19 Jun 2024

All ministries will be assessed on initiatives done in the fight against corruption starting October.

Therefore, Director General of Directorate of Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC), Ms Botlhale Makgekgenene called on leadership and other stakeholders to capitalise on the remaining months to strengthen their anti-corruption strategies, policies and ensure that preventative measures were in place. 

She made the remarks during a stakeholders’ engagement dinner in Maun on Tuesday.

She said there was a need for all institutions to establish Corruption Prevention Committees (CPCs) aimed at helping in identifying corruption risks in their operations and come up with measures to prevent corruption. 

She said she was concerned about non-responsiveness of various departments and institutions to initiate such committees despite DCEC’s efforts to facilitate. 

Non-responsiveness, she said undermined their effectiveness as it stalled progress and called on departments to have anti-corruption plans with clear deliverables.

Loss of members of CPCs, had been also identified as one of the factors that hampered anti-corruption efforts and departments were advised to have a succession plan and train more officers to avoid a vacuum

Ms Makgekgenene also encouraged departments to provide incentives to CPC members so that they remained active acknowledging that some institutions had insufficient personnel because of the setup of the offices but she proposed that inter-governmental approach could work.

“As leaders, it is upon you to foster cross departmental collaboration because of your number. Form inter-departmental CPCs so that you pull your little resources together to drive your planned initiatives aimed to curb corruption and economic crime. We pledge our support for anti-corruption efforts in the region,” she added.

Ms Makgekgenene also challenged North West leadership to explore opportunities for strengthening cooperation towards the fight against corruption practices and economic crime.

She said corruption required a collective effort to combat it as DCEC alone could not manage.

Also, she informed participants that DCEC had planned activities to mark its its 30th year anniversary in September.

North West deputy district commissioner, Mr Ramogaupi Gaborokwe appreciated the engagement and urged participants to embrace the meeting as a call of action adding that they should stand together across departments to create a district-free from corruption.

Together, he said they could foster a culture of transparency, accountability and good governance across the region citing that the fight against corruption could not be won by DCEC alone.

Mr Gaborekwe further saluted whistle-blowers and activists who risked their safety to expose corruption as well as witness who testify in courts often under very stressful conditions.

The fight against corruption, he said was not easy more especially in Ngamiland where corruption had impoverished many communities leading to prevalence of other social ills as well.

Earlier in her welcome remarks, Kgosi Kealetile Moremi appreciated the engagement saying it was a clear demonstration that they were all committed and stand united against corruption.

Fighting corruption, she said was beneficial for today’s generation and for many generations to come.

By eliminating corruption, she said they were protecting the scarce public resources, which should be enjoyed by all.

“I challenge all here to come with initiatives on how we can intensify the joint efforts in fighting this crime called corruption more so that our region is a tourism destination and a gate way to the Okavango Delta which had abundant natural resources.

For us to conserve these resources and attract tourists and foreign direct investment to our country, we need to have corruption free systems and procedures that will ease services,” added Kgosi Moremi.

Corruption, she said was a genesis of most crimes and if not dealt with at early stages, it could bring any government to its down fall as such the scourge needed collective responsibility to end it. Ends