Angola Country Profile

Public Anti-Corruption Initiatives

  • Legislation: The Law of the High Authority Against Corruption provides for the president to propose the creation of an anti-corruption agency, but not much progress has been made in this regard. Sections 324-326 of the Penal Code 1886 indirectly deal with corruption committed by public officials, and section 49.1 of the Law of Crimes Against the Economy criminalises the offering of bribes (active corruption). Members of the government are not required to disclose details of their financial assets, meaning that the public can exert little control over public officials. According to the Revenue Watch Institute Angola profile, the Law on State Secrecy 2002 and Law on National Security neutralised the positive effect on transparency in the discharge of government tasks brought about by the Law on Access to Administrative Documents of 2002. These laws in fact limit the types of documents citizens can have access to and grant the government the authority to jail anyone who releases information that could be regarded as damaging to Angolan state interests and to censor news that deal with corruption. Furthermore, the laws also target multinational oil companies, providing for prosecution if these choose to release data on their transactions in Angola. Since the passing of these laws, the government has voluntarily disclosed many of its oil receipts thereby shedding some light on the sector. However, much remains to be done, as the lack of transparency has now moved to the lower level of subcontractors, according to the Revenue Watch Institute's Angola profile. Access the Lexadin World Law Guide for a collection of laws in Angola.

  • Government Strategies: The government's most successful initiative in Public Financial Management (PFM) and fiscal transparency has been the information system, which covers all the provinces and has helped strengthen budget execution and reporting, and information sharing on PFM issues. The system will be also extended to include some autonomous bodies. The effectiveness of the system, however, is limited because foreign credit lines and the state-owned oil company's (Sonangol) large quasi fiscal activities are not executed through the system. The government has also established, with the World Bank, a program that monitors most government expenditures as they occur.

  • Anti-Corruption Agencies: Angola does not have a functional politically independent anti-corruption institution with a mandate to investigate and prosecute cases of corruption. The establishment of a High Authority against Corruption (HAAC) in 1995 was intended to produce an independent public institution functioning in conjunction with the National Assembly in order to prevent corruption in public institutions. However, the HAAC has yet to begin functioning properly, as progress with the institutional setup has been slow and no anti-corruption strategy has yet been formulated.

  • Office of the Ombudsman: The Office of the Ombudsman was established for the first time in 2005. The Ombudsman is elected for four-year terms. The force of the institution rests on the recommendations that it issues to the concerned institutions. The first Ombudsman, who was elected by the Parliament, is the former Justice Minister. The ombudsman has achieved encouraging results especially in the field of prison conditions and excess of custody. A further expansion of the scope of action is slowed by the lack of qualified personnel.

  • Auditor-General: The legal provisions are in place for audit and control systems of public finances. However, the Tribunal de Contas, Angola's supreme audit office, has only recently started to audit the accounts of some ministries and provincial governments, and it generally struggles under a politically controlled environment and large unaccounted funds. The institution is not mentioned in the Constitution of Angola, which, according to the Chr. Michelsen Institute 2007, is unusual and a weakness in terms of its legal authority and independence. In general, high-level political and sensitive cases are ignored by the Tribunal de Contas, except for those that serve a political purpose.

  • E-Governance: The Government of Angola has established the Portal da República de Angola (in Portuguese), where citizens and companies can access various forms and guidelines for obtaining public services. The government has also set up the Portal das Empresas (in Portuguese only), which functions as a one-stop shop for investors with the aim of simplifying the investment process and reducing registration times for companies. According to the World Bank & IFC Reforms in Africa 2007-2008, the portal is directly responsible for reducing the time required to start a company in Angola by two month between 2007 and 2008. In addition, the World Bank & IFC Doing Business 2010 reports that introduction of mandatory electronic filing of social security for companies with more than 20 employees has made it convenient to pay taxes. Land administration has also been digitised enabling faster procedures for transferring property.

  • Public Procurement: At the time of publication, the Government of Angola is developing an e-procurement system (in Portuguese) where companies will be able to access information on public tenders and bidding opportunities. There are no reports on when the e-procurement system will be operational. Foreign investors should note that the Promotion of Angolan Private Entrepreneurs Law 2003 grants Angolan-owned companies preferential treatment in government tenders for goods and services as well as in public works contracts. According to Global Integrity 2008, all major projects have to be awarded through competitive bidding rounds in law, but no strict rules regulate the use of sole-sourcing. Moreover, the awarding of contracts in the oil sector suffers from low levels of transparency and, generally, competitive bidding is not adequately enforced in the Angolan public procurement regime. According to the World Bank Country Procurement Assessment Report of Angola of 2005 and the Chr. Michelsen Institute 2007 of budget transparency in Angola, the Angolan procurement regime needs major improvements and is considered a high-risk area for investors. More recent studies however, such as the African Development Bank Group Strategy Paper Update 2008-2009, report that some progress has been made in the oil bidding practices and that the last bidding round for exploitation acreage, which was held in 2006, has been praised internationally for its transparency in both the bidding and the awarding process.

  • Whistle Blowing: According to Global Integrity 2008, no legislation protects whistleblowers from retaliation, neither in the public nor in the private sector.

  • General Comments on the Public Anti-Corruption Initiatives: Angola's legal and institutional anti-corruption framework is generally reported to be poor. Insufficient safeguards against corruption exist within the state apparatus, the lack of checks and balances have created an environment, where grand corruption thrives in the form of diversion of oil revenues and only few have been held accountable. However, a general trend towards more transparency regarding both the amount of oil revenue and the expenditure of state budget represents an encouraging development. On the other hand, the ruling party has penetrated the Angolan political system and public administration and critics describe it and its support network as largely self-interest and self-serving. Due to the politicisation of the judiciary, the Parliament and law enforcement agencies, a few public anti-corruption initiatives in Angola have proved effective in containing the country's high levels of corruption.