The National Anti-Corruption Strategy

The National Anti-Corruption Strategy is a plan developed by the State to achieve specific goals related to anti-corruption on the short, medium, and long-term. Lebanon has adopted its 5-year strategy in May 2020, which was reviewed and revised multiple times, benefiting from the opinion of more than 100 officials, specialists and independent civil society activists
The strategy defines the concept of corruption, analyzes the Lebanese context, and seeks to achieve three major objectives: strengthening transparency, activating accountability, and preventing impunity. The strategy aims at implementing these objectives within five years in seven outcomes:
First: Activating existing anti-corruption laws and adopting new provisions to fill remaining gaps.
Second: Managing human resources in the public sector on the basis of merit, not “wasta”.
Third: Promoting integrity in Public Procurement, which includes all deals done by the state, so it can purchase the best quality of services and goods with the best prices and without corruption.
Fourth: The Role of the Judiciary including strengthening its independence, integrity and impartiality in pursuing corruption cases.
Fifth: The Role of Oversight Bodies including strengthening the independence of the Court of Audit, the Central Inspection, and the Higher Disciplinary Authority and increasing their contribution to anti-corruption efforts.
Sixth: The role of Society including Persons of all ages, the media, unions, associations, and non-governmental organizations, which will need space and support to contribute to building a culture of integrity. Seventh: Corruption prevention at sectoral level, which translates into special incentives and internal controls in all sectors taking into consideration their particularities. This extends to the private sector, and all governmental sectors, including health, education, construction, environment, municipalities, customs, taxes, oil and gas, and others.
The National Anti-Corruption Strategy is Lebanon’s plan to build a comprehensive system against corruption. It must be adopted and implemented.