AMAN Speech 24 April 2013
Prime Minister Dr. Salam Fayyad, Dr. Hanan Ashrawi, Dr. Azmi Shuaibi,
Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,
It is a great pleasure for me to address you at AMAN’s 9 th annual conference. I
am speaking on behalf of numbers 7, 9 and 12, the ranking of the three donors of
AMAN: Norway, NL and Luxembourg.
I would like to congratulate AMAN with the launch of the 2012 Corruption
Report. I would also like to congratulate them with the successes they achieved in
their continued fight against corruption. And the fight for more integrity,
transparency and accountability: leading principles of good governance.
That this fight against corruption has been successful, is something I have been
able to experience myself. Twelve years ago, I came to Ramallah for my first
assignment. Back then, corruption was something that was hardly acted upon. It
was difficult to discuss it, let alone take action to fight it. When I returned in the
summer of 2011, preventing corruption was not only part of the government’s
strategy, but the media wrote about it, children discussed it at school and civil
society had taken up its role as watchdog and was successful at it. An AntiCorruption Committee had been established as well as a court to deal with
corruption crimes. These are important developments and I am proud that I am
here to witness them.
That said, we also acknowledge the need for further progress. Major
accomplishments have been made and yet major challenges remain ahead.
Waste of Public Funds, theme of today, can never be a luxury, regardless of the
economic or financial situation of the country. Tackling the issue is not exclusive
to developing countries. Also in the Netherlands, preventing the waste of public
funds remains a challenge. I want to share with you the following example.
In 2001, large-sale fraud in the construction sector came to light in the
Netherlands. For years, construction companies had determined amongst each
other which contractor would win a tender for a major construction project for
what price. Because of these price agreements, the state had overpaid millions to
the construction companies: the state had wasted millions of public funds. A
Parliamentary Inquiry was initiated. Ceo’s of all construction companies and
government employees, were interviewed under oath in front of camera’s, watched
by the whole nation. One of the conclusions was that the passive attitude of people
in high positions in business, in government and in supervisory institutions had
ensured that this system could function for many years. Although there was no
concrete evidence for the claim that officials were bribed, it did result in the
resignation of a Minister and more vigilance afterwards.
Zero-tolerance policy is now the norm. I see it in my own Ministry of Foreign
Affairs in the Netherlands and in our own diplomatic mission.
For example, if mission-staff suspect corruption in any of our projects, they are
obliged to pass on their suspicions to the Corrupt Practices Reporting Office of the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Depending on the gravity of the suspicion, the case
will be reported to the Minister who decides whether to inform Parliament or not.
After proof of corruption, measures are taken including recovery of funds.
Integrity is also high on our agenda. We regularly discuss integrity cases during
staff meetings and integrity is always a topic during performance interviews.
Coming back to the Palestinian situation, progress has been made in laying the
structures; with the ACC in action, civil society taking a lead, and most
importantly, the government’s acknowledgement of the need to minimize waste of
public funds. And we also see a change in culture, with Palestinian society
discussing more openly issues related to corruption and public funds.
But still, major challenges lay ahead.
Some of the major challenges are in establishing and strengthening a culture based
on meritocracy and accountability.
With the broader picture in mind, these issues are important.
 The culture of meritocracy needs to prevail, not only to give way to equal
rights to all citizens, but also to ensure the right person sits on the right chair
and is promoted on merits not on affiliation. This in turn will lead to more
effectiveness, efficiency, including when managing public funds.
 On accountability: Lacking a functioning PLC, mitigating measures are
urgently needed. For instance, by ensuring wide-scale consultations among
stakeholders / town-hall meetings in case of new policies, reforms,
lawmaking. In addition, each individual should have the freedom and the
protection to blow the whistle when he sees a corruption case. As one of
AMAN banners here in Ramallah reads: ‘those people should be rewarded
not silenced’. Mechanisms should be put in place to ensure this. We would
be happy to share our whistle blower regulations with you.
We, the three donors, believe Palestinians are moving in the right direction.
And we wish to give credit to AMAN and the PA government under Dr.
Fayyad’s guidance, for the developments made. And we look forward to see
Palestinians move up the scale in the list of countries actively and effectively
working to minimize waste of public funds and take affirmative action against
corruption.
I look forward to an excellent, transparent and lively Conference!
Thank you,