Kenya activist and Anglo leasing graft whistle blower, John Githongo was declared the winner of the 2022 International Anti-Corruption Excellence Award.
Mr. Githongo won the award in the category of lifetime achievement and, was honoured for his tireless and perseverance move in fighting corruption and protecting the constitution.
On 31 October 2003, the General Assembly adopted the United Nations Convention against Corruption and requested that the Secretary-General designate the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) as secretariat for the Convention’s Conference of States Parties (resolution 58/4).
Since then, 188 parties have committed to the Convention’s anti-corruption obligations, showing near-universal recognition of the importance of good governance, accountability, and political commitment. The Assembly also designated 9 December as International Anti-Corruption Day, to raise awareness of corruption and of the role of the Convention in combating and preventing it. This was enforced in December 2005.
Other winners alongside Githongo included: Sope Williams-Elegbe (United Kingdom) and Ernesto Savona (Italy) for the Academic Research and Education category; the Youth Against Corruption (YAC) institution (Lebanon) and Koalisi Anti Korupsi of Collective Action Coalition Against Corruption (KAKI) (Indonesia) for the Youth Creativity and Engagement category; Hopewell Chin’ono (Zimbabwe) for the Innovation or Investigative Journalism category; and Lisa A Kehl (United States) for the Safeguarding Sports from Corruption category.
The winners of 6th edition of His Highness’s Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani International Anti-Corruption Excellence Award were announced on Thursday in Doha. The event was attended by Senior United Nations officials and Qatari members of the Supreme Committee of the Award, alongside Qatar’s Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz Al Thani and Rwandan President Paul Kagame.
Githongo who is also the Founder-Executive Director of the Kenyan chapter of Transparency International established in 1999 was named the mentioned the International Anti-Corruption hero.In January 2003, he was appointed the Permanent Secretary for Governance and Ethics by then President Mwai Kibaki, before he resigned in 2005.Years later, in 2022, he defended former Prime Minister, Raila Odinga, in the August 2022 presidential petition which was nullified by the Supreme Court.
