The Ivorian state officially launched a platform a week ago to denounce acts of corruption in public administration. It is called Spacia, for System for monitoring and preventing and detecting acts of corruption and similar offences.
From now on, with SpaceIvorian citizens can denounce an act of corruption public administration, by going to the online platform, by calling a toll-free number: 1345 or by sending a letter to a complaints office. The report is then analyzed and validated or not by a committee of lawyers.
If the story is credible, the competent authority must seize it to impose sanctions on the offending official, and this can take several weeks. The platform was set up by the Ivorian Ministry of Good Governance and the Fight against Corruption created in 2021. The Ivorian State says it advocates zero tolerance for corruption and has made this fight one of the priorities. of President Alassane Ouattara’s third term.
The latest reports from Transparency International and the World Bank are indeed not good. In 2021, the NGO ranked Côte d’Ivoire 105th out of 180 countries. And the economic consequences are heavy since Epiphane Zoro, the Minister of Good Governance, recently explained that corruption caused Côte d’Ivoire to lose 1,300 billion CFA francs each year. The sectors most exposed to corruption would be health, justice, construction and customs. Audits are being carried out this year in these different administrations
Not enough for civil society
Yoro Bi Ta Raymond, Chairman of the Governance Commission within the Convention of Ivorian Civil Society, has some reservations about the terms of the process. He would have liked there to be more safeguards within this platform.
The Minister for the Promotion of Good Governance and the Fight against Corruption has said that the administration of Côte d’Ivoire is infected. He even cited certain ministries which are infected, they are the ones who still have to put this alert system into play. We think that the various barriers that the call will cross will not go all the way, that is makes us uncomfortable. We think that the ministry must nevertheless associate civil society organizations, because it is they who denounce. She expects a lot from this ministry, putting her aside, it’s not good, I’m on my hunger.
The reservations of Yoro Bi Ta Raymond (civil society) on the methods of the approach
►Also read: In Côte d’Ivoire, sanctions against officials suspected of corruption