I was in Lima, Peru a couple of weeks ago taking part in a conference on the nexus between political parties and organised crime. To give you a clear understanding of the whole exercise, I’ll give you the full title of the gathering: The Inter-Regional Dialogue on State Capture and Organised Crime or Capture of Organised Crime by the State.
We discussed whether organised criminals had contrived to take control of governments or whether governments themselves were in effect using organised criminals to further their own interests: in short, the seemingly mutually advantageous relationships that have developed between organised criminal groups and political/state actors. Yes, indeed, in Latin America and, increasingly in West Africa, criminal gangs, through their massive wealth, are influencing politics in a very big way.
The gathering, which included journalists from Latin America and West Africa (I was the only journalist representing the region), independent researchers and analysts, was organised by the Center on International Cooperation at New York University, the Open Society Foundations, the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, and the Institute for Multiparty Democracy.
Organised criminals from Latin America have begun to make inroads in West Africa, which is now being used as a trans-shipment point for smuggling cocaine into Europe to meet the huge demands in the UK and Spain, the two biggest users of the illicit drug. In the process, their ill-gotten gains are increasingly being used to fund political parties. Indeed, there have been allegations in Sierra Leone that drug money played a major part in the 2007 presidential and parliamentary election campaigns.
Remember the plane loaded with cocaine that was intercepted at Lungi Airport, which caused a major embarrassment for the APC government? In one of the documents released by the WikiLeaks website, the American ambassador claimed that President Ernest Koroma intervened in the matter to halt the prosecution of some top names in the government. Naturally, Koroma took umbrage at the allegation, which he denied.
So, as Sierra Leone prepares for presidential and legislative elections next year, the various political parties must now be on the lookout for suspicious money flowing into their coffers. The problem with political party funding in Africa is that it is shrouded in mystery. Of course, this problem is not confined to Africa. But given the poor state of the finances of many political parties in Africa, more so for those that are in opposition, there is a gap that organised crime could exploit.
How do these gaps occur? Well, if you have rampant bribery and corruption in society and rich businessmen lurking around to provide short-term finance for cash-strapped governments, then the opportunity for organised criminals to infiltrate political parties and eventually the state has already presented itself. . Once a party that has accepted funds from criminal cartels wins an election, the government immediately becomes compromised. Soon the government will end up being embarrassed.
You need to have a leader that is determined to fight attempts to suborn his government so that there is a check on organised criminality getting a foothold in the inner sanctums of state power. One such is President John Atta Mills of Ghana. WikiLeaks reported that Mills would insist on having members of his delegation security checked at the VIP lounge of Kotoka International Airport before flying out on official visits. He said he did not want to be surprised by a member of his entourage found to be carrying drugs.
WikiLeaks also reported that Mills took offence at being offered bribes by representatives of foreign oil companies looking to get a piece of the action as his country’s oil production sector came on stream. This is highly commendable. I bet you that the number of African leaders who would turn down millions of dollars in bribes offered by degenerate oil companies can be counted on the fingers of one hand. Mills’ example is one that those working for the Petroleum Resource Unit at State House must learn. If they don’t, they will surely be WikiLeaked.
The problem is that politicians are always keen to get their hands on money that could not be easily traced so that they could use it for nefarious purposes. Let’s face it, if a criminal comes up with a couple of million dollars in a suitcase, it would be difficult for a hard-pressed political party to refuse this illegal handout. Indeed, Sierra Leone’s former Foreign Minister, Zainab Bangura, is quite aware of the insidious nature of drug money in politics. In a newspaper interview in 2009, she said: “The cartels have not yet captured the government’s senior level, but sooner or later they will because they have millions of dollars and you have to be a saint to reject them.”
In this regard, there must be a national framework to shield political parties from organised criminals. But you must first of all get full commitment from the various parties not to accept money from organised criminals or other suspicious sources.
This is the case in Peru, where a presidential election is to be held in April.
The country has a huge problem with organised crime that has blossomed on the back of the cocaine industry. Before last year’s legislative elections, all the Peruvian political parties signed an ethical commitment against the infiltration of drug money into politics. The commitment allows for the creation of a “permanent flow of information and knowledge between us regarding the situation of illegal drug trade in Peru and for our organisations to both understand and evade the risks that drug trafficking presents for Peru’s democracy”.
Sierra Leonean political parties would do well to make a similar undertaking. It is important that the state is insulated from organised crime because organised criminality won’t go away. This is so because the criminal is always looking for protection and freedom from punishment.
But with proper accountability and transparency, organised crime will find it more difficult to manifest itself in the forms that are its trademarks: bribery and corruption.
By Desmond Davies