Inadequate remunerations of judges breeds corruption - Kamara

Inadequate remunerations of judges breeds corruption - Kamara
By Edwin Mbulo in Livingstone
Thu 24 May 2012, 12:57 CAT

INADEQUATE remunerations of judges and court staff in Africa breeds corruption in the justice system, say an anti-corruption commissioner.

During a presentation "Challenge of fighting corruption in Africa and strategies for overcoming them" at the ongoing Commonwealth Regional Conference for heads of anti-corruption agencies at the Zambezi Sun Hotel, Joseph Kamara who is Sierra Leone's anti-corruption commissioner said if judges were not paid well, they find ways to send a message to the government.

"I lost a case of 57 counts due to the revision of my salary when the judges' salaries were not revised. So they found a way to send a message, they did not strike, and they did not write a petition or press statement but the message was received," Kamara said.

He said without political will, corruption would not be fought and anti-corruption agencies needed a balance act with politicians to effectively fight corruption.

"We are willing to fight corruption but without funds it is difficult," he said.

Kamara said the high levels of poverty were one other major
challenge in the fight against corruption which affected Africa.

He said decentralisation was another factor that could lead to the reduction of corruption as it brought accountability for programmes to be implemented.

Kamara started his presentation by taking a quick vote in the sectors which ranked highly in the fight against corruption which saw the political sector being singled out as the most challenging sector in the fight of the vice by 21 votes against the economic sector's four votes.

The social sector polled three votes, with the judiciary also receiving four votes.

He said the presumption of impropriety always arose when ever the demand for accountability was issued.

Kamara said the civil service needed to be well paid if the corruption levels in Africa were to be lowered.

"In Sierra Leone, police officers get US$25 and a bag of rice costs US$ 20. When statistics were conducted, the police ranked as the highly corrupt institution and I became a target. They stopped me one day and started asking the driver for his licences and insurance; when he produced them they asked for the passenger's driving licence," he said.