Leribe ___ With the purpose of fighting against corruption, Directorate on Corruption and Economic Offences DCEO is holding a four days training session for District Anti-corruption committees of Leribe, Butha Buthe and Berea at Hlotse in Leribe on Tuesday.
The training is also attended by the District Administrators of the above-mentioned districts and it will end on Wednesday.
Speaking at the opening of the training, the District Administrator Leribe Mr. Letsema Khalanyane expressed his gratitude to DCEO for holding the training in Leribe.
He indicated that Leribe is one of the biggest districts, which is exceptional with two towns of Maputsoe and Hlotse, thus the training is appropriate.
Mr. Khalanyane appealed for fruitful training to benefit all the above-mentioned districts.
In an interview with the agency DCEO Chief Public Education officer Mrs. 'Malimpho Moshoeshoe said the purpose of the training is to train the committees which were established in the districts.
She said they train Butha Buthe, Leribe and Berea District corruption committees so they know what is expected of them in doing their work.
Moshoeshoe said such committees are expected to know their boundaries in performing their work and each draw a plan in doing their tasks.
"Each district has about 20 members," she stated.
She indicated that DCEO amongst others deals with cases within government departments and schools.
Moshoeshoe urged the District Administrators to open up to among others celebration committees interest on other issues than others and how tenders are allocated at district level.
Referring to DCEO, she said very soon the DCEO education is to be included into the school curriculum as to make children of such at an early stage.
"This is believed to combat corruption amongst upcoming generations," she stated.
Speaking to the participants, one of the representatives of DCEO Mr. Lekhotla Sedia explained that corruption is a misuse or abuse of public resources for private benefit.
He elaborated that there are forms of occurrences regarding corruption, namely bribery, embezzlement, fraud, nepotism, extortion and conflict of interest.
In addition, he highlighted that money laundering is one of the outstanding occurrences and nowadays it is done via car wash businesses.
Sedia pointed out that the causes of corruption are that people are being desperate for survival, they want to live lavish lifestyle while other salaries are too low, way below the high inflation rate.
Talking about the effects of corruption, Mr. Sedia mentioned that it erodes public confidence in the institutions of state, their reputation and integrity.
Again, he said corruption promotes poor service delivery to the public and it erodes the pillars of democracy especially transparency, accountability and rule of law.
Moreover, another representative, Mr. Likomota Setlenela said the consequences of corruption are legal, social, economic and political.
He said in order to prevent and combat corruption there has to be a clear organizational anti corruption policy and develop the right ethical code of conduct and implement accordingly.
In conclusion, he said one should ensure effective, supervision, monitoring and evaluation of all work.
The participants were eager to know what happens with the money or property secured by DCEO and if it has prosecuting authority.
They also want interventions of DCEO at Traffic department and Department of passports, as for one to get it has to pay bribery.
The District Anti-Corruption committees are crucial to transforming our communities. Its proactive and sustained efforts can inspire a culture of accountability, transparency and good governance.
Source: Lesotho News Agency.
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