joint
mag 13
Perspectives on German-African futures
october 2010
Corruption
Threatening progress towards
development and democracy
Editors: Alexander Schwartz, Dennis Kumetat,
Linda Poppe Editorial Team: Keren MettleNunoo, J. Bergmann, M. Gatobu, L. Tsebe, B. Zasche, L. /Narib
AVAILABLE ONLINE:
www.bpb.de
CONTACT US:
goafrica@bpb.de
]
in this issue
3 Editorial
]
joint
mag 13
Perspectives on German-African futures
4 Anti-corruption measures in Ghana
partnerships
Need for action
in the Bundestag – The alarm6 sustainable
ing gap in German Anti-corruption law
8 Stop Using Corruption as a Political Tool!
10 African Wedding
11 Alumni Profile
THE JM TEAM
EDITORS: Alexander Schwartz, Dennis Kumetat, Linda Poppe // Editorial Team: Keren Mettle-Nunoo, J. Bergmann, M. Gatobu, L. Tsebe, B. Zasche
LAYOUT & DESIGN: Leitago /Narib
COVER PHOTOGRAPH: Leitago /Narib
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EDITORIAL
]]
Letter from the Editors
Corruption has been identified as a problem in the functioning of democratic political systems for a few years now. Our contributors to this
issue of JointMAG have thus asked themselves: Where do we stand in
adressing this problem? They have come up with a look at policies to
fight corruption in Ghana, problems with anti-corruption measures in
Germany and the political instrumentalisation of anti-corrution policies
in Zimbabwe. A highly informative, though far from complete, look at
what is happening in Germany and parts of Africa.
Over all of this, however, don’t forget about the good things in life. A story about a field trip of GAGG Alumni and some words from the current
scholarship holder Dorothy will certainly help.
All the best,
Alex, Dennis and Linda
Editors
CALL
FOR CONTRIBUTIONS
In JM 14, we will be looking at the vast and contested field of arts and culture – lauded
for its potential as „creative industry“ and platform for public diplomacy; at the same
time labeled a hindrance to dialogue, feared for its critical potential and always top of
the list when it comes to public budget cuts. So how do culture and related policies
work in the respective regions and what can it contribute to promoting change and
partnership? Deadline for contributions is November 10th.
For a further outlook, JM 15 (deadline 01 December) will engage in the topic of environmental policy and environmental movements in Germany and Africa.
jm 3
joint mag ] OCTOBER 2010
Anti-corruption measures in Ghana
))Keren Mettle-Nunoo, Ghana
Like many African countries, Ghana continues to be
challenged with the ethical and socio-economic problem of corruption. Many government organizations
including the security, education and even health sectors have informal structures put in place that encourage corruption. All over the country, corruption
takes place everyday.You see policemen taking bribes
from road regulation offenders and letting them go
free, parents bribing authorities of high class schools
to secure placement for their children, as well as individuals greasing the palms of key leaders in government and private organizations to get things done
for them in the fastest possible time. On a higher
level, corruption takes place in the political scene,
where government officials misappropriate and embezzle state funds, over-price government contracts
and take percentage cuts from individuals who are
awarded contracts by the government. Recent findings from the Ghana Integrity Initiative and The Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) paint
terrifying face of corruption in Ghana. The CDD
2000 Governance and Corruption Survey shows that
approximately 75% of households see corruption as
a serious problem in Ghana, with a majority (66%)
paying 10% of their incomes (within the 1-5 million
income bracket) in bribes to public officials. 44% of
firms admit to making unofficial payments to public
officials, with 27% frequently or always making such
payments.
If yes, what measures are underway to help battle
the problem? The Government of Ghana has set up
various anti-corruption bodies during the last decade. The bodies in collaboration with international
organizations have formed a coalition introduced to
play a watchdog role in ensuring the effective implementation of anti-corruption actions and programs
for which the government has primary responsibility.
The Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition (GACC) is a
principle based initiative which is mandated to build
a broad-based anti-corruption coalition through networking, lobbying and information dissemination. It
includes civil society, media and private enterprises
as well as government departments. Participants of
the initiative include the Ghana Integrity Initiative (TI
Ghana); Centre for Democratic Development (CDDGhana); Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA-Ghana);
Ghana Journalists Association (GJA); Commission for
Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ);
Serious Fraud Office (SFO); and Private Enterprise
Foundation (PEF).
The Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition since its inception has worked hard in the areas of education and
sensitization on anti-corruption measures, as well
as the advocacy for the passage of transparency-enhancing and anticorruption initiatives in the country.
