Which anti-corruption efforts are, then, likely to be effective?, Trending now on corruption...

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This month, on the New ODI Development Policy Review Virtual Issue on Corruption and Accountability in Development is Out

Which anti-corruption efforts are, then, likely to be effective?

By DANSU PETER 

Oluwafemi Senu , in “A critical assessment of anti-corruption strategies for economic development in sub-Saharan Africa” [38/5] points out that most governments across sub-Saharan Africa have ratified the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC), although it appears to be honoured more in the breach than the observance. Kenya and Nigeria explored the convention’s potential to address the failure of existing anti-corruption institutions, the respective governments showed little real commitment to tackling, much less rooting out, endemic corruption. As Senu concludes: “Less-developed or emerging economies with little respect for the rule of law or enforcement of anti-corruption laws are likely to be the most affected by corruption as it can greatly affect data collection, economic development and impede justice for all. The setbacks in anti-corruption laws or strategies are deeply rooted in systemic social corruption.”

Michael Mbate [36/S1], in “Who bears the burden of bribery? Evidence from public service delivery in Kenya,” also looks at the factors affecting the propensity to engage in bribery to obtain public services. He finds that it declines with high social capital but increases when there are strong political networks—which suggests that the frequent reliance on bribes to obtain public services falls disproportionately on the poor, who depend on basic amenities such as health and education. Further, finding that almost none of his respondents reports corruption through official means “due to fear of reprisal,” he recommends that citizens’ organisations, coupled with a free media, could help exert pressure “by investigation and reporting on government corruption.”

Rajiv Verma, Saurabh Gupta, and Regina Birner ask “What do (future) civil servants think of bribery and corruption? Evidence from India” [41/3], focusing on elite candidates destined for highest echelons in the state bureaucracy. The authors used simulations to explore situations that might deter (or encourage) the participants from accepting or offering bribes. What emerged from these games and discussions is that the broad social acceptance of bribery—everyone knows that everyone does it, so what difference does it make if one individual refrains—combined with the low rate of convictions, means that vigilance without sanctions is ineffective. The best deterrent, participants agreed, is the likelihood of “high public loss and strict punishment.”

Conversely, Linnea Cecilia Mills in “Catching the ‘big fish’: The (ab)use of corruption-related prosecutions across sub-Saharan Africa,” [35/S2] finds that far from ending impunity for corruption among high-ranking politicians, prosecutions are themselves frequently politicized in an abusive fashion; namely, “that corruption-related cases are used in order to eliminate political rivals.” Even more worrying are the perverse effects, “such as incumbents holding onto power to avoid being prosecuted by the next incumbent when immunity is lifted, and political actors not holding the executive and each other to account for fear of being prosecuted themselves.” For that matter, such practices are hardly unknown in mature democracies, either.[4]

June 2016 – AFROLEAKS: Understanding Africa’s Scale of Corruption – A Review of the Anti-Corruption Summit London 2016 [Part IV]: https://nactpvs.wordpress.com/2016/06/26/afroleaks-understanding-africas-scale-of-corruption-a-review-of-the-anti-corruption-summit-london-2016-part-iv/

June 2016 – AFROLEAKS: Understanding Africa’s Scale of Corruption – A Review of the Anti-Corruption Summit London 2016 [Part III]: https://nactpvs.wordpress.com/2016/06/19/afroleaks-understanding-africas-scale-of-corruption-a-review-of-the-anti-corruption-summit-london-2016-part-iii/

June 2016: AFROLEAKS: Understanding Africa’s Scale of Corruption – A Review of the Anti-Corruption Summit London 2016 [Part II]: https://nactpvs.wordpress.com/2016/06/12/afroleaks-understanding-africas-scale-of-corruption-a-review-of-the-anti-corruption-summit-london-2016-part-ii/

June 2016 – AFROLEAKS: Understanding Africa’s Scale of Corruption – A Review of the Anti-Corruption Summit London 2016 [Part I]: https://nactpvs.wordpress.com/2016/06/05/afroleaks-understanding-africas-scale-of-corruption-a-review-of-the-anti-corruption-summit-london-2016-part-i/

May 2016 – AFROLEAKS: Do Anti-Corruption Initiatives Pose a Success or Challenge to Nigeria’s Modern Democracy? [Part II]: https://nactpvs.wordpress.com/2016/05/29/afroleaks-do-anti-corruption-initiatives-pose-a-success-or-challenge-to-nigerias-modern-democracy-part-ii/

May 2016 – AFROLEAKS: Do Anti-Corruption Initiatives Pose a Success or Challenge to Nigeria’s Modern Democracy? [Part I]: https://nactpvs.wordpress.com/2016/05/23/afroleaks-do-anti-corruption-initiatives-pose-a-success-or-challenge-to-nigerias-modern-democracy-part-I/

May 2016 – AFROLEAKS: What exactly are we talking about when we say ‘fight against corruption?’ [Part II]: https://nactpvs.wordpress.com/2016/05/16/afroleaks-what-exactly-are-we-talking-about-when-we-say-fight-against-corruption-part-ii/

Email Oluwafemi Senu at: femisenui.reachoutforce@gmail.com or at Email us at: [email protected]