Corruption remains commonplace in Burundi. It ranks among the top ten of the most corrupt countries on the entire planet as indicated by the report of the’OAG. The situation thus arises despite the establishment of various anti-corruption bodies.
Burundi ranks among the top ten of the most corrupt countries on the entire planet as indicated by the OAG report.
According to the Corruption Perceptions Index 2022 compiled by Transparency International, Burundi ranks 171st out of 180 ranked countries, recording a score of 17 out of 100 and was among the top ten of the most corrupt countries on the planet, it reads. in the report of the Observatory of Government Action (OAG). It occupies the same place as Equatorial Guinea, North Korea, Libya and Haiti. It ranks 47th out of 49 countries assessed in sub-Saharan Africa and receives the third lowest score. Over the entire period from 2005 to 2022, corruption in Burundi is massive. According to this report, this situation arises despite the establishment of various anti-corruption bodies.
This shows that while politicians are loudly declaring zero tolerance of corruption and enthusiasm for reform exists in at least a fraction of the militants of the ruling political party, the political will is not there, explains the OAG report. This means that the country remains among the most corrupt countries in the world (IPC Transparency International 2022).
There are no consistent statistics on corruption
Moreover, the said OAG report argues that there is very little information on the cases of misappropriation of public property and the efforts made by the Burundian authorities to recover them. There are no consistent and regularly available statistics online through government institutions except a few isolated cases of aggregate data published in the media.
For example, in 2017, following the decisions of the Anti-Corruption Court in the cases of embezzlement of public funds and ordering their restitution to the State, only 357,053,852 FBu (about 176,000 US dollars) could be recovered in 2019 The recovery rate for this year was therefore 11% due to the inefficiency caused by an incomplete legal framework.
During the first half of 2018, the joint efforts of the Anti-Corruption Court and the General Prosecutor’s Office would have recovered more than 980 million FBu (about 500,000 US dollars), traces the OAG.
According to the Burundian Civil Society, this low recovery rate comes from the incompetence and borderline elements of the mandate of these institutions.
This observatory points out that one of the rare recent cases of high-profile corruption concerns four individuals detained for embezzlement from the commune of Mugamba in the province of Bururi since March 2021. Some of them were caught with false notebooks. receipts intended for the collection of municipal taxes worth four million FBu.
According to the municipal authority, the investigation is underway in order to reveal this network and to arrest all those involved in this diversion. And to add that a similar case arose in 2020 in this commune when the administrator and the accountant were arrested and detained for having embezzled municipal taxes on green tea leaves. However, the municipality has not yet recovered the funds.
In its 2021 report published on Monday April 4, 2022, Olucome affirms that corruption is a reality in Burundi. She worked on 68 cases of corruption, poor governance, embezzlement of public funds, mismanagement of public enterprises and award of public contracts out of 147 registered cases. According to this organization, more than 400 billion FBu are in the pockets of individuals instead of being in the coffers of the State.
The presumed authors cited Gabriel Rufyiri would be found among others in the ranks of the servants of the Burundian people at the high level. And the sectors most affected by corruption are public procurement, local administration and enterprises with public participation.
Corruption has a negative impact on economic growth
The OAG report shows that corruption has a negative impact on economic growth. There are additional expenses that are directed directly into the hands of the corrupt for illicit enrichment.
And to clarify that the causes of corruption are largely political and cultural. The inefficiency of legal proceedings may encourage it. It is striking to note that it is lower in countries with democratic regimes. Similarly, corruption is higher in low-income countries.
By way of illustration, in Burundi, the GDP per capita is 186 euros per year. Which is extremely minimal compared to the rest of the world. Purchasing power is significantly below the world average and reveals massive socio-economic problems. The public sector corruption perception index was 83 points in 2022 in Burundi.
What about recommendations?
Burundi must urgently put into practice the declared political will to fight corruption and collaborate with all actors in society in this process. This will require aggressive anti-corruption measures.
To achieve this, it is necessary to implement the technical agenda for the fight against corruption, which is clear and simple. These are the strengthening of the legal and regulatory framework for the fight against corruption, access to information for citizens, the independence of public control and regulation bodies, the depoliticization of senior administration, increasing transparency in public procurement and access to public employment, as well as reforming the natural resources sector.
And this technical agenda currently embodied by the good governance strategy must be accompanied by a political agenda. Civil society associations must carry out independent citizen assessments, including of government efforts to fight corruption, and create a mass movement around this problem by forming a forum capable of bringing together the private sector, the rural world and the community. ‘university.
For their part, development partners must make the fight against corruption their priority and reassess their commitment in the absence of progress in this area.
Now that this agenda has become public policy through the national good governance strategy, it is up to civil society and donors to create the conditions for its effective implementation.
