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Zimbabwe, as we all agree, is a country richly endowed with resources and prophecies that this country will see an eruption of gold can only augur well for our economy.

So much happened last year, but the scale is tilting more towards that which did not happen. We had a lot of dreams and visions and goals which did not materialise but by the grace of God we have been given another year to consolidate certain areas while completely revamping others. 2013 is also an opportunity to correct any wrongs of 2012 and ensure the economy turns out as we hugely anticipate.

Many wish for food on the table, jobs, business opportunities, strategic partners and so forth while Government is naturally spoiling for more revenue and an injection of fresh capital into the economy among others.

The US$10 billion debt needs to be serviced, among other items on the to-do list.
It all requires effort and commitment from all of us and we expect an abundance of such. We intend to be tackling such issues in this column as the year progresses.

One constraint to press that stands out shoulders above the rest is the issue of corruption and its debilitating effect on the economy and the entire social fabric. It is with this in mind that I give way to a guest on this column Proctor Nyemba, a fraud expert, to air his views on the vice as he seeks to proffer solutions.

Corruption is a form of fraud. It is a misuse of public office for private gains. The process of corruption usually has three parties involved: The public official who is entrusted by the public to carry our specific duties, the public who entrusted the public official, and citizen or a firm. Each of us knows for a fact that corruption has significant negative impacts on growth. Empirical studies have shown that corruption reduces incentives to invest, worsens the public infrastructure and services, decreases tax revenues and distorts the composition of Government spending.

Corruption usually leads to bribery or extortion. Bribery is a situation when a person or entity gets something illegally that he/she is not entitled to. Extortion is a situation when a person or entity pays to get what he/she is entitled to. This distinction is very important especially for Government officials who are responsible to set up strategies to fight corruption.

What a government should do to fight corruption? What public should do to fight corruption? These are major questions I will look into this in 2013 as practitioner in the field. The title of our message to our Government of Zimbabwe will be “Preventing and Detecting Fraud/Corruption in the Public Sector in 2013”. The answers to these questions are not simple but possible. The simple fact that no one can argue with is that the primary loser of corruption is the country and its citizens.
Among what a government can do
are the following:

1. Establish and maintain effective anti fraud commission (AFC). The legal system should enable the AFC maintains its independence. Otherwise, the effectiveness of the AFC would be impaired.

2. Establish and maintain internal control systems that are designed specifically to deter, prevent, and detect corruption.

3. Establish a whistleblower system in each Governmental entity. This is one of the most effective tools to discover corruption.

4. The whistleblower Act to be in place to protect whistleblowers in Zimbabwe who want to report unethical behaviour in the private and public sector to the Anti-Corruption Commission or to the Police.

5. Promote fraud and corruption educational programmes at the national level via local university and local colleges.

6. Engage universities in fighting corruption.

7. Provide a healthy environment to enable the civil society play its normal monitoring role regarding the performance of the public sector.

8. Enhance the legal system to provide a strong framework for all stakeholders.

9. Establish code of ethics in each Governmental entity that promotes anti corruption practices.

10. Instill accountability for each post in the Government. Transparency is a prerequisite to have accountability functions as intended.

11. Promote good governance and practise it.

12. Obtain a financial position of the public official at the time she/he starts its business in the Government and when she/he leaves her/his post.

13. Fight the conflicts of interest that prevails in too many corrupted governments worldwide
Fighting corruption is not a programme that will start at a point and ends at another. It is a national strategy that should start soon and does not stop at any time in the future.

Corruption will never be eliminated. It will stay as there are societies alive. A Government should not manage corruption, it should minimise it. Corrupted people are not corrupted by nature. They were not born corrupted. There were motives and opportunities that helped them to pursue their corrupt acts.

However, what motivates a fraudster in Mexico may not motivate a fraudster in Cameroon.
Therefore, corruption should first be diagnosed professionally and properly, then policies should be established based on strategies to minimise this phenomenon.

Lastly we would to thank President Mugabe’s message of “Zero Tolerance to Corruption, Bribery and Abuse of office” let us join hands to fight this year 2013.
In God I trust

Feedback: victoria.ruzvidzo@ zimpapers.co.zw