BY MENGISTEAB TESHOME
It is an undeniable fact that the practice of corruption is growing alarmingly and it is manifested in various faces and patterns and is causing huge social, economic and political challenges.
The pattern of corruption is found everywhere; and its effects are wide-ranging from moral, religious to economic, political and legal matters.
Corruption has been found to distort human judgment, warp the organizational cultures of business and government institutions; undermine economic and political development. What is more, it also increases the level of poverty, compromises human rights, corrodes the integrity of economic and political systems, causes extreme inequalities, destroys public confidence in government and markets, and undercuts environmental protection and climate change policies.
Truly speaking, corruption is a social evil that hampers the social, economic and political progress of any country and an issue that harms publics’ trust.
In his recent remark, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) said: “corruption has become a threat to our national security, at the same time government structure and the effort exerted to fight against it has been not so productive.”
He stated that it can compromise the move toward “prosperity” thus; there should be a concerted effort to prevent that from happening through reform measures and the application of technologies.
To this end and support and coordinate the government’s campaign against corruption, a national anti-corruption committee was established. However, in addition to establishing such committees, producing a generation that values integrity and accountability and condemns the act of corruption is instrumental in the fight against it.
In this regard, schools have greater a role to play in creating self-disciplined and responsible citizens by nurturing strong moral values, instilling the damaging consequences of corruption not only at individual level but also at nationwide and shaping them to abhor the act of corruption.
The Ethiopian Herald approached the Ministry of Education to learn the activities carried out by the Ministry in this regard.
According to Social Science Curriculum Desk Head, with the Ministry, Umar Imam, research documents confirm that moral values are deteriorating and decaying among societies for numerous reasons. Some of the pushing factors could be less political commitment and limited independence of institutions as well the traditional outlook towards corruption, he said.
Yes, corruption is a dangerous act to a nation, and it should be overseen and inspected in a more concerted fashion, he underlined.
The Ministry of Education is working to address the problem in a more established manner than ever before through educating the posterity as education is the master key to minimize corruption impacts; and helps in producing human capital that condemns the malpractices.
To this end, the Ministry has developed a new curriculum and framed moral education for 1-6 graders, and citizenship education for 7-10 graders. Concurrently, it has devised contents that give opportunity for practical engagement of students.
Despite the contents, drills of exercises are incorporated in the texts, because the Ministry decided to acquaint students with practical experience approaches and to allow them get first-hand information and understand the grime side of corruption.
“Personally, I am aware that efforts to curb corruption are challenging; and require more commitment and perseverance on many fronts, but one that pays huge dividends is attaching to educate the posterity with moral values and building accountability at all institutions. This starts from political will, as well as beefing up steady effort to strengthen institutions’ capability to work independently with a spirit of integrity and accountability.”
According to him, students will be exposed to theoretical learning, partake in debates in the school, as well attend court stages while the indicted abusers stand before the law for violating the rule and using public properties for private gain, eroding people’s trust in government and institutions.
After all, he further noted, the real cost of corruption is not expressed in terms of currency. According to him, corruption erodes opportunities, increases marginalization of the disadvantaged and creates feelings of injustice.
Moreover, high levels of corruption will grip the public institutions, lead citizens to apathy and erode their trust in public and political institutions and in democratic process making.
“We are witnessing some nations which have applied strict rules and regulations are able to ensure considerable improvement in curbing corruption-monitoring government performance, investigating improper behavior and initiating legal measures to punish the corrupt in addition to educating the posterity. This kind of dual approach is important to uproot the malpractice and build a prosperous nation,” he remarked.
Federal Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission Commissioner, Samuel Urkato in his recent remark said that the Commission is striving to create awareness among the society that corruption will not be condoned or tolerated. The Commission is also working to promote ethics and anti-corruption education; and prevent corruption offenses and other improprieties; as well as it is attempting to create and stimulate integrity in public services by detecting, investigating, and prosecuting suspected cases of corruption offenses and other improprieties.
The Commission is well aware that corruption has become a daily inescapable challenge to an extent that people are deprived of their rights to basic public services that they are legally entitled to. It has not only been impacting the daily lives of people but it has also become an additional bottleneck to run businesses.
Understanding the problem, fighting corruption has become a priority of the government in Ethiopia, he pointed out.
“We understand that the government alone would not be able to successfully curb corruption. Preventing corruption needs the coordination, cooperation and genuine commitment of all stakeholders including the government, private organizations, communities and every citizen,” the Commissioner underscored.
In this regard, Samuel stressed the need to promote independent, autonomous and competent anti-corruption authorities that can cooperate with local, national, regional as well as global stakeholders.
“We need to give much attention to form our anti-corruption authorities in terms of institutional system building, strategy and structures to enhance anti-corruption policy.”
The Ethiopian Herald 5 March 2023
