Transparency Ethiopia |

1. What is Corruption?

There is no single universally accepted definition for the word corruption. Its definition is often influenced by some one who uses the word. This is so because different societies at different times and in different cultures have different views on what is wrong and what is right.

In the Ethiopian context, for example, there were times when bribery and nepotism were not considered to be a ‘motivational’ factor, not an offence. Nepotism was also regarded as a positive approach to help friends and relatives. According to the Anti-Corruption Act (No.236/2001) of the Laws of Ethiopia, ‘‘corruption Offence” means any offence committed in relation to government or public service or public interest in violation of the duties proper to a government or a public service by seeking, exacting promise, or receiving any gratification or advantage for himself or for other person or group of persons, or inflicting harm on another person; and includes corruption practices, acceptance of undue advantage, traffic in official in influence, abuse of power, maladministration, appropriation and misappropriation in discharge of duties, extortion and disclosure of secret and other things. On the other hand, Transparency International (TI) defines corruption as “the misuse of entrusted power for private gain.” Corruption may also manifests itself in the private aspects of life such as looting, cheating, lying, manipulation, embezzlement, extortion, and disclosure of threats and exploitation of others and situations for private gains at the expense of the common good of the society.

2. What is “transparency”?

There have been heated debate and discussion between scholars across the world to find possible definition for the word ‘Transparency’. In a literal sense, transparency referees to the property of an object or matter that can be seen through. More broadly, it is associated with matters pertinent to governance and control of corruption. In this sense, the notion of transparency denotes the quality of being clear, honest and being accountable.

According to Transparency International transparency is defined as a principle that allows those affected by administrative decisions, business transactions or charitable work to know not only the basic facts and figures but also the mechanisms and processes. It is the duty of civil servants, managers and trustees to act visibly, predictably and understandably.

3. Where is corruption most rampant?

A number of literatures depict that corruption is most prevalent in developing countries than the developed ones. This is entirely consistent with all the corruption perception index (CPI) published annually by Transparency International since 1995. For example, in 2008 the CPI ranked a total of 180 countries across the globe in which the countries rated among the 20 least corrupt _Denmark, Finland, Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia_ are also the wealthiest in their respective regions. At the bottom of the corruption scale are countries which remain perpetually poor.

In Ethiopia, there are certain areas where corruption is believed to be rampant. These includes places where financial resources and transferred from the private to the public sector and vice versa. According to the outcome of the corruption survey conducted in 2001, agencies which are engaged with the allocation of land and government housing, provision of telephone and electric services, granting of loans, licensing and issuance of permits, collection of taxes and procurement of consumable and fixed assets, customs and excise offices are areas where corruption is more prevalent.

4. What are the effects of corruption?

The effect of corruption has many dimensions related to political, economic, social and environmental effects. In political sphere, corruption impedes democracy and the rule of law. In a democratic system, public institutions and offices may lose their legitimacy when they misuse their power for private interest. Corruption may also result in negative consequences such as encoring cynicism and reducing interest of political participation , political instability , reducing political competition, reducing the transparency of political decision making, distorting political development and sustaining political activity based on patronage, clientelism and money, etc.

In our society, the impact of corruption is often manifested through political intolerance, problems of accountability and transparency to the public, low level of democratic culture, principles of consultation and participation dialogue among others.

The economic effects of corruption can be categorized as minor and major. However, both in one way or the other have serious impact on the individual community and country. First and foremost, corruption leads to the depletion of national wealth. It is often responsible for increased costs of goods and services, the funneling of scarce public resources to uneconomic high profile projects at the expense of the much needed projects such as schools, hospitals and roads, or the supply of potable water, diversion and misallocation of resources, conversion of public wealth to private and personal property, inflation, imbalanced economic development, weakling work ethics and professionalism, hindrance of the development of fair in market structures and unhealthy competition there by deterring competition. Large scale corruption hurts the economy and impoverishes entire population.

In Social sphere, corruption discourages people to work together for the common good. Frustration and general apathy among the public result in a weak civil society. Demanding and paying bribes becomes the tradition. It also results in social inequality and widened gap between the rich and poor, civil strive, increased poverty and lack of basic needs like food, water and drugs, jealousy and hatred and insecurity.

Closer home, corruption is said to have been factors for the down fall of past regimes byway of undermining the legitimacy of the governments and weakening their structures, reducing productivity, hindering development, worsening poverty, marginalizing the poor, creating social unrest and then to their downfall.

5. Is corruption an important and pressing issue for Ethiopia?

Yes. It is not disputing that, as elsewhere in other parts of the world, corruption has become rampant and has been causing devastating effect to our country.

According to a document published by the Federal Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (FEACC), corruption has continued to pose threats to the country’s development and democratization process. Practices of grand and petty corruption offences are flourishing in many public and private sectors including the financial sectors, agencies engaged in the allocation of land and government housing, telephone and electric services, health services, those involved in the granting of loans, licensing and issuance of permits, collection of taxes and consumable and fixed assets. Customs and excise offices are also believed to be highly affected by corruption practices. Being part of the problem, the private sector’s misdeed of corruption is marked by tax evasion, obtaining bank loans or winning lucrative bids by infringing loan or bid procedures, bribery, smuggling, deceiving and forging in business transactions, charging very high prices on goods and commodities during shortages, bribing the weak or uneducated in order to gain advantage, hoarding of products, etc.

6. What does TE do against corruption?

It is a fact that corruption in Ethiopia is becoming worse and worse. Parallel with the international efforts to combat this crime the government of Ethiopia is showing some efforts. However, it is clear that the government cannot tackle corruption effectively on its own. Therefore, there is a need of involvement of non-governmental and civil society organizations that strengthens the already started struggle against the evil. This called for the formation of Transparency Ethiopia (TE)- affiliate organization in Ethiopia that is thought to be working in line with TI’S values and principles. The organization was intended to work to bring about accountability and transparency in the public administration and change in the attitude of the society towards corruption.

Accordingly, Transparency Ethiopia (TE) was founded in 2003 as a local contact of TI. Since its establishment, TE has been undertaking the responsibility of fighting corruption in different ways. Transparency Ethiopia intends to build coalition with the private sector, civil society organizations and government to prevent corrupt practice, strengthen public institutions, and foster a deep-rooted anti-corruption culture.

Having the mandate to fight all forms of corruption in the public, private and civil society sectors, as well as promoting good governance and integrity in public and corporate affairs, currently the activities of Transparency Ethiopia (TE) can be divided into four core strategic areas: institutional building, awareness creation and public education, research and advocacy.

TE believes that networking and coalition building is important in order for the anti-corruption movements to become fruitful. Hence, TE tries to bring together like-minded individuals and organizations that are working in the area of corruption, good governance and human rights to curb and combat corruption effectively and sustainably.

Raising public awareness on the effects of corruption, stressing that corruption is a problem that can be tackled and that it is not a given fact of life, constitutes one of the core function of TE. It is for this reason that TE is undertaking different programmes aimed at elevating the awareness of the citizens and enable them to have an active role in the endeavors of combating corrupt practices. This particular programme also geared towards awareness creation among citizenry about the devastating impacts of corruption.