The African Union (AU) has dedicated 2018 as anti-corruption year, under the theme “Winning the Fight against Corruption: A Sustainable Path to Africa’s Transformation”, and African leaders have declared 11 July as the African Anti-Corruption Day. It is expected that anti-corruption efforts and results will be amplified in 2018 and beyond. Collaboration will be developed and dialogue around various topical issues will be initiated. It is also expected that existing networks and partnerships will be enhanced in an effort to promote the fight against corruption. The AU challenged African countries to address corruption for sustainable development, to transform Africa for a better future. Furthermore, the Agenda 2063 recognizes that good governance is one of the necessary preconditions for a prosperous and peaceful Africa.  The AU has invited member states the African-Anti Corruption Day through sensitization, networking and other meaningful anti-corruption activities to eliminate opportunities for corruption.

To commemorate the event in Mauritius, the ICAC is organizing a civil society forum on Wednesday 11 July 2018 in collaboration with the Trade Union Against Corruption (TAC) to mark the event. The theme of the forum is: Increasing transparency and accountability in Recruitment and Selection: Proposal for a Statutory Body Service Commission’.

The African Anti-Corruption Day provides an opportunity as a States Party to the African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption to make people understand that corruption is harmful to themselves as individuals, the country and the economy and the need to report corruption to the appropriate institutions and resist it as well. The continent, according to an AU study, loses some $148 billion annually to corruption.

Hence, for an effective fight against corruption, inclusiveness and consensus are necessary conditions to enable individual commitment and individual responsibility for collective action against corruption.