Mrs. Henrietta Kolié is a mother of three
and graduate of secondary school. Since 1998 she has served as a senior
staff member, “Greffière en Chef,” in the regional
Court of Justice of N’Zérékoré in the remote
Forest Region of Guinea. Her office is responsible for stamping and
processing legal documents, including citizens’ personal documents.
Her regional court office also was rife with corrupt practices and
influence trafficking, as are many court offices in Guinea. Citizens
were unanimous in expressing the opinion that “anyone who pays
can win their case at trial”, with case outcomes engineered
for the benefit of “those who will pay the most.”
Early in 2009, Mrs. Kolié took notice of anti-corruption posters
that had appeared in N’Zérékoré public
buildings and spaces, including the justice building. Posters promoting
transparency and accountability in health, education and general public
services had been posted by good governance champions participating
in the Faisons Ensemble (working together) project supported by USAID/Guinea.
As in other Guinean regions targeted by the project, posters were
supplemented by radio broadcasts and public debates, television spots
and theater productions carrying anti-corruption messages.
Mrs. Kolié took interest. Working on her own, she gathered
additional posters for the justice building, her own office and those
of court agents on her team. She launched a one-woman anti-corruption
campaign. Three months into her initiative, Faisons Ensemble regional
staff heard of Mrs. Kolié and visited the justice building.
Upon arrival, the team encountered an obviously unhappy young man
leaving the supervisor’s office. Mrs. Kolié reported
to Faisons Ensemble visitors, “The law is tough, but the law
is the law. This is what I told this young man who offered me money
to expedite his personal documents.” When pressed again by a
companion of the young man, Mrs. Kolié pointed to the project
poster urging, Refuse Corruption as of Today!
Mrs. Kolié and her team of four agents have received project
training in good governance and delivery of quality public services,
and there are results to show for it. Citizens interviewed in downtown
N’Zérékoré reported improved court services
and opinions of court employees. The Greffière en Chef says
her one-woman campaign, now enhanced with USAID project support, is
changing hearts and practices for the better. “If we manage
to make such changes at the hospital, in the security services and
in the courts of justice,” she says, “a victory will be
won in the battle against corruption and in the promotion of the good
governance in our cities and in our country.”
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