Youth, seen as the future leaders of society who will
run our economies in political position, corporate
organizations and key sectors of society, are also inIndeed the level of corruption in Ghana is quite creasingly targeted. In 2005, the GACC, as part of its
frightening considering its negative effects on soci- strategies in the fight against corruption, found it necety. Are political and corporate leaders as well as the essary to create a platform where youth leaders can
general citizenry fully aware of the threat this poses? dialogue on issues of governance and anti-corruption
jm 4
joint mag ] OCTOBER 2010
measures, the need to be agents of transformation
as well as participate in development issues that are
key to economic growth. In 2006, after a successful
implementation of the first dialogue session, 360 students were trained on how they could build accountability, transparency and integrity within their groups.
Again, the Coalition with the support of GTZ Good
Governance Programme for the first time organized
a competition on anti-corruption for school children
between the age of 12 and 18. Award winners’ art
pieces in the local languages were printed for distribution to public agencies, ministries, department and
agencies and schools.
First Prize in Akan Language
tion’ in accordance with the UNCAC and the10th
Principle of the UN Global Compact. It is unfortunate that this legislation has not been very effective
due to the inadequate enforcement measures put
in place. To tackle everyday corruption, the Whistleblowers’ Act was enacted and passed in 2006. This
law provides a legal framework that will encourage
members of society to, in the interest of society, disclose information that relates to unlawful, corrupt
or other illegal conduct or practices in the country
without fear of victimization.This is a laudable legislature and would only be useful if implementation and
enforcement is taken seriously considering the fact
that organizations charged with the responsibility of
enforcement are also culprits of the offense.
First Prize in Ga Language
Reducing corruption has proven difficult in Ghana for several reasons.
Several observers point out that
Parliament and the independent anti-corruption institutions (the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice and the Serious
Fraud Office) lack human, material
and financial resources. Furthermore,
Ghana’s still excessive bureaucratic
system encourages corruption and
asset declarations by public officials
are both unverifiable and inaccessible
to the public. Though there is some
action and framework being put in
place to fight corruption, there is a
continued need to strengthen the independence and enforcement capacity of the various accountability and
anti-corruption institutions in Ghana.
sustainable partnerships
First Prize in Ewe Language
First Prize in Dagbani Language
In terms of legislation, the criminal code criminalizes
corruption in the form of active and passive bribery,
extortion, willful exploitation of public office and the
use of public office for private gain. Other legislature
such as the Anti-Money Laundering Act, the Public
Procurement Act and the Financial Administration
Act exist to help put in place the necessary controls
for transparency. Again, the country is in the process
of developing an anti-corruption policy for the private sector through reforms to the Business Code
in order to ‘robustly confront private sector corrup-
jm 5
joint mag ] OCTOBER 2010
Need for action in the Bundestag
– The alarming gap in German Anti-corruption law
))Benjamin Zasche, Germany
Corruption is one of the most devastating phenomena for rule of law and the well-functioning of public
administrations. It remains a serious and maybe even
increasing threat to the credi-bility of democratic systems all over the world. Germany is no exception. Thus
the interna-tional community has come a long way in
elaborating legal instruments to fight the menace of
money secretly roaming from the private sector to
state officials. The United Nations Conven-tion against
Corruption (UNCAC) of 2003 is generally regarded as
the most successful and most comprehensive anti-corruption instrument in international law. The signatory
states committed themselves to implement certain anti-corruption measures into their national poli-cies and
legislation, notably penalize different forms of corruption in their respective criminal law system. It entered
into force in 2005 and has until now been ratified by
143 states.
However, Germany as a signatory state has not ratified
the convention.With ratification being the act that provides binding effect of international treaties for a state,
the UNCAC until now does not apply to Germany. One
might be tempted to assume that this is not a serious issue given the comprehensive anti-corruption measures
already in place in German law. But is this true? And
what are the reasons behind Germany’s reservation?
The devil hides in the detail: “Public servant”, the term
used by German legislation, does not include representatives in communal assemblies, the Länder parliaments
or the Bundestag as the federal parliament. This is justified, according to the legislators, by the fundamental
dif-ference between public servants and representatives: The former having well-defined duties and being
accountable only to the state as their employer, the latter were unbound and free to serve particular interests.
