Corruption Crisis

Africa’s $100 Billion Corruption Crisis: Can the Proposed International Court Stop the Bleeding?

Corruption is not just a governance failure—it is a full-blown economic crisis draining the lifeblood of many nations, rich and poor alike. In Kenya, the region’s touted economic powerhouse, an estimated KSh 608 billion (approximately USD 4.7 billion) is lost to corruption every year, according to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) 2024 report. That staggering figure, equivalent to 7.8% of the country’s GDP, reflects how deeply entrenched graft has become, undermining growth, public trust, and the delivery of essential services to its citizens. But Kenya is not alone.

Across the border, Tanzania faces a similarly grim reality. According to the 2021 Global Financial Integrity report, the country loses around TSh 4.78 trillion (USD 1.83 billion) annually through trade misinvoicing, equivalent to 2.3% of its GDP. Even more alarming, Tanzania’s Auditor General reports that 20% of the national budget, roughly TSh 9.87 trillion (USD 3.78 billion), is lost to corruption each year. In total, this adds up to an annual haemorrhage of nearly TSh 14.65 trillion (USD 5.61 billion), or 7% of GDP.

Uganda tells yet another troubling story. According to the Inspectorate of Government’s 2024 report, up to UGX 9.1 trillion (about USD 2.3 billion) is siphoned off annually through graft,  amounting to nearly a quarter of the national budget. These are not isolated cases; they are symptoms of a regional malaise rooted in weak institutions; entrenched patronage systems, and a culture of impunity. Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index consistently places all three countries in the lower half of the global rankings, painting a grim picture of public accountability.  

Zooming out, East Africa’s crisis mirrors a broader African tragedy. Seventy years since the first wave of independence, the continent, with all its vast mineral wealth and untapped human capital remains paradoxically impoverished. Africa loses more than USD 100 billion every year through illicit financial flows, corruption, and theft—double the amount it receives in foreign aid. Yet, it continues to function as a net creditor to the world, subsidising global economies while its own citizens suffer.

These staggering losses are part of a much broader global crisis. Each year, corruption siphons off nearly USD 2.6 trillion, about 5% of global GDP, which continues to cripple economies and deepening inequality worldwide. But these billions are not just abstract figures buried in spreadsheets. They represent lost futures, broken promises, and dreams deferred.

The impact of this theft is not confined to balance sheets or budget forecasts but it plays out painfully in the lives of ordinary people. It is found in the African village roads that become impassable rivers of mud, when it rains. It is seen in the empty, crumbling classrooms where children sit on dusty floors, or under trees, taught by underpaid, disillusioned teachers who have long lost hope. It lives in the public hospitals where patients are turned away for lack of medicine, working equipment, or insurance to cover even the most basic care. It is the jobless youth pacing streets with shattered dreams, the farmers struggling without subsidies, and the women giving birth in darkness because power failed again in a clinic too poor to fix.

Faced with this daily toll of corruption, calls for stronger global accountability are growing louder. It is against this backdrop that a bold proposal to create an International Anti-Corruption Court (IACCourt) is gaining traction. Designed to hold kleptocrats accountable where domestic systems fail, the IACCourt would not only prosecute economic crimes, but also aims to trace, freeze, and return stolen assets, offering African nations an opportunity to reinvest what corruption has stolen. For countries like Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda, where corruption is not a statistic but a lived reality, the IACCourt could be a game changer.

The urgency of such a court is highlighted by the growing phenomenon of state capture, where private interests hijack public institutions for personal gain. From North Africa to the South, and increasingly across East Africa, corruption is both the engine and the outcome of weakened institutions and unchecked political impunity.

Despite many African countries ratifying international frameworks such as the UN Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC), enforcement remains painfully inadequate. Anti-corruption advocates point out that less than 5% of stolen public assets have ever been recovered, an alarming indicator of just how ineffective these agreements are without genuine political will and strong independent judicial systems to uphold them.

Kenya's Chief Justice Martha Koome, speaking via a pre-recorded video at the launch of a policy brief on the proposed global court at the Friedrich Naumann Foundation Kenya, on April 24, described corruption as one of Africa’s greatest threats. She cited the billions lost annually to grand corruption and illicit financial flows, often orchestrated by senior officials who siphon funds into offshore accounts, shielded by weak domestic enforcement.

Drawing from her experience on the bench, Koome painted a stark human picture of the cost of corruption. "As judges, we see the devastating impact of corruption every day in our lives. In our courtrooms, we hear the cries and pains of citizens denied healthcare, education, and livelihoods. We encounter the frustrations and struggles of investors who have lost their money and opportunities because of corruption," she said.

Koome emphasized that the IACCourt is more than a legal remedy; it is a moral imperative. She explained that the Court would serve only when national authorities are unwilling or unable to act, helping not just to prosecute kleptocrats but also to support the recovery and reinvestment of stolen public funds.

"In our anti-corruption courts, we hear and determine cases where the law itself has been undermined by deep networks of corruption and impunity. These experiences are a constant reminder that addressing corruption is not a legal outcome; it is closely connected to human dignity. Corruption robs us of our human dignity," Koome stressed.

