Eliminating Corruption and Autocracy: Towards Effective Institutional Engineering

There is very little known about the aims, objectives, functions and limitations of the Government of National Unity apart from the obvious facts that, it is having hic ups and disunity. In order to understand the dynamics of such a political arrangement, it is important to grasp the concept of democratic institutional engineering or institutional engineering. I prefer to call it democratic institutional engineering because this makes people aware of what the process is trying to achieve.

This article will explore the process and concept of democratic Institutional engineering in Zimbabwe which is seen in form of the Government of National Unity. The author will argue that Institutional engineering is one of the best instruments that can be used to achieve democracy than many alternatives being bended around by different political parties. However the success of democratic Institutional engineering depends on how it is implemented.
    
Democratic Institutional Engineering can be best described as building and designing new and old institutions in a democratic fashion. The concept can be traced back to the shift and transition of post communist countries to democracies. The concept has been adopted by the United Nations and fused with good governance policies. Besides the post communist countries, it has been used in Kenya and Afghanistan. Democratic Institutional Engineering can be achieved through its tools:

   √¢‚Ǩ¬¢ Lustration
   √¢‚Ǩ¬¢ Shifting to a Semi presidential system
   √¢‚Ǩ¬¢ Constitutional engineering
   √¢‚Ǩ¬¢ Decision making by plebiscite and
   √¢‚Ǩ¬¢ Changing electoral laws

Constitutional engineering, decision making by plebiscite and changing electoral Laws have been subjects of controversy however they have been fairly covered by main stream media. However what has not been discussed is Lustration. It is this area which this article will drill into and expose why Zimbabwe has not made much progress.

Lustration seeks to restore the credibility of state structures through purification or purging. Lustration involves purging governance structures by removing the people who are responsible for corruption and criminal activities. Lustration can be done by putting a cap on civil servants and ministers, for example we can say everyone who has worked in the civil service for more than 10 years has to resign and anyone over the age of 45 years is not allowed to contest. This removes the bad apples responsible for sustaining corruption in the system. Having said that lets look at why Lustration is important for Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe is a country that, has known one government and the same government is responsible setting up state structures. Zimbabwe developed a soft spot for Marxist-Leninist socialist ideologies and hence the perception of a one a party state. Deliberately, indirectly or by accident the state structures and the bureaucratic machinery in a one party state lacks neutrality because of the absence of an antithesis. Zimbabwe established state structures which knew no opposition and checks and balances.

 Seven to ten years into independence, Zimbabwe was seen as the bastion of democracy regionally and internationally. The truth was known by those at bottom who felt the heat and tasted the bitterness. The real image of Zimbabwe was that its state structures were decaying. Politics, corruption, bribery and nepotism had poisoned the whole system and it was a matter of time before it crumbled. The symptoms were very sound and clear through the increase of scandals by ministers, singers producing music about corruption, the young Zimbabweans emigrating and the increase of social inequalities.

In many ways the GNU provides an opportunity for Zimbabwe to resubmit to the concept of democracy and refocus on redressing inequalities but all this depends on how the tools of democratic Institutional engineering are used. More specifically the order in which the tools are used is of great importance. In order for Institutional engineering to succeed Lustration should done first to lay a good foundation for constitutional engineering, Decision making and changing electoral laws.

The impacts of using the wrong tool at the wrong time can be currently seen in GNU where elements of past have already started to remerge such as bad practice in the state structures. This compromises the integrity of institutional engineering process. The whole idea of overhauling the system becomes flawed and replaced by a reinvention or renaming the past.

In order for Zimbabwe to maximise this opportunity it needs radical toughening through the introduction of Lustration to overcome the dilemma of sleepwalking into the past. The introduction of new civil servants with neutrality will kick start a perfect paradigm shift. In most cases where democratic institutional engineering has been successful it was underpinned by lustration. A classic example is Poland and a very current one is Congo.

Farai Chikowore: is a Local Governance Reader who graduated in Strategic Public Management (MSc) and in Public Policy Government and Management (BA, Honours) at De Montfort University. He likes to evaluate the contribution of political discourse to peoples understanding of policies and governance. He also likes to analyse how institutional rules privilege or constrain different political and social spaces. Farai's articles seek articulate issues around institutional design, governance and politics. His speciality is in: Partnership Working, Local government, Local governance, Democratic renewal, Policy process and Strategic Management. Farai can be contacted at chikoworefarai@gmail.com