Conflict Of Interest Legislation Dalliance Unnerves Anti-Corruption Commission

Officials at the Federal Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission are awaiting the ratification of a long overdue conflict of interest bill that has been held up at the Council of Ministers.

The ‘Public Officials’ Conflict of Interest Avoidance and Code of Conduct’ regulation was submitted to the Council for approval “a long time ago,” according to Mesfin Belayneh, corruption information administration team leader at the Commission.

“We’ve been awaiting the ratification. The regulation will prohibit government officials from making decisions intended to benefit them from public resources, procurement processes, and businesses. We are told the draft is in queue for endorsement at the Council of Ministers,” said Mesfin.

The legislation would introduce a code of conduct that will prohibit officials from accepting gifts or engaging in or having ties with businesses. Mesfin says it is a decisive tool in averting corruption and conflicts of interest in the civil service.

The Commission began its efforts to get the legislation ratified in 2022, but it is not clear whether the Council, which is composed of the heads of all 22 ministries, is willing to endorse the regulation. Observers argue the reluctance stems from the proliferation of reports of grand corruption schemes that implicate several senior officials under the rule of the Prosperity Party.

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During a recent address to Parliament, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) repeatedly told MPs that there is “no state corruption in Ethiopia.”

“You cannot find one birr [embezzled by] the government,” he told lawmakers.

Neighboring Kenya is also witnessing strong backlash and division among its lawmakers and executive organ over a Conflict of Interest bill tabled to parliament by the Kenyan Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission.

The executive organ and some parliament members have argued the bill is redundant since such issues are addressed in the country’s constitution.

Meanwhile in Ethiopia, officials are working on an anti-corruption and ethics policy. The country does not yet have a policy framework that governs and guides anti corruption efforts and capacity building and ethical issues. The UN anticorruption convention also demands the implementation of such a policy.

“We are  finalizing consultation and validation with stakeholders. We will send the draft to the Council of Ministers. We hope the Council will endorse the policy,” said Mesfin.

He disclosed that the registration and verification of assets belonging to government officials has faced some hiccups. The technology being used for the registration was developed by an Indian firm called CSA Fintech.

“After we started registering assets using the application, the government raised the issue of national security,” said Mesfin. “The technology was developed by a foreign firm, and INSA reported there are indications it could be a threat to national security.”

Mesfin told The Reporter that INSA is developing its own application as a replacement.

“But whether the app is working or not, the registration of officials’ assets will not stop. We are still implementing it and conducting registration manually. Registering all officials’ property is time consuming,” he said.

Some 175,000 officials have already had their assets registered, according to Mesfin. It is only a small fraction of the more than two million civil servants in the country.

“We’re registering prioritized officials now, not randomly. We’ve received over 6,500 tips this year. Of this, 2,123 have been forwarded to police and judicial authorities for further investigation. We will disclose the details of the court cases in the near future,” he said.

Mesfin disclosed that over 1,900 of the tips are being investigated under charges of corruption. He said most of them are related to public procurement and property.

“Most officials are not willing to register their assets. We are pushing them. It’s illegal to refuse but, still, there’s resistance,” said Mesfin.