AFIDEP at the International Good Governance and Fight Against Corruption Conference in São Tomé Príncipe
The African Institute for Development Policy (AFIDEP), through the Africa Integrity Indicators (AII) project, participated in the International Good Governance and Fight Against Corruption Conference in São Tomé and Príncipe, which ran from 12 April to 13 April 2022.
The conference was held under the “Sociedade Civil pela Transparência e Integridade” project, with support from the European Union and the Portuguese Cooperation, aimed at increasing knowledge and exchange of good practices in the fight against corruption and impunity. The conference involved discussions among local and international CSOs, journalists, actors, policymakers, and top government officials from São Tomé and Príncipe.
The conference saw various presentations from the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, The Economist Intelligence Unit, Associação para Cooperação Entre os Povos (ACEP), the Federation of NGOs of São Tomé and Príncipe (FONG-STP), the Ambassador of Portugal in São Tomé and Príncipe, top government officials, among others.
In the presentation on the new Corruption and Governance Index of São Tomé and Príncipe (CGI-STP), a new initiative of the Civil Society Network for Good Governance, FONG-STP, and ACEP, Ernesto Nhanale, a Consultant and Executive Director of MISA, Mozambique, highlighted various challenges facing São Tomé and Príncipe in the fight against corruption. The lack of data on the corruption cases investigated by the bodies mandated to investigate corruption allegations and prosecute those found guilty. The high level of political control and censorship/control of institutions to exercise freedom of speech was also highlighted as a significant issue impeding watchdog actions in São Tomé and Príncipe.
In his presentation on the preliminary findings of the 10th Round of the Africa Integrity Indicators, Alex Jiya, AFIDEP’s Research and Policy Analyst, echoed the findings presented by Ernesto Nhanale by highlighting the need for São Tomé and Príncipe to learn from countries performing better on Indicators of Anti-Corruption mechanisms and public integrity in AII. Such countries included; Seychelles and Mauritius, among others. He concluded by emphasising that São Tomé and Príncipe could benefit much in the fight against corruption by improving the independence and effectiveness of the bodies responsible for fighting corruption.
The Africa Integrity Indicators (AII) is a research project initiated by Global Integrity in 2012 in collaboration with the Mo Ibrahim Foundation. AFIDEP has taken over the project from Global Integrity. AII focuses on African governance in practice, examining how policies are implemented to support governments, citizens, and civil society and assessing critical social, economic, political, and anti-corruption mechanisms at the national level across all 54 countries of the African continent.