Times Of Swaziland: CHIEF QUESTIONS UN STAND ON CULTURE OF GIVING GIFTS

CHIEF QUESTIONS UN STAND ON CULTURE OF GIVING GIFTS
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 BY MUSA SIMELANE on 21/10/2014 04:40:00


EZULWINI – Chief Kekela expressed worry about the United Nations Convention
Against Corruption (UNCAC) that it will rule, as corrupt, the cultural practice
of giving gifts.
The senator, who was one of the politicians who attended a UNCAC capacity
building workshop at Sibane Hotel yesterday, wanted to know from two experts
from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) how they interpreted
the act of gifting.
The experts are Tania Santucci from UNODC Vienna, Austria and Tim Steele from
UNODC South Africa.
They are here to assist in the kingdom’s self assessment review exercise with
regard to the UN Convention.
The three-day workshop was attended by Members of Portfolio Committees on
Gender, Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs and Public Accounts
Committee (PAC).
Chief Kekela said it was embedded in the culture of Swazis that they sometimes
offered each other something tangible as a token of appreciation.
Since he spoke in vernacular, Linda Dlamini, Senior Education Officer for the
Anti Corruption Commission (ACC), clarified to the senator that the UN
Convention was not there to disassociate the kingdom from its traditions.
He said there was nothing wrong with giving, but the problem started when it was
being used to gain advantage or favour. “This is not to say people should not
reward each other per se,” Dlamini stressed.
He said even though the country had already taken steps in having legislation to
counteract corruption, more effort needed to be put in reaching the standard of
the UNCAC.
Another Senator, Prince Fipha, wondered whether the review processes clearly
indicated the increase or decrease in corruption. Steele responded that
corruption was a difficult thing to measure.
He said international indexes were just perceptions. But he urged legislators to
fully support the ACC’s endeavours to make the processes work to the
country’s advantage.
Meanwhile, Santucci said corruption was prevalent all over the world and no one
was immune to it.
She said unfortunately it undermined the rule of law and Millennium Development
Goals.
“UNCAC is the main global instrument against corruption and is applicable in
172 out of 193 countries of the world. Swaziland first signed the convention in
September 2005 and ratified it in 2012. The convention highlights the importance
of laws and institutions against corruption,” she explained.
Pillars of UNCAC include preventive measures, criminalisation and law
enforcement, asset recovery and international cooperation. She said questions
such as the prosecution being capacitated enough and also independent needed to
be looked at.
One of the objectives of the review exercise is to promote the implementation of
legislations that meet the benchmarks of the UNODC.