President Campos Press Conference - Government Corruption

[Alduria]

Good afternoon.

Growing up in a poor family as I did, my parents always focused heavily on passing onto me a solid set of values. They taught me that in the end, all we have is our transparency, honesty, and integrity. I try to honor these ideals as I serve the people of Alduria as President.

A lack of transparency fuels corruption, a corrosive force that hits the poor and the vulnerable the hardest.  Its effects are very real. Corruption stops medicine and drugs from reaching the sick, stops schools from being built, leads to roads washing away in the rain, and empties the public coffers. In the most fragile corners of our country, corruption undermines work to bring stability or prevent violence and extremism from taking root. 

Most importantly, corruption breaks the trust between the citizens and the state that is critical for a Republic like ours to work. We know bad governance is one of the four major drivers of poverty.

The Office of the Governmental Legal Counsel was created by the Constituent Assembly in 1669 to provide the government and its official with legal advice, establish a common code of conduct, and help guide our officials to serve the people ethically and within the legal norms. The creation of this Office was heavily contested in the Assembly. As we built the early version of the Transitional Government, we sought to make sure that the people would not be served by corrupt politicians or bureaucrats.

This same Office has submitted a report to me that established that Amy Malliste and policy advisor Ernesto Varela, who both serve in the Executive Mansion staff, were using their position of power to enrich themselves. This was especially disappointing to me, as both Amy and Ernesto had served in government with distinction, and to my knowledge up to receipt of the report, were doing so ethically.

I have asked both of them to resign. Amy did so yesterday. Ernesto has delivered his resignation to me today.

To my knowledge and by the confirmation of the Office of Governmental Legal Counsel, there are no others in my administration participating in corruption. However, I invite the Department of Justice to appoint an impartial Special Counsel to investigate this matter further. I have nothing to hide and I want to be part of the solution.

My action on this will not stop there. As President, I will step up our efforts to confront corruption in multiple areas, working to keep our own house in order by increasing transparency and improving oversight.

We must make far-reaching commitments to push the anti-corruption agenda forward. It is important that leaders bring the political will and visibility to the issue, and it is also important to complement this prominence with technical know-how, good regulation, and hard work.

That is why as President, I will prioritize diagnostics to understand the root causes of corruption in Alduria, and to measure where progress is being made and where efforts are falling short. We know that for transparency initiatives to be successful there must also be data literacy, so we must work to improve our capacity to understand and use information effectively - otherwise, citizens could be data rich and information poor. 

When it comes to crunching data, I believe new technologies can help us with some of the heavy lifting, and this can give us a new edge in the fight against corruption. For example, we should explore public-private partnerships with global technology companies, using artificial intelligence to find hidden patterns and risks in procurement data. 

And to encourage private capital to come to Alduria, attention should be paid to the corruption risks that investors face. This means leveling the playing field for large and small businesses, putting the right regulatory frameworks in place and incentivizing integrity. And it also means paying attention to illicit financial flows and blocking the avenues that hide the proceeds of corruption.

The resources and powers placed in our trust must be used for their intended purposes and not lost to fraud and corruption.

As I reflect on what more this Government can do, I am encouraged to see many others coming together to strongly confront corruption. This is not a time to play party politics, as they are corrosive and fatal to a nascent Republic like ours. Government officials should be mindful to speak on this matter when they have information that is correct, and that they do not unveil ongoing investigations into government corruption, whether they are criminal or not. That can put into serious jeopardy the fight against corruption and could severely obstruct justice.

In coming days, I promise to submit to the Cabinet for consideration the first of many legislative initiatives to fight corruption in our Government.

The Anti-Corruption Act I am drafting will establish how to handle civil petitions for grievances, improve the administrative systems related to these petitions, prevent corruption and effectively regulate acts of corruption by establishing the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission so as to protect the basic rights and interests of the people, ensure appropriate public service and serve to create a clean climate in the civil service sector and in society.

If Cabinet will not approve of this Bill, I will be happy to take this matter directly to the people of Alduria through fireside chats and town hall meetings. In the end, in a democracy, we cannot discount the real power of the people to bring about the change a nation needs.

I will now open the floor to questions from the press. Thank you.