Local authorities set up integrity committees
AS part of their efforts to curb corruption, local authorities in Manicaland have partnered with the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) to train them on how to set up and run integrity committees.
The committees seek to promote transparency, accountability and ethical conduct among local authorities, as well as to prevent and detect any corrupt practices.
In an interview early this week, ZACC’s Commissioner Jessie Majome urged local authorities to play their role in preventing corruption through the promotion of good ethical practices in their organisations.
“ZACC urges local authorities to refuse, reject and report corruption internally and externally because corruption undermines service delivery, which is their core business. There is need for local authorities to commit to ending corruption and setting up in-house integrity committees like what those in Manicaland have done,” she said.
“As ZACC, we would like to applaud local authorities in Manicaland for their willingness to practically participate in the national anti-corruption efforts through the capacitation of their integrity committee members,” she said.
Commissioner Majome said the training was organised by local authorities because they saw the need to capacitate various committees on the roles and responsibilities of integrity committees in combating corruption, and for officials and management to demonstrate voluntary individual commitment to fight corruption.
She said the move by local authorities in Manicaland is a positive response to
ZACC’s incessant calls for organisations in both the public and private sectors to establish integrity committees for the prevention of corruption within their institutions.
Commissioner Majome said the most critical role of the integrity committees is to promote integrity in their organisations.
“Integrity is a key human quality that anchor other expected individual and institutional values like transparency, accountability, good corporate governance and others,” she said.
She said it is imperative to take an inclusive combative approach in dealing with corruption within the framework of the National Anti-Corruption Strategy (NACS).
“Together with the NACS, integrity committees are very effective tools. The two coordinated initiatives are being implemented in compliance with the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC), to which Zimbabwe is a party to.
The UNCAC encourages State parties to initiate corruption prevention measures that promote the participation of citizens and society in corruption prevention to ensure integrity, transparency and accountability and proper management of public affairs,” she said.
Commissioner Majome said there is need for a participatory approach in curbing corruption, adding that the integrity committees in the province are the first step towards combating the scourge.
The training of the integrity committees covered their role and responsibilities, the code of conduct for local authorities, the procedures for reporting and investigating corruption cases, and the best practices for enhancing integrity in service delivery.