An Overview of the Role of Non-State Actors in Preventing and Combatting Corruption in Botswana: Challenges and Opportunities

Abstract

Botswana has been lauded, regionally and internationally, for its commitment towards building a capable, democratic and developmental state. However, the country's national anti-corruption agency, the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) has reported an increase in the number and complexity of cases of corruption. The objective of this paper is to assess the role of the non-state actors (NSAs) in fighting corruption in Botswana. This assessment is made by way of providing a description and analysis of the underlying challenges and opportunities confronting NSAs, specifically the private (business) sector, the private media and nongovernmental organisations in preventing and addressing corruption in Botswana. NSAs play a pivotal role in the development of any country by providing goods and services, creating awareness and sensitizing communities on political and socio-economic issues affecting them. Whereas NSAs have a key role to play in fighting corruption by monitoring the use of public resources, educating the public, condemning perpetrators, and contributing towards the implementation of anti-corruption instruments, they are confronted by political, legislative and institutional challenges that hinder their effectiveness in this regard.

Corruption in Ethiopia: Assessing the Effectiveness of Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission in Combating Corruption

“…The fourth includes international business firms' work through some nonprofit groups such as Transparency International (TI) (Rose-Ackerman, 2013). These firms operate with extensive corporate support and board membership and are interested in controlling corruption in business around the world (Omotoye, 2016). Other firms work closely with business and trade associations, participate in promoting codes of conduct and promote anti-corruption policies.…”

“…The third group of actors is a diverse group of international nonprofit institutions with an anti-corruption and good governance agenda, including organizations that support investigative journalism and freedom of the press (Omotoye, 2016). These actors are involved as one of the pressure groups, information providers, and groups to raise public awareness of corruption (Rose-Ackerman, 2013).…”

A Comparative Study of Corruption in the Extractive Industries of Nigeria and Botswana: Lessons that can Be Learnt by the Young African Country of Eritrea

“…(Desta, 2019b) Thus, the indigenous Eritrea culture can be expected to make a positive contribution to having ethical public sector if it is aligned with good governance and good economic management. Whereas many sub-Saharan Africa countries were marred by political and ethnic conflict, and largely ruled by paternalistic, rent-seeking governments; in stark contrast, Botswana's post-colonial up-bringing was characterized by shared values premised on nation building between the state and indigenous groups (Maundeni, 2002 cited in Marumo andOmotoye, 2016). Both statistics and anecdotal evidence suggest corruption in Botswana is still a rarity rather than the rule, especially compared to other African countries.…”