Governance & transparency

Good governance is the foundation of economic growth and poverty reduction. The international community should support and encourage the efforts of African governments to strengthen governance standards and to fight corruption, including through the African Peer Review Mechanism and through implementation of the UN Convention Against Corruption.

The APRM is an important framework by which to plan, measure and assess reforms. To date, twenty-six countries have signed up to the Africa Peer Review Mechanism and the country review process is underway in twelve. Ghana, Rwanda and Kenya have completed their reviews and agreed to recommended plans of action.

The Africa Progress Panel notes that "The World Bank’s Worldwide Governance Indicators show that several countries in Africa have made substantial improvements on the dimensions of governance, including accountability, political stability, government effectiveness and rule of law".However, much remains to be done – to turn the APRM analysis into action, to embed good governance and transparency and to tackle widespread corruption. Corruption is not a phenomenon that is confined to Africa but many African countries rate poorly in international surveys and the perceived prevalence of corruption in many African countries is a significant barrier to investment. Moreover, because of its lack of resources and resilience, corruption in Africa will tend to have a disproportionate impact upon governance systems and the life chances of ordinary people and small businesses in Africa. Business must play its full part in tackling corruption and must take an uncompromising stance of zero tolerance to bribe giving.

Business Action for Africa welcomes the continued expansion of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) and calls on the international community to consider the potential for similar initiatives in other key sectors and whether there are sufficient incentives for the implementation of such good governance initiatives. Fifteen resource-rich African countries have endorsed the EITI which focuses on good governance in the resource sector. Twenty-three companies are also taking part in the initiative. We call upon the international community to recognise and reward those countries which implement EITI and follow-on transparency initiatives in full. We also urge those resource-rich countries in Africa which have not, to date, adopted the EITI to do so.

Business Action Against CorruptionA flagship governance programme for Business Action for Africa led by Royal Dutch Shell, this involves action against corruption within both the public and private sectors in Botswana, Cameroon, Malawi, Nigeria, Zambia and the SADC region, with country interest to participate from Namibia, Lesotho, Mauritius, Madagascar, Egypt and Tanzania. Examples of activities include codes of conduct in Malawi, guidelines for disclosure in Botswana, new integrity code in Nigeria, areas for action identified in Cameroon. The programme is managed by the Commonwealth Business Council.