Dissemination of the Anti-Corruption Law
Dissemination of the Anti-Corruption Law: a communication and dissemination strategy for the law already exists, and resources still need to be mobilised for its implementation, starting in 2019.
Completion Status:
Commitment filtering:
The commitment identifies dissemination of the Anti-Corruption Law as a concrete mechanism to create anti-corruption awareness among the population of Burkina Faso.
The commitment identifies two measurable actions. It can be monitored by checking whether:
- the government managed to mobilise the resources to disseminate the anti-corruption law among the population.
- the communication and dissemination strategy was implemented.
Burkina Faso
Evaluation:
Background information
The communication and dissemination strategy for the anti-corruption law existed since January 2018, before the government made the commitments in Copenhagen, entrusting the ASCE-LC and the CSO REN-LAC with its implementation.[1]
Monitoring
The commitment includes the following sub-commitment:
- Mobilise the resources to disseminate the anti-corruption law to the population.
According to the strategy, disseminating the anti-corruption law in Burkina Faso requires a budget allocation of 146.5 million West African francs (US$ 228,000) from both the Public Treasury and technical and financial partners.[2] However, according to ASCE-LC’s Head of the Department of the National Strategy for Preventing Corruption, the communication strategy is ongoing, because the department did not succeed in fully mobilising the budget allocation intended for the communication strategy.[3]
- Implement the communication and dissemination strategy.
This strategy has since been implemented jointly with REN-LAC and separately through awareness-raising campaigns via TV, radio, press conferences, training and workshops. The strategy also includes traditional, religious, administrative and political authorities, civil society organisations, young people, and women’s groups in all regions, provinces and communes of Burkina Faso.[4]
Given that ASCE-LC has not succeeded in mobilising the financial resources needed to fully implement the communication strategy, this commitment is only partially fulfilled.
| Challenges to effective commitment implementation |
A possible challenge to this commitment is that over the past few years, Burkina Faso has suffered insecurity and political tension that may delay the mobilisation of resources for implementing the Anti-Corruption Law communication plan.
Following the election of Roch Christian Kaboré in 2015, Burkina Faso began to suffer assaults by armed terrorist groups.[5] When President Kaboré was re-elected for a second term in 2020, such attacks became an almost daily occurrence, resulting in hundreds of deaths. Large parts of the country were beyond the control of the state.[6] As a result, government resources may not have been used to fight corruption, but to support efforts for the restoration of security.
| Opportunities to accelerate commitment implementation |
| International and regional cooperation could help Burkina Faso to learn from the domestic resource mobilisation experience of other countries. For example, in October 2021, ASCE-LC and Cote d’Ivoire’s Anti-Corruption agency, HABG (Haute Autorite pour la Bonne Gouvernance), signed an agreement on mutual assistance and information exchange.[7]
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| Recommendations |
Seek funding from international donors, which have a particular interest in funding anti-corruption initiatives in West Africa, to support dissemination of the anti-corruption law.
[1] Annex 4.
[2] Annex 4.
[3] Drabo Mamoudou, Head of Department of National Strategy for the Prevention of Corruption, ASCE-LC, 6 July 2022, via email.
[4] Interview with Programme Manager, REN-LAC, 4 April 2022, via WhatsApp call
[5] La Presse, President Kaboré overthrown by a putsch, 24 January 2022, https://www.lapresse.ca/international/afrique/2022-01-24/burkina/le-president-kabore-renverse-par-un-putsch.php
[6] La Presse, President Kaboré overthrown by a putsch, 24 January 2022.
[7] HABG, Fight against corruption: Côte d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso pool their efforts, 12 October 2021, https://www.habg.ci/blog/Lutte-contre-la-corruption-la-Cote-d-Ivoire-et-le-Burkina-Faso-mutualisent-leurs-efforts