CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEMS IN AFRICA

MAPPING CRIME IN EAST AFRICA AND ITS IMPACT ON

DEMOCRATISATION

INTRODUCTION

• East Africa properly so called, now comprises the five partner states of the East African Community:

• Burundi,

• Kenya,

• Rwanda ,

• Tanzania and

• Uganda  

Governance and Democratisation

• If the Mo Ibrahim Index of African Governance is anything to go by;

• the five East African nations do not boast the highest achievements

• where governance is concerned

Governance and Democratisation

• According to a UN paper, What is Good Governance?

• Governance means

• “the process of decision-making and the process by which decisions are implemented or

• are not implemented’’

Governance and Democratisation

• Good governance embodies eight characteristics. It contemplates processes that are:

• participatory, • consensus oriented, • accountable, • transparent, • responsive, • effective and efficient, • equitable and inclusive, and • which observe the principles of rule of law.

Governance and Democratisation

• for the purpose of this paper, good governance

• ensures that corruption is minimised,

• the views of minorities are taken into account, and

• the voices/views of the most vulnerable in society are heard in decision-making.

Governance and Democratisation

• Democratisation is not easily defined• Democratisation in Africa • has been linked to the global changes • towards political liberalism. • Global changes began in earnest with the end of

the Cold War in the 1990’s.• collapse of authoritarian regimes in Eastern

Europe and • liberalization of political systems in Latin

America

Governance and Democratisation

• Though arguable• political changes in Africa • are part of • a global movement towards political

liberalization• Two arguments/issues may be raised• Is democratisation taking place in Africa? or• Is it entrenchment of authoritarianism?

THE CRIMEPROBLEM IN EST AFRICA

• Measuring Crime in East Africa has to contend with

• absence of regular crime data

• accuracy

• bureaucracy: undue secrecy

• which data to use: Judiciary, Prisons or Police

COUNTRY PROFILES

• Interpol Data• Uses the United States FBI Index Crimes• Only seven offences• murder, • forcible rape, • robbery, • aggravated assault, • burglary, • larceny, and • motor vehicle theft

COUNTRY PROFILES

• For our purposes we have divided crimes in two categories

• Street crimes:

• murder, forcible rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary,

• larceny, and motor vehicle theft

Prevalence of Street Crimes

• In all the five East African states:

• Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda , Tanzania and Uganda

• the rate of crime for all the seven index offences is generally low compared to industrialised countries

• With an average rate of less than 20 per 100,000 population

Impact on Democratisation Crimes of the powerful

• Have negative impact on democratisation• Corruption• Money Laundering• Human Rights Abuses• Terrorism• Genocide• Politically motivated Violence• Crimes against Vulnerable Groups

Impact on Democratisation Crimes of the powerful

• COUNTRY SCENARIOS• Corruption• In Tanzania • The Warioba Report of 1996 said:• Our country has witnessed an alarming

increase in corruption activities which are associated with public servants on the one hand and the citizens who are consumers of public service on the other.

Warioba Report of 1996

• Corruption has been accentuated by loopholes which are inherent in the

• procedures,

• temptations,

• greed for power and profit,

• low wages and erosion of ethical standards.

Warioba Report of 1996

• Moreover

• state organs which are expected to prevent this increase

• have succumbed to this disease and

• therefore have left the people helpless.

Warioba Report of 1996

• There is no doubt that corruption is rampant in all sectors of the economy, public services and politics in the country

• even some officers of Government organs vested with he responsibility of administration of justice namely the

• Department of National Security, • the Police , • the Judiciary and the • Anti-Corruption Bureau are themselves

immersed in corruption.

Warioba Report of 1996

• Instead of these organs being in the forefront of combating corruption, they have become part of the problem.

• Consequently the ordinary citizen who is looking for justice has no one to turn to.

• He is left helpless and has lost faith in the existing leadership.

The Enigma of Corruption

• Tanzania has had a law outlawing ‘treating’ and declaring it a form of electoral corruption since 1995

• An amendment in 2000 appeared to qualify the definition of treating consequently legalising some forms of treating ‘done in good faith as an act of normal or traditional hospitality’

CASE STUDIES

• The Eternal Payments Accounts • The Exchequer and Auditor General

audited the accounts of the Bank of Tanzania,

• revealed that 22 local ‘phantom’ companies siphoned off 133bn. shillings from the debt conversion fund (also known as the Eternal Payments Accounts – EPA) in financial years 2005 and 2006.

