South Sudan anti-corruption body "struggles" against graft

By Skye Wheeler

JUBA, Sudan, March 10 (Reuters) - Southern Sudan's Anti-Corruption Commission is struggling to fight government graft because politicians have failed to give it the legal powers it needs to do the job, top officials said on Thursday.

The anti-corruption commission was set up to monitor South Sudan's semi-autonomous government, created in 2005 at the end of a two-decade civil war with the north.

"We are not able to investigate, prosecute or send summons," commission chairwoman Pauline Riak told Reuters.

Officials said commission staff had already identified up to 30 serious cases of graft, but were unable to take any action against suspects because parliament had not passed "enabling" legislation giving the commission the right to investigate.

Pending cases include the suspected rigging of commercial bids and preferential treatment to individuals and organisations based on tribalism and nepotism, said South Sudan's Director General for Investigation and Legal Services Aleu Garang.

The commission's enabling legislation is still in draft form, Garang added.

"Nobody has been prosecuted in the three years. Some feel this zero-tolerance is just a slogan," Garang said, referring to the zero-tolerance to corruption effort launched by South Sudan President Salva Kiir more than a year ago.

Southerners had hoped their lives would dramatically change for the better after the peace accord, which allowed for a semi-autonomous southern government, funded by half of all oil revenues generated in the south.