The AU’s powerless corruption-buster
Begoto Miarom leads the continental fight against corruption. But he is under-resourced and not especially well-informed
If you’re talking desk work, it’s possible that Begoto Miarom has the most trying job on Earth. He is the African Union’s most senior anti-corruption fighter and he must do his work with very limited resources, and with the knowledge that the rot runs rife even in his own institution.
Miarom is the chairperson of the AU advisory board on corruption. He heads a team of seven (including himself) tasked with monitoring graft and fraud in the 40 countries that have ratified the AU Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption, the only continental body responsible for such a task.
This week, Miarom went to Copenhagen to attend Transparency International’s International AntiCorruption Conference, a three-day event held every two years, with 1 500 attendees. The Mail & Guardian asked him about his role, current continental events, including the AU’s self-declared Year of Anti-corruption, and Africa’s international reputation.
From Chad, Miarom is the deputy secretary general of the Court of Auditors in his country and was sworn into his AU board position in July last year. His mandate ends in 2020.
There has already been controversy on his watch — just a year into his tenure, another board member, Ghana’s Daniel Batidam, resigned. Batidam, who is attending the same conference, cited corruption in the anti-corruption board itself.
Miarom does not dispute Batidam’s claims. “There are many issues at each level,” he said, acknowledging that corruption runs deep within the AU. At the behest of member states, he is conducting a comprehensive internal study on performance and recruitment, and the next step will be to form an independent body to do the work. Without collecting evidence of corruption, it would be difficult to establish what must be done.
In addition to looking at the AU’s operations, Miarom’s role is making sure that each signatory to the convention is adhering to its principles. Initiated in 2003, the convention has gained 40 signatories in the past 15 years. In theory, each of these nations should be sending Miarom’s board a general corruption report annually, but many do not. In fact, some signatories have never submitted one. The Gambia recently sent in a summary of the past 12 years.
There is no penalty for those countries that do not submit assessments. “All states don’t respect the conventions, the same way [as] the United States does not respect human rights conventions in Geneva,” he said.
Miarom’s other duty is to travel to each signatory country to conduct his own examination. Last year, the secretariat allocated a budget for him to travel to four countries. His office sent out seven requests, and he visited the only one that accepted a request — Uganda. This year has been a bit better — he went to Namibia in September, and has plans to go to Rwanda in November and Angola in December. He hopes to get to Ghana, Niger and the Democratic Republic of the Congo in early 2019.
Recent events starkly illustrate the limits of his office. Asked about the election in Cameroon, for example, he laughed and declined to answer, saying his purview was corruption, not politics.
When pressed on the point (election rigging could be considered a form of corruption), he said Cameroon had not ratified the treaty and, as such, even if election fraud could be construed as corruption, his hands were tied.
Fourteen countries have not signed the convention and Miarom cannot approach them.
Earlier this month, Kenyan journalist John Allan Lamu released the damning documentary The
which looked at how Kenya provides a safe haven for South Sudan’s war criminals, many of whom have plush houses and loaded bank accounts in Nairobi.
Miarom hadn’t heard of the movie, or of one of the main alleged criminals, General Paul Malong, who has been accused of embezzling millions of dollars from his home country and keeping it in Kenya.
Miarom said he knew of “this practice”, although he didn’t specifically know about Malong. Money laundering was indeed a problem but, like Cameroon, South Sudan had not signed the convention so he could not pursue it. (Kenya, on the other hand, has ratified it.)
Tanzania is a signatory and has just pushed through legislation that would punish anyone who questions official government statistics, a move the World Bank describes as “deeply concerning”. Miarom said that issue would fall under the heading of human rights, even though the government could be releasing incorrect or skewed information.
In September, $4.3-million intended for a social cash transfer programme for the poor went missing from Zambia’s coffers, and the United Kingdom suspended aid. Zambia is also a signatory to the convention.
When asked about this, Miarom looked frustrated. There was only so much he could do, he said. His budget and capacity were limited.
Miarom’s government nominated him for the board seat, and it is unclear whether he was able to refuse the nomination or the position. He wrote about his feelings about the role in a follow-up email, making it clear he was aware of the weight of the task.
“Anyone who is committed to development, justice and equity can
“Anyone who is committed to development, justice and equity can only care about seeing his country’s resources used wisely”