Thursday 16 / January / 2025
Muscat: Represented by the State Audit Institution (SAI), the Sultanate of Oman today joined the global community, peer institutions and international authorities concerned in celebrating the International Anti-Corruption Day, which falls on 9 December every year. The event marks the day on which the United Nations General Assembly adopted the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) in 2003.
Themed “Uniting with Youth Against Corruption: Shaping Tomorrow's Integrity”, the campaign focuses on the important role of young people as advocates and champions of integrity. It capitalizes on young people's ability to raise awareness about corruption and its impacts on communities and through their participation in activities and debates to find innovative solutions on combating corruption.
Shabeeb Nasser Al Busaidi, Director General of Legal Works and Head of the Integrity Promoting and Anti-Corruption Committee at SAI, said that this year's global message can only be achieved through hard work and cooperation with youth to establish values that are originally part of our Omani identity.
Since the Sultanate of Oman joined the United Nations Convention against Corruption in 2013, the SAI, acting in collaboration with relevant stakeholders, it has been diligently working to develop an integrated system aimed at promoting integrity within society. This includes updating relevant legislation and drafting the National Integrity Promotion Plan. The SAI focuses on monitoring the implementation of this plan and on assessing its impact in coordination with Oman Vision 2040 Implementation Follow-up Unit.
The SAI also conducts an annual media awareness plan to raise public awareness about the importance of integrity and protection of public funds. These efforts target departments that are subject to audit as well as communities across Oman’s governorates. As part of the campaign, awareness programmes are disseminated through various print, audio, visual, and social media platforms to instill the values of integrity across all segments of society.
The SAI also organizes joint training programmes in collaboration with relevant authorities. It delivers numerous awareness lectures addressing students of schools, colleges and universities, including Sultan Qaboos University (SQU), sais Al Busaidi.
Al Busaidi affirmed that Oman is keen to have an effective regional role. In this context, he spoke about Oman’s endorsing the Arab Anti-Corruption Convention under Royal Decree No. 28/2014, in addition to Oman’s cooperation with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in the Middle East and North Africa and its participation in relevant Arab and GCC meetings. He also referred to Oman’s accession to the Global Operational Network of Anti-Corruption Law Enforcement Authorities (GlobE) in 2023 and the Arab Anti-Corruption Network in 2024.