So what about the bribery of parliamentarians in Germany? This problem seems to be provided for in § 108 e
of the Criminal Code: “Whoever undertakes to buy or
sell a vote for an election or ballot in the European Parliament or in a parliament of the Federation, the Lands,
municipalities or municipal associations, shall be punished with im-prisonment for not more than five years
or a fine.” Now, this sounds nice and clear. But does it
have any practical relevance? The crucial element of the
offence is “buy or sell a vote”. What does that mean in
reality? Criminal judges and prosecutors can tell a thing
or two about this phrasing that will hardly ever lead
to an accusation, let alone a conviction. Reality shows
that undue economic benefits received by deputies are
rarely linked to a particular ballot be-haviour. Such payments or benefits are simply meant “to raise understanding and sympathy”. But this typical baiting process
in the context of bribery is not penalized in the case of
depu-ties. A buying of votes, however, is almost impossible to prove, and § 108 e of the Criminal Code, since its
implementation in 1994, has in one single case lead to a
sentence. The in dubio pro reo principle will make sure
that committers will not be condemned unless they are
clumsy enough to offer or pay for a vote on Ebay or
close their voting contract in a TV show. Thus, § 108 e
remains symbolic. This surprising deficiency even made
the German Federal Court of Justice call for a reaction
of the Bundestag in 2006.
sustainable partnerships
In actual fact, Germany does have a strong criminal legislation concerning the bribery of pub-lic servants. In
accordance with the UNCAC provisions, the promise,
offering or giving, to a public servant, of an undue advantage in order that the servant act or refrain from acting in the exercise of his or her official duties is under
penalty of law in §§ 331 et seq. of the Criminal Code.
And so is, vice versa, the solicitation or acceptance by a
public servant of an undue ad-vantage in order that the
servant act or refrain from acting in the exercise of his
or her official duties.
jm 6
joint mag ] OCTOBER 2010
The UNCAC however, does not make any difference
between public servants and parliamen-tarians. It
obliges the signatory states to penalize bribery of any
“public official”, the latter being defined as “any person holding a legislative, executive, administrative or
judicial office of a State Party, whether appointed or
elected, whether permanent or temporary, whether
paid or unpaid, irrespective of that person’s seniority“. Therefore, Germany definitely needs to sharpen
its legislation in order to ratify the UNCAC. Nonratification, in the long term, is not an option: The G8
Declaration “Growth and Responsibility in the World
Economy” of 2007, that was signed under the German presidency contains the commitment of “Supporting the ratification of the UN Convention against
Corruption (UNCAC) by all countries“.
Are the necessary steps being prepared? Quite the
contrary. The Christian-democratic-liberal coalition
representing the majority in the Bundestag does not
see any need for an adjustment. They fear that with
stronger instruments against bribery of deputies,
many unjustified and po-litically motivated criminal
procedures might be introduced. This would, according to them, include the risk of seriously damaging
the image of the parliamentarian concerned, even if
the sentence was one of acquittal. They refer to the
German immunity rules for parliamentarians, that are
very transparent and allow to lift the veil of this privilege quite easily as soon as a deputy becomes subject
to criminal investigations.
difference between parliamentarians and public servants in its anti-bribery law.
The fear of abuse is unjustified given that prosecutors are held to be objective and ascertain not only
incriminating but also exonerating circumstances before they decide to submit a bill of indictment to a
court. Furthermore, deputies should not be protected from the job hazard of being prosecuted that is
inherent to other professions, like doctors or CEOs.
If we bear in mind that Germany, to comply with international law obligations, has even penalized the
bribery of parliamentarians from other states or in
the European parliament, the reasoning seems even
more inconsistent. But the most important aspect
that argues for a change in German legislation: The
risk of a deputy being accused wrongly ought to be
weight out against the risk of Germany not only becoming assailable under international law but also
making a fool of itself as a self-determined preceptor
of rule of law. It must be the objective of German
foreign policy to promote the UNCAC as a crucial
instrument to ban corruption worldwide and make
other states ratify the convention. Yet this purpose
is reduced to absurd-ity right now: Germany has to
mind its own business first.
In contrast, a look into the criminal codes of neighbouring countries shows that such worries did not
keep other ratifying states from complying with the
UNCAC provisions. France, for instance, makes no
About the Author:
Benjamin Zasche was member of the 1st Go Germany... Go Africa exchange programme. He is currently in his
legal traineeship after having completed his 1st state examination in law in Germany.
jm 7
joint mag ] OCTOBER 2010
Stop Using Corruption as a Political Tool!
