The study by the Commonwealth Africa and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime awarded the anti-graft body 63.2 percent against the 25 key policy and procedure inputs behind South Africa which scored 71.7 per cent/FILE
NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 10 – A United Nations survey has ranked the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) second best on overall compliance with the anti-corruption policy and procedure framework among 17 Commonwealth Africa Anti-Corruption Agencies (ACAs).
The study by the Commonwealth Africa and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime awarded the anti-graft body 63.2 percent against the 25 key policy and procedure inputs behind South Africa which scored 71.7 per cent.
Namibia was third with a score of 57 per cent followed by Botswana 56.8pc, Sierra Leone -56.5pc, Mozambique- 55.5pc, Zambia-51.6pc, Uganda 51.3pc and Nigeria at 50.4pc.
“The research was conducted in two stages. The first was a visit to ACAs while in the second stage, researchers from the Commonwealth Africa Anti-Corruption Centre (CAAC) administered the questionnaire to the ACAs. The ACAs were asked a total of 127 questions,” the report indicated.
On Operational management, Kenya and Sierra Leone were ranked first with a score of 80pc followed by Uganda – 73.3pc.
“The Commission scored 100pc on the area of Mutual Legal Assistance compliance. The research found that EACC ensures that persons assigned to receive and submit requests for Mutual Legal Assistance have the skill knowledge and competences required to fulfil their responsibilities. Only Lesotho, Namibia and Zimbabwe scored 50pc on Legal Mutual Assistance while the rest did not earn any score,” it stated.
Kenya leads in compliance of oath of office, code of ethics, mission statement and system of policy and procedure. Sierra Leone was second with a score of 87.5pc followed by Uganda – 75pc.
“EACC was also the overall best on compliance of oath of office, code of ethics, mission statement and system of policy and procedure with a total score of 100pc. The Commission scored 100pc on the area of Mutual Legal Assistance compliance,” it said.
During the research, Evidence Management, Continuity, Handling and Chain of Custody was singled out as one of the key policy and procedures inputs for Commonwealth Africa Anti-Corruption Agencies (ACAs).
The Commission was also ranked the best with Botswana on policy and procedure to ensure that information and intelligence collected or obtained from human sources is stored in a secure manner and shared only with authorized recipients and exchanged in a timely fashion.
The survey conducted by the Commonwealth and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) ranked the EACC and Anti-Corruption Commission Zambia as the best in Africa in Exhibits Management, Continuity, Handling and Chain Custody.
“The Commonwealth and UNODC conducted the research between June 2015 and June 2016 with a view to provide the Commonwealth Africa Anti-corruption agencies with a diagnostic benchmarking tool and peer review survey exercise to identify gaps in anti-corruption policy and procedure framework,” the statement indicated.
The goal of the exercise was to identify Commonwealth Africa Anti-Corruption Agencies that have strong policies and procedures.
The survey examined 25 key policy and procedure inputs that ACAs require to promote good governance, sustainability and robust investigations.
The main areas targeted were organizational management, personnel administration, investigations and operations and support services.
The ACAs which participated are Kenya, Zambia, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Cameroon, Ghana, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Lesotho, South Africa, Sierra Leone, and Malawi.
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