{"id":36333,"date":"2015-02-24T04:20:02","date_gmt":"2015-02-24T03:20:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=36333"},"modified":"2015-02-24T04:20:02","modified_gmt":"2015-02-24T03:20:02","slug":"thabo-mbekis-illicit-financial-flows-report-will-little-stem-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/articles-opinions\/thabo-mbekis-illicit-financial-flows-report-will-little-stem-problem\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Thabo Mbeki\u2019s illicit financial flows report will do little to stem the problem"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
By Kolawole Olaniyan<\/p>\n

The joint report by the African Union (AU) and the United Nations Economic
\nCommission for Africa (UNECA) on illicit financial flows from Africa has
\nmade good headlines. Some have described the report as \u201ca turning-point\u201d;
\nothers said its recommendations are \u201cgame changing,\u201d and capable of
\naddressing the problem both within Africa and globally.<\/p>\n

The report, produced by the High Level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows
\nfrom Africa presided over by former South African president Thabo Mbeki
\nwas earlier this month overwhelmingly endorsed by the AU at its 24th
\nOrdinary Session in Addis Ababa.<\/p>\n

Mbeki deserves credit for obtaining continent-wide endorsement for the
\nreport, and the panel\u2019s recommendation that efforts to combat illicit
\nfinancial flows be included in the post-2015 Development Agenda is timely,
\ngiven the expected expiration of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
\nand the steps by the international community to adopt a fresh set of goals
\n(Sustainable Development Goals), expected to be fulfilled over the next 15
\nyears.<\/p>\n

The report also contains some useful recommendations on the importance of
\npreventive measures and institutional and capacity building in combating
\nillicit financial flows.<\/p>\n

But the panel\u2019s narrowed notion of what constitute \u2018illicit financial
\nflows\u2019 (IFFs) combined with a disproportionate focus on the responsibility
\nof big corporations and \u2018organized criminals,\u2019 while seemingly minimising
\nthe primary responsibility of African governments and leaders, suggests
\nthat much more is still required to effectively combat IFFs in Africa.<\/p>\n

I agree with the report\u2019s finding that Africa has to address the wider
\nsystems that create IFFs in the first place. Yet, that is just one part of
\nthe story. The panel\u2019s scanty treatment of fundamental questions about the
\nnature of IFFs, especially grand corruption, and the impunity of
\nhigh-ranking government officials that continues to provide the incentives
\nfor IFFs to flourish, is a wasted opportunity to rethink how Africa deals
\nwith the impunity dimension of IFFs.<\/p>\n

While the panel\u2019s definition of IFFs as \u201cmoney illegally earned,
\ntransferred or used\u201d seems robust enough to cover a wide range of illicit
\nactivities in equal proportion, its quantification of corruption as
\namounting to just 5% of the $50 billion lost to IFFs each year is, to say
\nthe least, highly debatable.<\/p>\n

The panel\u2019s calculation suggests that just around $2.5 billion of the $50
\nbillion of IFFs account for corrupt funds. In contrast, commercial
\nactivities account for 65% while other criminal activities take 30%. But
\nthe panel\u2019s figure contradicts even the $18 billion that the AU once told
\nus is stolen each year from Africa. The panel should have probed further
\nthe responses to its questionnaires that suggest that \u201ccorruption is the
\ngreatest source of IFFs from the continent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Further, the panel\u2019s terms of reference broadly called for it to determine
\nthe nature and patterns of illicit financial outflows from Africa but the
\npanel would appear to have perhaps somewhat disingenuously redefined its
\nown terms of reference by choosing to focus on the responsibility of large
\ncommercial corporations and organized criminals rather than carefully
\nassessing the responsibility of senior government officials in IFFs. It
\nlooks like an effort to push policy down one particular, limited track
\nwithout a sufficient treatment of the leadership question.<\/p>\n

This approach seems politically expedient but it has done a great
\ndisservice to the citizens of Africa. The approach also buttresses the
\nimpression among African citizens that their governments and \u2018leaders\u2019
\ngenerally are soft on corruption and soft on the causes of corruption.<\/p>\n

The panel\u2019s recommendation that the mandate of the AU advisory board on
\ncorruption (established pursuant to article 22 of the AU Convention on
\nPreventing and Combating Corruption) be expanded to cover IFFs ignores the
\nmany problems currently besetting the board. Yet, any potential role for
\nthe board with respect to IFFs must first resolve some critical issues
\nsuch as allegations of mismanagement among its leadership, and the fact
\nthat its advice are routinely rejected by states. The board also doesn\u2019t
\nhave a structure of its own, but is housed within a small department in
\nthe Secretariat of the AU Commission in Addis Ababa.<\/p>\n

