The Effectiveness of Anticorruption Institutions in Implementing International Anticorruption Instruments: The Case of the Federal Ethics and Anticorruption Commission of Ethiopia
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Date
2016-07
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
The global response to corruption, after passing through several dynamics, culminated in the
adoption in 2003 of a broad and binding international anticorruption instrument, the United
Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC). Prior to this, the African Union Convention
on Preventing and Combating Corruption (AUCPCC) and the United Nations Convention
against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC) were also adopted. The implementation of
these international anticorruption instruments by states parties requires the involvement of
various actors. Chief among these actors are domestic anticorruption institutions like the
Federal Ethics and Anticorruption Commission of Ethiopia (FEACC). The main purpose of this
study is to examine, find gaps and look for possible explanations for why the gaps exist in the
effectiveness of anticorruption institutions in the implementation of these international
anticorruption instruments by taking the activity of the FEACC as a case in point. Since an
assessment of the effectiveness of FEACC based on the standards set by the above-mentioned
international anticorruption instruments ratified by Ethiopia is almost nonexistent, researching
from this angle could be beneficial and may ease the constraints of scanty literature in this
regard. Although the instruments encompass several broad aspects, for the sake of relevance and
conciseness the study has bounded to base itself on the instruments’ corruption prevention,
criminalization and law enforcement measures. As the research mainly intends to explore the
possible explanations for why gaps exist in the implementation of these measures, it has
employed qualitative research methodology and to this effect key informant interviews and
document analysis were conducted.
On the area of corruption prevention, gaps such as absence of comprehensive and inclusive
national anticorruption policy; lacuna in the implementation of system and working procedure
reviews made by the FEACC which aim at promoting transparency, accountability and integrity
in various government offices and public enterprises; inadequate efforts by the FEACC in
reviewing the justice sector and human resource management area and weak follow-up of the
implementation of codes of conduct and failure to verify and disclose the registered assets of public officials have been identified. Limitation in delivering in-depth ethics education and in engaging the private sector particularly civil society organizations in the fight against corruption has also been observed. On the areas of criminalization and law enforcement measures, gaps were identified with respect to criminalizing, investigating and prosecuting
foreign bribery and some offences in relation to the private sector. Although the FEACC
investigated and prosecuted most other offences specified in the international instruments, a
large number of the cases it handled in relation to these offences were petty type involving lawranking
officials. The gaps in corruption prevention, criminalization and law enforcement
activities of the FEACC are largely caused by capacity constraints on part of the staffers of the
FEACC, inability to employ intelligence and surveillance that match with the intricate and
hidden nature of several offences of corruption, lack of cooperation by heads of various
institutions and absence of sanctioning mechanism for failure to act together, inadequate support by the government in availing the necessary resource, remuneration and staff for the FEACC as well as in maintaining the autonomy of the Commission, poor protection to whistleblowers and witnesses, limitation with respect to access to information and media freedom in the country and the prevailing
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International Relation