))Nyasha Frank Mpahlo, Zimbabwe
On numerous occasions, Transparency International
Zimbabwe (TI-Z) has publicly warned against the politicization of corruption and the fight against it. A national
strategy to deal effectively with the scourge of corruption cannot be founded on the desire to witch-hunt,
denigrate or destroy political opponents. This however
continues to be the only strategy associated with a section of the state that unfortunately controls both the
public print and electronic media. There are two challenges with this approach. Firstly, it does not demonstrate political will and commitment to deal with corruption by all the three principalities. Secondly, it leads
to a form of amnesia on the part of those doing it, as,
in a unity government, denigrating one faction does not
foster confidence on the aspirations of the whole and
thus tends to weaken confidence on the part of prospective international investors. The Zimbabwe African
National Union – Patriotic front (ZANU PF) and those
in its patronage are represented in all parts of our governance, from Ministers of state to public officials. Private players still have not conceded power to this coalition government.They continue to behave as though we
were still living in the era of one party rule of ZANU PF
having absolute control over everything.
and greater access to manipulate policy, legislation and
move state assets at will for personal gain.
The objective of any country to combat corruption
should not be founded on mudslinging or witch-hunting
enemies, but on a genuine commitment to eliminate
the scourge with an understanding that corruption is
a crime that violates freedoms, undermines our development, leads to political and economic instability and
exacerbates poverty. Across the political divide, there
must be political commitment to fight corruption, because it is in the public interest to do so. Political leaders and public officials should not feign interest in eradicating corruption, merely because it serves as a weapon
to wield against enemies and has the potential to swing
supporters and votes their way.
The evidence from victims and witnesses of corruption,
as well as the media, points to the fact that corruption
is pervasive and prevalent across all the known political parties in Zimbabwe, including the newly formed PF
ZAPU and Mavambo – Kusile – Dawn. In the current
Zimbabwean environment corruption is equally prevalent and devastating in the private and business sector
(formal and informal), and NGO and civil society sector.
It serves little purpose to apportion blame in a country
riddled with corruption on all sides to the extent that
it makes no sense to make distinctions between petty
corruption and grand corruption. Suffice it to say that
the only significant reference to be made is the extent
of the ramifications and impact of ongoing corruption
especially on the public sector and political level. This
is the most devastating, because of the magnitude of
resources procured and managed in the public interest
by public officials and the pledges made by politicians to
meet legitimate expectations of the electorate.
Given this attitude to governance it is not surprising
that, the national broadcaster, Zimbabwe Broadcasting
Holdings (ZBH) and other state owned print media
such as The Herald continue to mudsling the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC, Tsvangirai wing)
with accusations of corruption and other evils. There
is no doubt that there are elements of corruption in
MDC but there is also equally damning allegations of
corruption orchestrated and perpetrated by members
of ZANU PF or those in their patronage. It is therefore
counterproductive to go on a broad attack against MDC
counsellors and MPs, prosecuting them for corruption
that exists on both sides of the divide – if not worse In light of our recent past, the Government of National
on the ZANU PF side, because of more opportunity Unity (GNU) is obligated to set in motion standards
sustainable partnerships
jm 8
joint mag ] OCTOBER 2010
that lay the foundation for a long term and holistic approach to combating corruption. A holistic approach
demands that they be a multiplicity of interventions
and players, involving both state and none state actors in the fight against corruption.The strategy must
be legal and internationally acceptable, not politically
motivated. The approach should include inculcating
the values of transparency, accountability and integrity as the bedrock of our public stewardship. If nothing
else the government of national unity should achieve
at least this common understanding. Whether we recover from this social, political or economic malaise
by our own or through the assistance of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the
African Union or the international community, the
recovery will be fragile and short-lived, as long as serious national crises such as corruption are manipulated and used as political tools to destroy enemies
and settle scores of the day.
We hold steadfastly that with corruption everybody
pays in one way or the other in the end. Systemic
and institutionalised corruption of publicly elected
individuals did not rear its ugly head with the advent of MDC councillors and MPs. It has been with
us since the beginning of our illustrious though illfated independence under the leadership of ZANU
PF. Corruption has only burgeoned, exhibiting more
devastating consequences, as well as taken on a more
menacing complexion with rising poverty and economic decline, not because of the increased representation of the opposition in governance. We need
to understand this fact and get our arguments right
if we are to succeed in weeding out corruption. How
does a doctor properly prescribe for a cure without
a proper diagnosis?
TI-Z remains non partisan in its advocacy and research and as such strongly warns against the politicization of the fight against corruption and re-iterates
that this is self serving for those doing it and counterproductive for the country, since it does not address the systemic, legislative and structural causes
of corruption. If these are not addressed, any political
party with sufficient power to control state and public resources will abuse them to their own end. What
our national strategy should speak to is how to minimise opportunities for publicly elected officials to
be corrupt, how to penalise effectively those that are
corrupt in a deterrent way and how to reach out to
a new generation of public elected officials and public
servants that will not be susceptible to corruption
and crime. For this to happen, it calls for legislative
reforms; institutional reforms that deal with structural and systemic corruption, capacity building of our
law enforcement agencies and public servants, developing proper reward structures for law enforcement
and public servants, so that they are less susceptible
to corruption; ethics and civic education for our children from an early age, not along partisan lines of
propaganda but with a shared value system that is a
fair reflection of all Zimbabweans.
