Corruption in North Africa (a US perspective)

Introduction

The United States State Department’s Country Reports on Human Rights Practices (“country reports”) strive to provide a factual and objective record on the status of human rights worldwide. The 2021 country reports were published on 12 April 2022.

Section 4 of the country reports provides an assessment of Corruption and Lack of Transparency in Government which addresses the extent to which a country’s law provides criminal penalties for corruption by officials and the level of implementation of these laws.

Scores for North African countries published by Transparency International in their 2021 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) report demonstrate that North Africa was ranked first out of the five African regions in terms of improvements in country CPI scores during 2012-2021. Individual country CPI score performance was mixed for North African countries in the 2012-2021 period. The country reports for North African countries reveal that no North African country was effectively implementing current criminal penalties for corruption by officials. Further discussion on corruption trends in North African countries is provided here.

Details of the overview comments for North African countries in the 2021 country reports are provided below. 

Algeria

“Authorities continued their anticorruption campaign against political, military, and security officials, as well as prominent business leaders from the Bouteflika era.

The law provides for criminal penalties of two to 10 years in prison for official corruption, but the government did not fully implement the law. Although President Tebboune’s administration has emphasized rooting out corruption, corruption remained a problem. Officials sometimes engaged in corrupt practices with impunity.”

Egypt

“The law provides criminal penalties for corruption by officials, but the government did not consistently implement the law effectively. There were reports of government corruption during the year, sometimes with impunity.”

Libya

“The law provides criminal penalties for official corruption. The government did not implement the law effectively. There were numerous reports of government corruption but, as in 2020, no significant investigations or prosecutions occurred. There were many reports and accusations of government corruption due to the lack of transparency in the GNU’s management of security forces, oil revenues, and the national economy. There were allegations that government officials sometimes misused the letter of credit system to gain access to government funds.”

Mauritania

“The law provides criminal penalties for corruption by government officials, but authorities did not enforce the law effectively, and officials often engaged in corrupt practices with impunity. There were numerous reports of government corruption during the year.”

Morocco

“The law provides criminal penalties for corruption by officials, but the government generally did not implement the law effectively. Officials sometimes engaged in corrupt practices with impunity. There were reports of government corruption in the executive, judicial, and legislative branches during the year.”

Tunisia

“The law provides criminal penalties for corruption by officials, but the government generally did not implement the law effectively. There were numerous reports of government corruption during the year.”

Conclusion

The country reports for North African countries demonstrate that no North African country is well placed to fight against corruption by officials due to material weaknesses in prosecution capacity.

Progress in combatting public sector corruption in North Africa is likely to be constrained until there is a considerable improvement in the relevant authorities’ ability to effectively enforce criminal penalties for corruption.




Recent Africa PFM digital transparency trends

Introduction

Recent African PFM digital transparency trends were identified in our September 2020 “Improving PFM digital transparency in African finance ministries” presentation which examined the current use of digital platforms to promote PFM transparency in 45 African ministries of finance (MoFs) current use of digital platforms to promote PFM transparency. We now introduce some key results on a country by country basis.

The importance of transparency

Transparency of public finances is a key element of a public financial management (PFM) system enabling public scrutiny of government actions and intentions.  Transparency of public finances is achieved by providing information on PFM which is comprehensive, consistent, and accessible to users. The World Bank’s September 2020 report “Enhancing Government Effectiveness and Transparency – The Fight Against Corruption” has highlighted the importance of ensuring greater transparency in government operations.

Identifying PFM digital transparency trends

The following statistics were prepared to help identify the above-mentioned trends across the 45 African MoFs:

  • Country internet usage

  • MoF website visits during May/July 2020 and projected annualised visits for 2020

  • Domestic and non-resident visits to MoF websites

  • Country Facebook usage

  • MoF Facebook page follower numbers

  • Country Twitter usage

  • MoF Twitter follower numbers

Penetration levels for MoF website users, Facebook and Twitter followers were also identified to demonstrate the level of usage of these digital platforms.

Key trends

Charts showing recent trends in key PFM digital transparency indicators for the 45 African finance ministries with websites during the period May/July 2020 are available. These charts can be accessed by clicking on to the respective regional Africa country groups below:

A video presenting charts showing recent trends in key PFM digital transparency indicators for the 45 African finance ministries with websites during the period May/July 2020 is available here.

Questions?

Please contact us at team@pfmconnect.com if you have any questions about this material.