Anti-Graft War: What the World Bank Wants
Relations between the Kenyan Government and the donor community have lately deteriorated over the issue of corruption. In an interview carried by The Nation (Kenya), the World Banks resident representative in Nairobi, Makhtar Diop, details some of the emerging issues facing the relation between Kenya and the World Bank, according to the World Bank press review Tuesday.
Diop explains that the Bank has earmarked 75 million US dollar for budgetary support that it would like to be able to make available within several months.
This Package is linked to policy reforms along three key pillars: reform in public financial management, including strengthening underlying budgetary allocation and financial accounting systems; efficient procurement systems and transparent government financial systems; and progress on privatization and policy reform in the agricultural sector.
– I would like to emphasize that the idea is not to impose “conditions” that are onerous for Kenya. Rather, the idea is to provide assistance that will help the Government in its own stated objectives as outlined in the Economic Recovery Strategy; specifically of achieving greater transparency and efficiency in use of public resources, in the overarching interest of reducing poverty, said Diop.
The World Bank will also be working with the Government on a financial sector adjustment credit, to ensure greater transparency in the financial sector as part of the overall governance reform agenda.
For years, the financial sector was the vehicle for illegal and corrupt transactions and mismanagement – the result is that the public sector banks are left holding loans, up to 30 percent of which are non-performing, with the result being restricted credit availability to individuals.
Diop adds that the World Bank, as a donor working with the government to end corruption, supporting the Kenya Anti-Corruption Authority, and advising the government, would hold a return to past levels of corruption as tragic for Kenyas future.
– Our Country Assistance Strategy for Kenya, which governs how much development finance we can provide for specific sectors, clearly spells out by how much the Bank will reduce its assistance if we see a return to these patterns, said Diop.
Diop says the World Bank felt there was need for a much stronger focus on strengthening the underlying systems that makes graft possible in the first place in Kenya.
A recent review of the budget system revealed vulnerabilities in the underlying structure, and the World Bank will be building on this as it shapes its upcoming budget support. Diop added that the World Bank was working closely with the European Union on helping Kenya reform its budget management system.
Diop notes that all projects in the World Banks lending portfolio were equipped with measures to catch corruption and halt it in its tracks. The World Bank would be fielding a mission in the coming months to review its portfolio with the authorities to ensure it is as invulnerable to corruption as possible.
– Companies and individuals found to have broken the Banks procurement or consultancy guidelines can be banned from participating in any further Bank-backed projects either temporarily or permanently, said Diop.
– The Bank also publicly lists the names of the individuals or companies found to have breached its consultancy or procurement guidelines and publishes the resulting penalty on its website, added he.
Giving examples of how the World Bank is supporting measures to build the capacity of the Governments anti-graft institutions as well as that of project implementation agencies, Diop notes the organization is financing the governments reform of the legal and judicial system, in collaboration with other donors, to ensure the honesty of this critical institutional structure.
– We are in discussions not only with the Government, but with Parliament, specifically on ways that we can support them in their oversight role in fighting corruption, said he.
Kilde: www.worldbank.org
