No more ‘fizzy drinks’ for Angola’s officials as Joao Lourenco cracks down on bribery
Lisbon/Johannesburg — Corruption used to be so widespread in Angola that "gasosa", the Portuguese word for a fizzy drink, became a common term for bribes. Now, President Joao Lourenco is on a drive to change that — and the son of his predecessor could soon be put on trial. Popularly known as the "terminator", Lourenco is one of several African leaders who have put fighting graft at the centre stage of their policies, pledging to dismantle corrupt business networks that have undermined state revenue. SA’s Cyril Ramaphosa, Tanzania’s John Magufuli and Ghana’s Nana Akufo-Addo have also encouraged the prosecution of corrupt officials and criticised citizens for normalising a culture of bribery. Lourenco has some way to go. Angola consistently ranked among the world’s 20 worst offenders on Berlin-based Transparency International’s corruption index after the country emerged from an almost three-decade long civil war in 2002 and tapped huge offshore oil reserves that transformed it into Af...
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