About the author: Nyasha Frank Mpahlo is member of the 4th Go Germany...Go Africa Pro-
gramme. He is the Programmes Officer for Transparency International Zimbabwe (TI-Z) responsible for the
advocacy component of the Advocacy and Legal Advice Centre initiative (ALAC). He is also a Human Rights
activist in Zimbabwe and also part of the information dissemination team on issues of development and democracy.
jm 9
joint mag ] OCTOBER 2010
African Wedding
))Alex Nguyen, Germany
On the vigil of the German national holiday a few
young ambitious GAGG- alumni joined a guided
tour to visit Berlin’s most interesting district in
terms of African-German relations: “Der Wedding”.
Most of Wedding’s buildings and its infrastructure
were designed and constructed during industrialization in the late 19th century, a time when
Germany’s interest in colonies in Africa was at
its peak. This is the reason why many streets in
the so-called African Quarter in Wedding were
named after places in Africa (e.g. Togo, Zanzibar,
Swakopmund) or German colonists (e.g. Franz
A.E. Lüderitz, Gustav Nachtigall, Carl Peters).
Recently, some of these streets were renamed.
However, in other cases citizens are still fighting
About the Author:
for relabelling the street, which were named in
honour of invaders and oppressors.
Curiously, today Wedding is the district with the
highest population of African nationals in Berlin.
During our tour we didn’t only learn about the
historical aspects of Wedding but also had the
chance to get in contact with the African Diaspora in Berlin. For example we visited Mr. Victor
Ankobeas from Ghana, a tailor in Lüderitz Street,
and Mrs. Assibi Wartenberg from Togo, who runs
an (excellent) African restaurant, which is a meeting point for several African-German associations
in Berlin.
Alex Nguyen was participant in the first Go Africa... Go Germany programme and has been living in Wedding
since 2005 (with interruption).
jm 10
joint mag ] OCTOBER 2010
ALUMNI PROFILE
Interview with Dorothy Makaza,
Zimbabwe/South Africa
))Interview by: Linda Poppe
Linda: Welcome to Go Germany ... Go Africa.
As member of the 4th generation, how would you describe yourself to the many alumni of the programme
that haven’t met you yet?
Dorothy: Thank you! Firstly, may I say it is
such a great honour to be part of the 4th generation
of such a prestigious programme. I am an enthusiastic young lady who is self motivated and passionate
about all things human rights. I am a visionary, I believe in taking action and believe our generation and
the next are the answer to a better future. I am confident, a hardworker and have a good sense of humour
which sometimes gets me into trouble. I am also a
very frank person and have a serious outlook towards
important aspects in life (which at times can portray
me as a little intimidating) but I am a highly sociable
and fun loving person. I love music, movies and the
great outdoors. Adventure is my middle name.
the reactions and impressions our German friends
will have when they realise the stark differences and
some times amazing similarities between German
and African realities. Just as the African participants
realised that Germany is much more than what the
media portrays, I expect the South African trip to sell
Africa to the Germans and hopefully they will fall in
love with it just as I fell in love with Bavaria.
Linda:
What are you and the rest of the group
working on at the moment?
Dorothy: We are researching on and compil-
ing this year’s common paper on “”Youth Entrepreneurship in Germany and Africa - Employment Promotion through Partnership” It is quite an interesting
topic to be working on considering the challenges
the youth are facing in securing employment after
the world just experienced such a harsh economic
climate.
Linda: How was your time in Germany and what Linda: Thank you very much Dorothy. Any last
do you expect from the trip to South Africa next spring?
words or wishes?
Dorothy: Our time in Germany was amazing! Dorothy: To all in the 4th generation: You
We acquired such a wealth of information in numerous fields ranging from facts and figures to art and
culture as well as experiencing some of the most
amazing world heritage sites in Germany. I look forward to meeting the group again in March and showing off some of our African culture and heritage sites
to the German participants. I’m especially keen on
guys are the best. I love you all and can’t wait to see
you in March. To the rest of the Go Africa, Go Germany
alumni: I can’t wait to meet you and work on some
great projects together in the future. To the bpb:
Thank you for making it all possible. To everyone else:
Be the change you want to see in the world!
jm 11
joint mag ] OCTOBER 2010
joint
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Perspectives on German-African futures
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