Members of Parliament in
Swaziland have suspended the budget of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) because
they say the organisation is itself corrupt.
They want a select
committee to investigate alleged wrongdoings. They blocked a budget of E13.1
million (US$109,000) until a report is delivered. The ACC comes under the
Ministry for Justice and Constitutional Affairs.
It happened at the Swazi
House of Assembly on Friday (16 March 2018). The Observer on Saturday reported MPs were concerned that the contract for ACC Commissioner Thanda
Mngwengwe expired at the end of January 2018 but he still seemed to be at
work and using a Mercedes Benz ML worth E1.2 million supplied by the ACC, plus
a rented car.
According to the Observer, Nkwene MP Sikhumbuzo Dlamini ‘said
there was a lot of corruption going on within the ACC. He mentioned that it was
one department where they did what they liked with taxpayers’ money. What was
disturbing, according to the Mkwene MP, was that Minister for Justice and
Constitutional Affairs Edgar Hillary was watching the corrupt practices
allegedly done by Mngwengwe and his alleged partners in crime within the ACC.’
The newspaper added, ‘The
minister indicated that the matter of Mngwengwe’s contract was still
under consideration by the relevant authorities.’
In December 2017, the ACC
issued a report suggesting
that 79
percent of 3,090 people interviewed in a survey believed that corruption within government was ‘rife’.
The survey suggested that corruption was perceived to
take place mostly in rural councils. The perceived major causes of corruption were
poverty (58 percent), unemployment (54 percent) and greed (41 percent).
The survey was conducted by the Swazi Ministry of
Justice and Constitutional Affairs through the ACC.
In June 2017, the Open
Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA) reported
the kingdom, which is ruled by King Mswati III as sub-Saharan Africa’s last
absolute monarch, was riddled with corruption in both private and public
places.
It said, ‘The results of grand corruption are there
for all to see in the ever increasing wealth of high-level civil servants and
officers of state.’
It added, ‘For a long time the police, the Ministry of
Finance, the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Trade as well as the Department
of Customs and Excise have often been implicated in corrupt practices.’
See also
SWAZILAND
‘RIDDLED WITH CORRUPTION’
ARMY
PROBES SELF OVER CORRUPTION
‘ARMY
AMONG MOST CORRUPT IN WORLD’
ANTI-CORRUPTION
DEPUTY CHARGED
http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2015/08/anti-corruption-deputy-charged.html
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