allAfrica.com: Ethiopia: Political Parties, Parliaments Seen As Institutions Most Compromised By Corruption (Page 1 of 2)

Ethiopia: Political Parties, Parliaments Seen As Institutions Most Compromised By Corruption

Poor families are hit hardest by demands for bribes in developed as well as developing countries, according to Transparency international's Global Corruption Barometer 2007.

The public opinion survey, published last week ahead of International Anti-Corruption Day on 9 December, also found that citizens in countries across the globe continue to see political parties and parliaments as the institutions most compromised by corruption.

The Barometer, which surveys 63,199 respondents in 60 countries, offers a broad spectrum of data on common experiences of corruption, including which institutions most frequently demand bribes, where citizens see the greatest degree of corruption, and how they see both the future development of corruption and their governments' efforts to eradicate it.

"This year's Global Corruption Barometer has made it clear that too often, people must part with their hard-earned money to pay for services that should be free", said Transparency International Chair Huguette Labelle. "And they do not see enough commitment when they look to their governments and leaders. We are heartened though, that the public is increasingly demanding the accountability of the very institutions that most affect their lives, as this is a powerful driver of change."

Bribery: A tax on poor families everywhere

The TI Global Corruption Barometer 2007 finds that it is the poor who are most often confronted with requests for bribes, in wealthy and poor countries alike. Extortion hits low-income households with a regressive tax that saps scarce household resources.

More than one in ten respondents reported having to pay a bribe in the past year for access to a service. The countries with the highest level of petty bribery are Albania, Cambodia, Cameroon, FYR Macedonia, Kosovo, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Romania and Senegal, where at least 30 per cent of respondents reported having paid bribes.

When asked about dealing with services, telephone and natural gas utilities were the least likely to demand bribes, while law enforcement was the most frequent source (25 per cent of respondents who came in contact with the police were asked to pay a bribe) with courts the second most frequent source worldwide.

Corrupt police and judiciary mean rights denied

"The Barometer reveals that the police and the judiciary in many countries around the world are part of a cycle of corruption, demanding bribes from citizens," said Transparency International Managing Director, Cobus de Swardt. "This troubling finding means that corruption is interfering with the basic right to equal treatment before the law."

Transparency International has been campaigning strongly this year against corruption in the judiciary, based on its Global Corruption Report 2007. This report details how bribery affects the courts - judges and other judicial personnel accept bribes to delay or accelerate cases, to allow or deny an appeal, or to decide a case in a certain way. The Global Corruption Report 2007 also includes data from a 2002 survey showing, for instance, that 96 percent of respondents in Pakistan who had contact with the lower courts encountered corrupt practices, while in Russia, an estimated US $210 million in bribes is thought to be paid in courts each year.

Bribes by sector: A regional perspective

Although globally the police are the institution most frequently reported to demand bribes, there are important differences across regions. In the countries of the greater EU region, medical services stand out as the most common source of bribe demands. In Latin America, Asia-Pacific and North America, petty bribery in the judiciary is a serious problem. In Africa and the Newly Independent States (Russia, Moldova and Ukraine), however, bribery was most prevalent in the education and health sectors, both vitally important to human development.

Petty bribery increased from 2006 to 2007 in some of the regions, such as Asia-Pacific (22 per cent of respondents reported paying a bribe to receive a service, up from 15 percent) and South-East Europe (12 per cent, up from 8 per cent). Africa registered a slight decrease (42 percent, down from 47 percent).

"These sober figures underlie frightening real-world scenarios where money is extorted from innocent citizens in very vulnerable situations, such as during medical emergencies or when they are the victims of a crime," said Huguette Labelle. "Entrenched bribery inflicts deep and lasting wounds on a society, destroying belief in those who govern."

Political parties remain most affected by corruption

The Barometer also asks citizens which institutions they see as most affected by corruption. Year after year, political parties and parliaments - the very institutions entrusted to represent the public interest in political decision-making - take in first place.

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