The fight against corruption in Africa\u2019s most pivotal nations is faltering as public agencies investigating wrongdoing by powerful politicians have been undermined or disbanded and officials leading the charge have been dismissed, subjected to death threats and driven into exile.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are witnessing an era of major backtracking on the anticorruption drive,\u201d\u009d said Daniel Kaufmann, an authority on corruption who works at the Brookings Institution. \u201cAnd one of the most poignant illustrations is the fate of the few anticorruption commissions that have had courageous leadership. They\u2019re either embattled or dead.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
Experts, prosecutors and watchdog groups say they fear that major setbacks to anticorruption efforts in South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya are weakening the resolve to root out graft, a stubborn scourge that saps money needed to combat poverty and disease in the world\u2019s poorest region. And in Zambia, a change of leadership has stoked fears that the country\u2019s zealous prosecution of corruption is ebbing.<\/p>\n