She called on African nations to actively shape the IACCourt, insisting they must not be passive recipients of global justice, but co-creators, embedding values like restorative justice and Ubuntu into the Court’s foundations. While she acknowledged the Court would not be a silver bullet, Koome affirmed it is "a crucial missing piece in the global anti-corruption architecture."

The 27-page policy brief, titled “An International Anti-Corruption Court: How Can It Serve Africa?” outlines the crisis’s scale and the limitations of current mechanisms. Backed by over 300 world leaders, including 50 former presidents and prime ministers, the brief contends that entrenched corruption, often aided by multinational corporations and foreign jurisdictions, has rendered existing treaties ineffective.

FNF, Project Director for Kenya, Stefan Schott, describes the briefing as a “bold contribution to global justice architecture, one aimed at reversing the systemic impunity that continues to erode democracy and development across Africa”

Justice Richard Goldstone, Vice Chairperson of Integrity Initiatives International, expanded on the proposed court’s legal structure. He noted that it would rely on existing UNCAC offenses — bribery, embezzlement, money laundering, and obstruction of justice to give it immediate legitimacy across 186 ratifying states.

Goldstone shared that the draft statute envisions two divisions: a Criminal Division to prosecute kleptocrats and their enablers, and an Assets Division to freeze, seize, and return stolen wealth. “The Court would not just punish,” he said. “It would recover stolen billions and repatriate them for public benefit.” He added that its operational cost would be minimal compared to the funds it could recover, calling it “a practical investment in global justice.”

Support is growing across Africa, with countries like Nigeria, Zambia, the DRC, Rwanda, and Senegal expressing interest, the experts said.

Justice Bethuel Key Dingake, President of the Africa Regional Judges Forum, added moral urgency, warning that, “Africa’s future is mortgaged by corruption.” He called it “the cancer of society,” pointing out that many national institutions are “too weak, too captured, or too afraid to act.” For Justice Dingake, the IACCourt represents more than prosecutions — it is about “protecting citizens, restoring stolen dignity, and building just societies.” He insisted that Africa must be at the center of shaping this court, not as passive observers, but co-authors of global justice.

The court’s proposed mandate offers hope for addressing impunity, especially on a continent where rampant grand corruption has eroded public trust in domestic justice systems. Its ability to prosecute both powerful individuals and legal entities could mark a significant shift.

Titus Gitonga, Programme Coordinator for Public Finance Management at Transparency International Kenya, stressed that the policy brief addresses a critical gap: the absence of accountability for corporate actors in grand corruption. While individuals face prosecution, legal persons such as multinational companies often escape scrutiny. An international court with jurisdiction over both natural and legal persons, he argued, would be a game-changer in combating systemic economic crimes.

The policy brief draws on real-world case studies to underscore the limitations of domestic legal systems in tackling grand corruption. In South Africa, the Zondo Commission exposed how the Gupta family captured key state institutions, facilitating the looting of billions through Eskom and Transnet. In Angola, Africa’s richest woman, Isabel dos Santos, remains shielded in Dubai despite U.S. sanctions and a Dutch court order to return $650 million in illicit assets, highlighting the cross-border nature of impunity.

These examples, the brief argues, reflect a broader systemic failure where domestic courts lack the independence, reach, or capacity to hold powerful actors accountable, making the case for an international mechanism. Dr. Zerihun Mohammed, Executive Director of Good Governance Africa (Horn of Africa), reinforced the urgency, calling the policy brief “a turning point in Africa’s collective fight against grand corruption.” He noted that in regions such as East Africa, where public trust has been shattered by impunity and the manipulation of institutions, “the IACCourt offers a critical chance to restore governance and accountability.”

The proposed court would also differ fundamentally from existing bodies. The International Criminal Court (ICC), for instance, lacks jurisdiction over corruption. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is limited to resolving disputes between states. In contrast, the IACCourt would target both public officials and private enablers — lawyers, bankers, and corporations complicit in laundering stolen wealth.

Unlike the ICJ, where many states opt out of compulsory jurisdiction, the IACCourt would be “purpose-built” for grand corruption. It would include a dedicated assets chamber and enforce “no safe haven” principles, to eliminate statutes of limitation, which have long shielded illicit wealth, as in the case of Mobutu Sese Seko’s family.

Proponents further insist that the IACCourt is meant to complement, not override, national systems. It would step in only when local judiciaries are compromised or lack forensic capacity. “It is not about sovereignty violations but filling enforcement gaps,” explained former UN anti-corruption official Gemma Aellah in the policy brief. This approach seeks to avoid the ICC's pitfalls, such as its perceived bias against African leaders.

For citizens like 24-year-old Kenyan activist Melody Wamae and countless others across the continent, who have participated in anti-corruption protests, and often met with tear gas, arrests, or silence, she argue the proposed court, offers a rare glimmer of hope where national systems have failed.  “When our hospitals lack medicines while politicians buy estates abroad,” Wamae said, “we need more than local remedies. We need justice that reaches the unreachable.”

This article was first published by Kenya's daily newspaper - The Standard