To be sure, grand corruption (a generic term used to describe large-scale
\nembezzlement of public funds, illicit enrichment, bribery, trading in
\ninfluence and abuse of office, all at the highest level of government)
\nposes a serious threat not only to African citizens and their communities,
\nthrough for example, lives blighted by poverty, inequality and societies
\nliving in fear, but also a regional and global threat which can undermine
\nthe democratic and economic basis of societies, and thereby leading to a
\nloss of confidence in the rule of law.<\/p>\n

Mis-invoicing of trade transactions and organized crimes are terribly bad
\nbut these are just symptoms rather than primary causes of IFFs from
\nAfrica. We all see high-ranking government officials with no previous
\nrecords of success in business, inheritance or a lottery win \u201cwearing
\nRolex watches, driving Mercedes, owning houses in Paris and London, while
\nsending their children for private education in Switzerland.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Ebola crisis in some parts of Africa in fact has exposed the level of
\ngrand corruption and its devastating effects on critical institutions of
\ngovernance. For example, Sierra Leone\u2019s Auditor-General\u2019s recent report
\nshowed that the government could not account for nearly a third of the
\n$20m earmarked for fighting Ebola in 2014.<\/p>\n

Related to the panel\u2019s narrowed conceptualization of IFFs is the
\nconclusion that \u201clarge commercial corporations are by far the biggest
\nculprits of illicit outflows, followed by organized crime.\u201d The panel\u2019s
\nconclusion is based on the assumption that \u201clarge corporations possess the
\nmeans to perpetuate their aggressive and illegal activities,\u201d while \u201cdrug
\ndealers have the funds to corrupt many players, including and especially
\nin governments, and even to capture weak states.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the panel\u2019s conclusion seems to reinforce the narrative that
\n\u2018outsiders\u2019 and \u2018other interests\u2019 are primarily responsible for IFFs.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy for the panel to portray African governments and leaders as so
\npowerless to address the problem. The panel seems to be saying to us: \u2018it
\nis fine to let fox guard the chicken house and everything will be normal\u2019!<\/p>\n

But as one Yoruba proverb (owe) says \u201cBi ogiri ko la nu Alangba ko le
\nr’aye wo be\u201d (literally translated as: \u2018If the wall does not open up the
\nlizard will not be able to enter\u2019). The key words here are \u201cthe wall\u201d and
\n\u201cthe lizard.\u201d Without cracks and openings in a wall a lizard can\u2019t
\ninhabit.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s true that globalisation has been accompanied by a dramatic increase
\nin illicit financial flows globally. However, much of the illicit
\nfinancial flows from Africa can\u2019t happen without the direct involvement
\nand complicity of African governments and high-ranking officials or their
\nfamilies and business associates.<\/p>\n

Clearly, big corporations and financial institutions are part of the
\nproblem but if African governments and leaders are docking responsibility
\nfor illicit financial flows, especially grand corruption, why should they
\nexpect \u2018outsiders\u2019 to play their role and be part of the solution?<\/p>\n

The sad reality is that African governments and leaders generally lack the
\nrequisite political will to tackle grand corruption. High-ranking corrupt
\nofficials also seem to be getting more cunning but anticorruption
\nagencies, the police and security services are not independent or working
\nhard enough to catch them.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s going to be very difficult to get the report\u2019s recommendations
\nimplemented as long as African governments and leaders continue to dock
\ntheir primary responsibility, and corrupt leaders are not hit where it
\nmost hurts\u2014in their huge stolen public funds that they and their families
\nand friends are sloshing around the world\u2019s onshore and offshore financial
\ncentres that depend heavily on de jure or de facto bank secrecy.<\/p>\n

If Africa is to truly exercise its sovereignty \u2013 both political and
\neconomic \u2013 it must make getting rid of grand corruption its utmost
\npriority. Sovereignty implies \u201cconducting an independent foreign and
\ninternal policy, building of schools, construction of roads, in brief, all
\ntypes of activity directed towards the welfare of people.\u201d Sovereignty
\ncannot be conceived as a licence for African leaders to commit acts of
\ncorruption that imperil human dignity, and then to somehow attempt to
\nshield themselves from responsibility.<\/p>\n

By taking grand corruption seriously, African governments and leaders will
\nbe reducing the incentives that allow other illicit financial flows to
\nflourish. But if corruption is to be satisfactorily addressed across
\nAfrica, it will take a determined push from the \u2018woman and man on the
\nstreet\u2019 and not an elite that becomes ever wealthier as it becomes ever
\nless accountable.<\/p>\n

Olaniyan, PhD is the author of \u2018Corruption and Human Rights Law in Africa\u2019.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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