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Topic Discussion IV
Achieving Good Governance
Controlling Corruption, Improving
Administration
and Strengthening the Rule of Law
Room 1
(9 of 22 pages)
We do hear of lots of relations and attempts to strike a balance or to reach a
compromise where we can find some sort of solutions. Such practices in combating corruption and bribes within a
clear strategy that is agreed upon amongst all the executives and the active society, with all the components and
on all different levels.
I think that we need to discuss this issue on the basis of a discussion that would try to find all dimensions of
this phenomena, taking into consideration all the social ties and the structures, depending on a relation that
is favoring some parts of the society and trying to attract attention of the governors. So this particular class
would strictly be linked to the government and defending the government's roles, for example.
Until a very recent time, talking of bribes and corruption was taboo in some developing countries, but now we can
see that everybody talks about corruption and the problems imposed by corruptions and bribes. So I think that everybody
should work together, everybody in all different societies and here comes the role of the government, because it
is the role of the government to provide the suitable institution and frame work that is based in transparency
in all dealings all the governors of [inaudible].
And once we talk of Morocco, the present government which is in office after -- which could reach the office after
40 years of struggle to reach democracy, the first act conducted by this government, which tried to do, is to achieve
the administration and to combat corruption on all different levels and in all its forms and to achieve transparency
in managing the public affairs.
Starting tomorrow, the first of July, 1999, the application of a new law in Morocco on the public dealings and
transactions. This law will grant even more transparency and better governors. In the past, all dealings and transactions
used to be given to the lowest price offered, but now this is different. This transparency that is to be achieved,
will achieve some sort of governance that is transparent and also in achieving a suitable District Beruse (ph),
in order to do the auditing and to supervise the work of those districts and in addition to the declaration of
all assets and properties by all the members, in order to achieve transparency, so everybody with know what he
has and what he has to do.
The second axis is the knowledgeable class of the society, which is the civil society, which has a role in combating
bribe and corruption in all different parts of the society. After this comes the subtracting, which is also another
axis which has an important political role in the society. So this represents a suitable target for a bribe, because
these public dealings and transactions has to do with the financial world and investment world.
Sometimes there is discussion on the person who gives bribe and the one who takes the bribe and we just put them
on the same level. Can we forgive the person who takes the bribe and should we not apply the same rules and regulations
on both the one who gives the bribe and the one who takes it? So we cannot condemn the one who takes the bribe.
So I want to say that in other words, that we want a law to be applied to all -- to both of them.
I won't declare a secret when I say that a bribe is just a cancer, because it goes in the body of the society and
it demolishes its independence and its development. In many societies there is a class that has to do with the
governance and it has its own rituals and its own means and ways and it is not easy to get rid of it. Sometimes
we talk of raising salaries, for example, as a reaction, but I think that this is a limited solution, because it
has to do with morals in the first place.
So this is the responsibility of everybody and we are all responsible for it. All those who have good consciences,
have to combat all the corruption aspects and the government on its side has to exert all possible efforts in order
to conduct, control an auditing and also to increase penalties and just to put an end to the corrupted past, in
order to achieve a suitable logical transparency, to go inside with the present way of life, that is based on law
and respect of law.
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