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218 Diagnosing Corruption in Ethiopia
few complaints against prosecutors, and NGO interviewees tended to
cite incompetence as more of a problem. In Amhara, two of the handful
of cases mentioned involved “abuse of office,” that is, a personal vendetta
in which the prosecutor harassed someone with whom he already had a
quarrel.
The criminal justice commission’s list is too long to cite here. For
example, just in the charging process, the following shortcomings were
mentioned:
• Failing to file charge within 15 days
• Failing to file in accord with formats provided by the law
• Filing charges under inappropriate provisions
• Filing charges jointly when they should be separated or vice versa
• Failing to attach individual responsibility to the person charged, failing
to assign level of responsibility to the actors, charging all together
• Failing to indicate the appropriateness of evidence
• Making the charges too long
• To avoid giving reasons why there is no case, simply filing the charge
• When there are strong grounds for the charge, to avoid responsibility
filing charge without strong grounds (killing the charge slowly)
• Poor drafting of the charges, misidentification of the elements of the
offense and of proof of those elements
• Thinking the number of files charged determines efficiency and effectiveness
• Bringing charges in the wrong case
• Filing charges where there is no evidence
• Failing to differentiate the grounds under article 40 (identifying legal
grounds for charge)
• When in doubt, laying a charge instead of asking for direction.
To a suspicious mind, any of these actions (as well as the problems
itemized in the four additional pages) could be motivated. Some of those
interviewed suggested that prosecutors might be bribed or might act on
friendship or political instructions to delay a case, mischarge the suspect,
or otherwise plan for failure. However, no one seemed to believe this
practice was frequent (in part because the same results might be purchased
at a lower cost from the police). Moreover—because at the
moment the federal ministry’s greatest concern seems to be improving its
conviction rate—such practices are likely to become more difficult and
could cause the prosecutor to lose his or her job. One person suggested