CASE STUDIES

• Kenya The Goldenberg Saga

• According to witnesses at a Kenya Govt. Commission’s hearings, as much as 60 billion Kenyan shilllings (US$850 million)—a fifth of Kenya’s gross domestic product — was looted from the country’s Central Bank through billionaire Kamlesh Pattni’s Exchange Bank in 1991.

CASE STUDIES

• Pattni manipulated loopholes in the system

• with the help of government officials.

• He made an agreement allowing the company to earn up to 35 percent

• compensation for the export of minerals that did not exist.

CASE STUDIES

• Corruption has an adverse effect on the promotion of democracy and human rights

• More precisely corruption

• Worsens poverty and inequality

• Limits government tax revenue

• Curtails health and education expenditure

CASE STUDIES

• Reduces economic growth

• Discourages foreign direct investment

• Slows creation of new enterprises

• Channels public money into defence and infrastructures, where the kickbacks are typically high

• Increases debt burden on poorer countries.

Money Laundering

• All the countries in the East African region have Anti Money Laundering (AML) legislation on their statute books

• Burundi and Rwanda passed their AML Acts in 2008

• there are three forms of dirty money that cross borders: criminal, corrupt, and commercial

Money Laundering

• AML Acts tend to be limited in scope:

• the only financial inflows from criminal activities that are barred are those arising

• from drugs,

• bank fraud, and

• terrorism.

• How about proceeds of corruption, kick-backs, organised prostitution?

Money Laundering

• Dirty money introduced into the economy of a country has negative implications for democratization.

• The regime of the late Mobutu in Zaire was in part maintained in power because

• Mobutu plundered vast resources from his country with of course the connivance of the West.

Money Laundering

• He invested these ill gotten riches in Europe with

• the European powers asked no embarrassing questions. In turn

• the people of Zaire, excepting Mobutu’s cronies,

• suffered untold misery

Human Rights Abuses

• All the constitutions of the East African nations profess the protection of human rights.

• almost all the East African nations have been accused of abuse of human rights at some stage or other

• democratisation is ensured through fair and competitive elections,

• ensuring basic civil liberties, and • respect the rule of law and • respect for the rights of all groups in the nation

state.

Terrorism

• Almost all the East African nations have passed an anti Terrorrism Act.

• Anti terrorism legislation tends to • restrict civil liberties; • target suspect groups for action etc.• it is also important to balance the benefits

against the interest of the minority by • including certain safeguards in the anti terrorism

legislation such as periodic review of executive orders.

Genocide

• Discrimination against any one group impedes democratization.

• The Rwanda genocide was the culmination of a long process of

• lack of accommodation, • lack of meaningful democratization and• ethnic discrimination and as such it was

the outcome of a process and policies built over many years.

Politically Motivated Violence

• Politically motivated violence arises where democratization and accommodation have failed

• the violence after the December 2007 elections in Kenya was in part based on claims of electoral manipulation by the losers

• similarly the violence in the Island of Pemba after the general elections in 2000.

Politically Motivated Violence

• had democratization and accommodation been given a chance in the first place;

• possibly the violence we witnessed

• would have been avoided.

Crimes against Vulnerable Groups

• Democratization is about opportunities, • it is inclusive and • it is about making free choices• FGM, wife battering, forced prostitution, child

soldiers etc. take place in a power relationship – the weak versus the (relatively) powerful – with the powerful making the decisions to harm the weak.

• This erodes the foundations of democratisation.

CONCLUSION: THE WAY FORWARD

• 1. An atmosphere of Ambivalence or Agreement/Disagreement

• 2. Who bells the cat: incumbent powerful, dead powerful, retired powerful? Negotiating with the heirs in the case of Babangida?

• 3. Peer pressure or the lack of it: Can AU, NEPAD be of help? Any agreement/consensus at that level?

CONCLUSION: THE WAY FORWARD

• 4. Safe Havens: How about Off-Shore Banks and so called safe havens – some of them in developing countries – Their declared policy – studied lack of interest in the origin of the funds and how they were accumulated! Very attractive to kleptocrats!

CONCLUSION: THE WAY FORWARD

• 5. Ethnic Dimension The way political alliances are made in the African environment. Do kleptocrats steal for a tribe/ethnic group?

• 6.Cash economies: developing nations are essentially cash and non-banking economies

• 7. Attracting Investments! The ‘new’ bank in town may be a laundering jungle!

CONCLUSION: THE WAY FORWARD

• 8. Casinos: could be good vehicles for Money Laundering. Establish a casino with ‘dirty money’, pretend to win, issue oneself a receipt and ‘presto’ the dirty money is clean.

• THANK YOU VERY MUCH