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Post by Adam Turteltaub
While in most cases the pandemic created nothing but challenges, Lola Adekanye (LinkedIn), Senior Program Officer for the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) reports in this podcast that, in some respects, it provided some benefits.
While initiatives to encourage transparency and integrity were stretched, employees endured indefinite periods of working from home and governments were challenged with their budgets, the commitment by citizens and civil society to promote anticorruption and integrity grew.
So, even though the risk for corruption increased, there was also a rise in whistleblowing, particularly in Zimbabwe, Kenya, South Africa and Nigeria. Most of the activity in this area revolved around the acquisition and distribution of Covid-related supplies, not surprisingly. The transportation sector also saw a rise in corruption.
Government procurement has continued to be a sore point, with many cases of collusion, price-fixing and kickbacks. But, consumer goods have seen a decline.
For the long term she sees a collision between two forces. On the one side are traditional, authoritarian regimes with higher corruption. On the other side, which she thinks will prevail, are young people and institutions coming together to find ways to hold government and companies accountable.
Listen in to learn more about the present and future of anticorruption efforts in Africa.