New government launches corruption probes

A probe into more than 30 senior former public officials accused of corruption is proof of the new Comoran government's commitment to tackling graft, Vice-President Idi Nadhoim told IRIN. Moderate Sunni Muslim religious leader Ahmed Abdallah Mohamed Sambi, popularly known as "the Ayatollah", was elected president last month in the first peaceful change of power since the country's independence from France in 1975. Within three weeks of assuming office, his government has acted on claims of corruption around several former public officials, including ex-vice president Caabi El-Yachroutu Mohamed, who was a leading contender in the recent polls. Former departmental heads of public enterprises are also being investigated, said Nadhoim. "The difference between the new government and the old one is that the former government spoke a lot and acted little, while the new one speaks little but acts," said Nadhoim, who holds the tourism and telecommunications portfolio in the Sambi administration. Corruption has been a longstanding problem on the fractious archipelago. According to a US State Department report on human rights practices, the previous Comoran government had allegedly awarded contracts for constructing the airport and university to a local firm linked to the then president, Azali Assoumani. As to why Azali, a former military leader, was not a target of investigation, Nadhoim said the list "doesn't aim at political personalities" but people directly responsible for the management of public funds. To streamline public spending, the new administration has shrunk the cabinet to eight ministers down from 13, reduced the number of advisors to the president from 40 to seven and announced a commitment to keep the size of official delegations small and limit official trips. In an attempt to build trust between the three islands of Grande Comore, Anjouan and Moheli, the government has also reunified the army under one command, said Nadhoim. In the May elections Comoran troops were confined to barracks after the African Union sent hundreds of mainly South African troops to help ensure a peaceful transition. Under the federal system, each island has a great deal of autonomy. During Azali's tenure, there was friction over the extent of the powers of the Union presidency, which rotates between the three islands, and in this election was reserved for an Anjouan national. "The new president is in perfect understanding with the autonomous island's presidents. The question of sharing of competencies will be dealt with an open mind," said Nadhoim. According to the International Monetary Fund, Comoros' poverty reduction efforts in the past have been hampered by fragile public finances, with the government on several occasions unable to pay salaries to its employees. Nadhoim said the situation was being addressed and civil servants who had not been paid since January this year had begun receiving their salaries. About 45 percent of the Comoran population lives below the poverty line. In a bid to ease hardships, the new government had also decreased the price of rice, Comorans' staple food, by about one-third, said Nadhoim.