CHAPTER THREE: DEMOCRACY AND POLITICAL GOVERNANCE _____________________________________________________________________ The institutional framework for combating corruption State institutions 302. The IGE. Since 1993, the IGE attached to the prime minister’s office has been responsible for four core functions: monitoring the observance of laws and regulations that govern the administrative, financial and accounting services in all public agencies and all other agencies invested with a public service mission; evaluating the operational and management quality of services; checking the use of funds and the regularity of operations; and proposing measures to enhance the quality of public administration. 303. Technical inspections of ministerial departments. Each ministerial department is subject to a technical inspection of the services responsible for monitoring and supporting the implementation of the policy of the department. 304. The Audit Office. The Audit Office is governed by Law 014-2000AN of 16 April 2000. As the supreme court of public financial control, it is entrusted with the following tasks: safeguarding the public heritage and the sincerity of public finances; improving management practices while maintaining transparency; streamlining the activities of the administration and the proper allocation of resources; checking the accounts of the public accountant and penalising mismanagement; and assisting the National Assembly in its function of monitoring the implementation of finance laws. 305. The CNLF. Founded in 1994, the body is responsible for organising and coordinating efforts in the fight against fraud; for coordinating the work of different administrative sections involved in the fight against fraud; for proposing a national strategy for combating fraud and ensuring its implementation; for fact finding and prosecution in the courts or settlement using transactional means, and for cases of fraud discovered in the course of these processes; and for creating and operating a national file on fraud. 306. The CNE. This committee is an observatory responsible for safeguarding secular and republican values, in accordance with the commitments made by the head of state during the National Day of Forgiveness in March 2001. This committee is composed of three representatives of customary and religious authorities appointed by the presidium of the National Day of Forgiveness, three representatives of the major bodies of state control (Audit Office, IGE and the ombudsman of Burkina Faso), and three persons appointed by the president of Burkina Faso. The committee is expected to make proposals regarding the moralisation of public life and the preservation of citizenship. 307. The HACLC. Established in late 2001, this body has been the central element in the fight against corruption. Its mission is, on the one hand, to coordinate the fight against corruption (in which capacity it should propose, to the government, a policy framework and sectoral programmes to fight corruption), and on the other hand, to assist the government in the prevention and 138