The rollback by the new Trump administration of anti-bribery and anti-kleptocracy enforcement alongside its suspension of USAID funding is a critical moment for the global fight against corruption. These actions must not be allowed to create a free-for-all and race to the bottom in relation to Africa’s natural resources.
By halting enforcement, the US has opened the door to rampant bribery by multinational corporations and impunity for those who loot the continent’s resources, while aid cuts threaten the vital work of civil society and independent media scrutiny in African countries. This risks escalating the continent’s resource curse, particularly in new areas such as critical minerals.
It is the people of African countries who will be the losers in this escalation and who will pay the price with inflated public contracts, and energy contracts skewed towards foreign companies who pay the highest bribes. The winners will again be the bosses of big mining firms, oil corporations, arms dealers, construction firms and enablers in banks, management consultancies, law firms and auditors.
We urge the OECD – the club of the world’s wealthiest countries – not to follow the lead of the US in again normalising international bribery. Working with international partners, they need to ramp up law enforcement efforts to fight corruption, including taking robust action against multinational companies and those who enable corrupt politicians to stash their money in international financial centres, and to work together to ensure stable and consistent overseas development aid and financing for vital anti-corruption and good governance work.
Additional comments from signatories
Charles Kajoloweka, Executive Director of Youth and Society (Malawi):
“The closure/suspension of USAID operations is not just about loss of jobs and cut of aid, it is an attack on democracy, fundamental rights, and a dangerous erosion of global governance values. USAID funding has been vital in supporting critical social sectors of developing countries such as Malawi and including education, essential healthcare such as the HIV and AIDS Program, food systems, and climate change. We run the risk of losing the gains we have made over time in these areas that have uplifted the lives of millions of vulnerable people.”
Olanrewaju Suraju, Chair of HEDA Resource Centre (Nigeria):
“The freeze and planned scrap of USAID by the current US President fails to recognize and appreciate the critical stability role the program plays across the globe. The United Kingdom and other western countries are therefore encouraged to step up their game and fill the vacuum due by committing increased support for promoting accountability, combating illicit financial flows, and anti-corruption efforts in a bid to stave off financial crimes that fuel conflicts and exacerbate poverty in several countries and Africa in particular.”
Revd David Ugolor, Executive Director of ANEEJ (Nigeria):
“By suspending the enforcement of this critical law, the United States is sending a chilling message that corporate interests and economic power will now override ethical business practices and governance standards. This decision has implications for the credibility of US leadership in the fight against corruption and weakens international cooperation in tackling illicit financial flows. This move by President Trump not only jeopardizes global anti-corruption efforts but also emboldens corrupt actors in African countries who see this as a green light for unethical business dealings. At a time when developing nations, particularly in Africa, are struggling to strengthen governance frameworks and eliminate corruption, this decision signals a retreat from accountability and transparency.”
Florindo Chivucute, Executive Director of Friends of Angola:
“Suspension of USAID funding, rolling back anti-bribery and anti-kleptocracy enforcement threatens democracy and undermines the anti-corruption efforts of the US and its allies. This reversal sets a dangerous precedent, potentially prompting other nations to weaken their own anti-corruption laws, fueling a global ‘race to the bottom’ and creating a power vacuum that rival global forces may exploit.”
Hennie van Vuuren, Director of Open Secrets* (South Africa):
“In freezing the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act the Trump administration is setting the world back by decades. We risk returning to the gloom of a time when international bribery was not only commonplace – it was legal. Anti-corruption activists in Africa and elsewhere are already facing an unequal playing field in holding to account corporate behemoths and their professional enablers. The consequence of these actions will be to further enrich corrupt corporations and their political allies. Such criminality must be resisted.”
*Open Secrets does not receive money from corporations or governments.
Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, Executive Director of the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (Nigeria):
“The rollback of anti-bribery enforcement and the suspension of USAID funding not only weakens the fight against corruption but also threatens the economic sovereignty of African nations by enabling illicit financial flows, corporate exploitation, and resource theft. In Nigeria and across Africa, civil society organizations play an essential role in exposing corruption, advocating for policy reforms, and holding both public and private sector actors accountable. However, the erosion of international support for these efforts, particularly through aid cuts and weakened legal frameworks, risks silencing these critical voices and emboldening corrupt networks. We urge the US and its allies to reverse course, strengthen enforcement against financial crimes, and ensure sustained funding for anti-corruption initiatives that protect African economies and promote democratic governance.”
Gladwell Otieno, Executive Director of the Africa Centre for Open Governance (Kenya):
“The Executive Order pausing the enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act is retrogressive, ill-considered, and short-sighted. It is a betrayal of decades of struggle around the world to combat corruption and its obviously harmful impacts. The US administration has drawn the wrong conclusions in this order: rather than capitulating and accepting bribery and corruption as “routine business practices”, global and national efforts to contain corruption and bribery must be redoubled. Global civil society should be forewarned and prepared to deal with the real possibility that new US government policy could negatively impact important anti-corruption norms including the capacity of multilateral institutions or lenders to debar corrupt companies from participating in public procurement projects which they are financing. We object to this order.”
Susan Hawley, Executive Director of Spotlight on Corruption:
“We join our colleagues in African countries in condemning the recent moves by the new US government to roll back anti-corruption enforcement, and cut off vital aid projects that support good governance. This is a shocking setback and we urge the UK to step up to a robust leadership role in ensuring that other OECD countries, and multilateral institutions maintain investment in and support for civil society led anti-corruption work and in upholding global anti-corruption norms.”
UK anti-corruption groups have also made a statement which can be found on the website of the UK Anti-Corruption Coalition.
