(November 6, 2006) The World Bank has declared Lahmeyer International GmbH (Lahmeyer), a German company, ineligible to be awarded Bank-financed contracts for a period of seven years, because of corrupt activities in connection with the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP). The period of ineligibility may be reduced by four years if the Bank determines that Lahmeyer has met specific compliance conditions and fully cooperated with the Bank in disclosing past sanctionable misconduct.

(October 20, 2006) “Basically, this money has gone to waste." More than $380 billion has either been stolen or wasted by Nigerian governments since independence in 1960, Nigeria’s chief corruption fighter has said.

(October 19, 2006) Corruption also scares away investors, affects development, entrepreneurship and impedes growth. Sir Quett Ketumile Masire, former president of Botswana has said Africa loses more than $148 billion annually due to corruption.

(October 10, 2006) Three European multinationals convicted of bribery in groundbreaking Lesotho corruption trials.

(September 21, 2006) The World Bank’s shareholder governments struck Bank president Paul Wolfowitz a blow this week after they opted to take control of his flagship anti-corruption strategy rather than allow him the free hand he had hoped for to advance his campaign against graft.

(September 18, 2006) A new study claims that poor countries have overpaid creditor countries
billions of dollars as a result of irresponsible lending.

(September 15, 2006) World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz said he expects the Bank’s 184 member countries to approve his anti-corruption framework at the annual meeting of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund this September in Singapore.

(August 28, 2006) The state of Africa, says Charlayne Hunter-Gault in her most recent book, New News Out of Africa, is in many ways shaped by the public’s image of the continent – and the image of Africa is in the hands of the media.

(August 18, 2006) A new report by Kenya’s National Anti-Corruption Campaign Steering Committee claims that Kenyans rate corruption as the country’s Number One issue and want President Kibaki to lead the way in the fight against graft – an issue citizens consider even more grave than poverty, unemployment and famine.

(July 18, 2006) It is true that corruption represents a huge obstacle to economic and social development in many African countries. And it is true that so-called entrenched networks of socially connected businesspeople and public officials make life very hard for corruption fighters. But there are fresh signs of success in some countries, such as Nigeria and South Africa, and other countries that already enjoy good governance and strong institutions.