the legislative and institutional framework, with the approval of several laws and creation of institutions dedicated to fighting corruption.

“But corruption is a very complex issue. Mozambique has been trying to develop a legal framework for more effective action in the area of prevention and the fight against corruption,” he said.

Isac Chande pointed to the creation of central and provincial anti-corruption offices, the Central Financial Information Office and the Central Commission of Public Ethics (CCEP) as advances in the fight against corruption.

Swiss Ambassador to Mozambique Mirko Manzoni expressed concern about the level of corruption in Mozambique, citing a study by the Public Integrity Centre (CIP).

“A 2016 CIP study estimated that the average cost per year of corruption to Mozambique, averaged over 2004 to 2014, is US$ 4.9 billion,” Manzoni said.

The diplomat said that, based on UN assessments, the cost of corruption to developing countries was ten times greater than the total amount of official assistance the world gives them.

“Preventing and combating corruption requires a comprehensive approach, which is only possible in a climate of transparency, accountability and participation of all players,” Manzoni added.

Source: Lusa