Bill expands dragnet to tame corruption
Procurement Officers; BDF’s Lieutenant Colonel and Prison’s Assistant Commissioner included in the Assets and Liabilities Act
Government has decided to include procurement officers in the list of people that should declare under the Declaration of Assets and Liabilities Act.
This is in an effort to fight corruption in the awarding of public tenders. The President assented to the Declaration of Assets and Liabilities Act of 2019 on the 28th of August 2019. The law came into effect on the 22nd of October 2019.
It makes provision for the declaration of assets and liabilities of certain categories of persons for the purpose of preventing and detecting corruption, money laundering and the acquisition of property from proceeds of crime.
Minister for Presidential Affairs, Governance and Public Administration Kabo Morwaeng told Parliament this week that a significant number, including Members of Parliament, have submitted their declarations.
In total, the office of the Directorate of Ethics and Integrity and Corruption and Economic Crime has received 747 declaration forms, 38 being from Members of Parliament.
“Challenges have been identified during the implementation of the Act. As a result, it has become necessary to come up with another Bill to address these challenges”, Morwaeng said.
Some of the challenges, he said, include the need to make it a legal requirement that all those involved in procurement should declare.
“We continue to experience corruption relating to the award of public tenders. The application of the Act to procurement officers is one of the ways by which Government seeks to fight corruption”, the minister said when presenting the Declaration of Assets and Liabilities ( Amendment) Bill.
The other challenges relate to misalignment of penalties for similar offenses, failure to identify positions in parastatals and private enterprises which are equivalent to the position of Deputy Director in the Public Service and the frequency of declarations.
Morwaeng explained that having identified the loopholes, Government has come up with a Bill to address these. He pointed out that the Bill proposes an amendment of the Act to ensure that all those to whom the Act applies are listed under section 3 of the Act.
During implementation, it was noted that some officials had been excluded from section 3 of the Act, he said.
“The Bill also ensures that the obligation to submit declarations in the disciplined forces should start from the rank which is equivalent to deputy director, which in the case of the army is Lieutenant Colonel and not Colonel as appears in the Act.
“In the Prison Service, the equivalent rank is that of Assistant Commissioner and not Senior Assistant Commissioner. In addition,
the Bill ensures that there is clarity regarding persons who submit their declarations to the Permanent Secretary to the President”, Morwaeng told Parliament.
He added that it is also worth noting that the Bill proposes that Mayors and Chairpersons of Local Authorities should declare to the Minister responsible for Local Government.
Morwaeng added that the Director- General of the Direc
torate of Ethics and Integrity and Corruption and Economic Crime will now be required to declare to the President, and not to the Minister responsible for Presidential Affairs, Governance and Public Administration.
The minister indicated that declarations under the Act are to be made every 24 months.
“The Bill proposes an increase so that declarations are made at five year intervals.
However, it has been realised that in terms of best practice declarations are to be made regularly otherwise we may not succeed in fighting corruption as a country.
“I therefore intend to move an amendment at Committee Stage to retain the 24 months interval for submission of declarations”, Morwaeng told Parliament.