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LOCAL STEPS, GLOBAL GOALS: HOW ORDINARY PEOPLE PROMOTE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT BY REPORTING CORRUPTION

When 16-year-old Abdul Rahmana Shakina collapsed in 2017, her parents rushed her to northern Ghana’s main hospital. Diagnosed with acute anaemia, Shakina needed an urgent blood transfusion – a treatment supposed to be free. But first, doctors demanded a bribe.

With little in their pockets, Shakina’s parents begged for the transfusion, promising to return the next day to pay. But the doctors refused for 12 hours. When they finally gave Shakina the blood and oxygen she needed, it was too late. During the procedure, she died.

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Sarkozy: Former French president sentenced to jail for corruption

French ex-President Nicolas Sarkozy has been sentenced to three years in jail, two of them suspended, for corruption.

He was convicted of trying to bribe a judge in 2014 – after he had left office – by suggesting he could secure a prestigious job for him in return for information about a separate case.

Sarkozy, 66, is the first former French president to get a custodial sentence.

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Nigeria’s Protests and the Need for Bottom-Up Reform Across Africa

One of the rare times I made it through the international airport in Lagos with nary a request for a bribe, I was left feeling spooked. After all, during previous visits to Nigeria, I had had valuables seized right before my eyes under false pretenses; I had been detained in a cell awaiting ransom; and I had even once watched in alarmed disbelief as uniformed men with guns boarded my flight and extorted money from passengers, along with bottles of champagne from the crew, right there on the tarmac.

This time, as I exited the terminal, just as I was being greeted by a prearranged driver, a man in plainclothes approached to demand my passport. The driver whispered for me to ignore him and keep walking fast, after which the man in plainclothes flashed a gun under his shirt and said, “OK, you’ll see.”

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Bribery by foreign companies threatening poverty reduction efforts – World Bank

If unchecked, corruption poses a threat to reducing poverty and supporting shared prosperity, the World Bank has said in a paper titled ‘Working in partnership is key to fighting corruption’ released on Wednesday, September 23, 2020.

The Bretton Woods institution said corruption has long been recognized as a major impediment to development.

From massive theft of state assets to the low-level corruption that erodes productivity and weakens service delivery, corruption steals from the poor and erodes progress, it said.

“Corruption takes many forms. It is the foreign company that pays kickbacks or bribes to get preferential treatment, leaving poor countries with devalued goods or services.

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Agyapa Deal Still Has Unanswered Questions; Suspend It For More Discussions – 22 CSOs

The alliance of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) working in the extractive, anti-corruption and good governance areas have reiterated the call for the government to suspend the Agyapa Mineral Royalty deal for a further national conversation on it.
According to the CSOs, there are still “important questions that require a national conversation to be addressed.”

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W.H.O. labels COVID-19 related graft as murder

All 54 countries on the continent have been affected by the highly infectious COVID 19, with over 1.1 million cases and and 27,000 deaths according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

There have been allegations of corruption scandals involving personal protective equipment in Africa such as in Zimbabwe, Kenya and South Africa.

W.H.O. chief labels cases related to COVID 19 corruption as murder.

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Algeria ex-car boss gets 16-year jail term for corruption

A former car industry boss who swiftly amassed riches under Algeria’s ousted president Abdelaziz Bouteflika was sentenced Wednesday to 16 years in prison on corruption charges.

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Appeal in DR Congo corruption trial set for July 24

An appeal hearing for a top presidential aide in the DR Congo has been set for July 24, less than a month after he was sentenced to 20 years’ hard labour for corruption, his lawyer said Tuesday.

Vital Kamerhe, 61, a veteran political figure who was President Felix Tshisekedi’s chief of staff, was convicted on June 20 of diverting more than $50 million (44 million euros) of public funds.

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Nigerian Financial Crime Office To Go After Looters Assets In Ghana, Other African Countries

The acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC) Ibrahim Magu, has revealed that looters now hide stolen assets in Ghana and other African countries and the commission will go after them.

Magu, who stated this in Abuja where he was inducted into the 2020 hall of fame by the Governing Council of the Chartered Institute of Public Resources Management And Politics (Ghana), said the EFCC is on the verge of signing an agreement with these countries that will allow the commission trace and recover stolen assets directly from these countries.

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World Whistleblowing Day: AFRICMIL Calls For Passage Of Whistleblower Protection Law In Nigeria

The African Centre for Media & Information Literacy (AFRICMIL) has called for the passage of a whistleblower protection law in Nigeria. In a statement to mark this year’s World Whistleblowing Day, the organisation noted that Nigeria is playing catch-up with an issue other African countries like Ghana, South Africa, and Uganda have formalized.

Since the return to democracy in 1999, there have been several unsuccessful attempts to pass a law for the protection of whistleblowers in Nigeria. In December 2016, the federal government introduced a whistleblower policy, which does not provide a legal framework for the protection of whistleblowers.

Different countries around the world are realizing the importance of whistleblowers who have been described as the “first line of defence against crimecorruption and cover-up.” June 23 every year is celebrated as World Whistleblowing Day to raise public awareness about the important role of whistleblowers in combating corruption.

This year’s celebration is coming on the heels of a global pandemic (COVID-19) that has created a great deal of anxiety and uncertainty for Nigerians. It has also highlighted the importance of accountability and the need for regular and reliable information from public and private institutions and officials.

“It’s for this reason that we need Nigerians to speak up and be listened to if they have concerns about health and safety, fraud or other types of wrongdoing in the public interest in the management of the COVID-19 crisis, said Chido Onumah, Coordinator of AFRICMIL.

“Nigerians need to know the truth about the spread of the disease to respond effectively and help protect their communities. Transparency is vital and never more so than during a pandemic. We encourage all citizens and workers to participate in ensuring our governments, corporate institutions, both public and private, remain accountable during this crisis and beyond.”

We celebrate whistleblowers in the country for their patriotism. They keep us safe and ensure that funds are not diverted when they speak out against fraud, abuse and corruption.

In the last three years, AFRICMIL has been implementing a project tagged Corruption Anonymous , supported by the MacArthur Foundation , which aims to highlight the importance of whistleblowing in the fight against corruption and the need to protect whistle blowers from retaliation.

Source: Chido Onumah (modernghana.com)