Francistown High Court Judge Lot Moroka has called for reforms and amendment of the Directorate of Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) Act, a move which is long overdue and urgent.
During a panel discussion held last Thursday in Selebi Phikwe, to celebrate 30 years of DCEC existence, Judge Moroka said, ‘‘the biggest weakness of the DCEC in the last 30 years of its existence, is the lack of security of tenure of the Director General and everyone else.”
“The Director General is appointed by the President, removable by the President, and the President does not owe him/her any reason to say tomorrow I am taking you out. We need to change that position, such that there is parliamentary committee that DCEC answers to”, explained Justice Moroka.
“Such a structure is needed urgently, so the appointment of the Director General is not the reserve of the President; and she cannot be removed because she is investigating someone close to the President. The position of the DCEC director must be secured and including other oversight institutions.”
Moroka said with the current law, the director cannot effectively investigate while always looking over her shoulder and wandering if her contract will be renewed. “This is a critical reform which needs to be undertaken among others. Evidence of political will and support is also important.”
He “Commission of crime without prosecution creates impunity. And when crimes become profitable, the incentive to commit crime will continue”, warned Justice Moroka.
On the other hand the Director of Financial Intelligence Agency (FIA) highlighted that if Botswana is geared at ending corruption, it is critical to have in place a law to recover assets acquired through economic crime.
“We need to make corruption very risky and unprofitable. Risky so people know they will be arrested, prosecuted and convicted for corruption. If we do not talk about recovery of assets from corrupt individuals, we are still far and not going anywhere in terms of eliminating corruption. These are the reforms which we need”, said Bopelokgale Soko.
“People must account for their wealth. Failure to do so, those assets must be seized from them”, continued Soko.
Judge Moroka concurred that the current asset forfeiture law is inadequate to deal with recovery of assets. He said in the last five years only five cases had been brought to his court.
“In the last five years I have dealt with five asset recovery cases. In some of the cases properties were recovered before the end of trial. However, we need to tighten the screws in these pieces of legislature.”
Another Act which has fuelled corruption, according to Judge Moroka is allowing public officers to do business with government. He said the policy is not right and must be revisited.
“What chance do outsiders stand when they are competing for tenders with officers who work in Government? Bring back the PPADB Act and repel the current public procurement Act. The Act is the most unfortunate part of the previous Government in the past few years”, continued Judge Moroka.
He went to say lack of access to information in the tendering system and job interviews and selection also created opportunities for corruption to thrive.
