20100727
allafrica

The East African anti-corruption watchdog--the East African Bribery Index (EABI)--latest survey ranks Tanzania as fourth with a corruption prevalence of 28.6 per cent, followed by Kenya 31.9 per cent, Uganda 33 per cent and Burundi is the worst with 36.7 per cent.

The EABI ranks Rwanda the least corrupt country in the region with corruption prevalence of 6.6 percent and that the tiny East African government's commitment to fight corruption is rated at 97.1 percent.

The EABI is a governance tool developed to measure bribery levels in the public and private sectors in the East African region.

In the survey that measured bribery levels in the private and public sectors in East Africa, released last week in the Kenyan capital Nairobi clearly shows that corruption in Tanzania is still an impediment to public service delivery in the country.

How Tanzania escaped from ranking as the leading corrupt country in the region is everybody's guess if one goes by negative reports about corruption incidents in the country of over 40 million people.

Key governance and enforcement institutions in Tanzania such as the judiciary and the police feature prominently in the index, indicating that there is much work to do to cleanse these institutions from their cancerous disease of corruption.

For example, says the EABI survey, the Tanzania Construction Sector Transparency Initiative (CoST) indicates rising incidents of corruption in the construction sector.

Likewise, adds the survey, the Civil Engineering Contractors Association (TACECA) estimates that 90 per cent of contractors pay between 10 and 15 per cent of contract value in bribes.

The survey says in 2004, the Engineers Registration Board (ERB) and the Association of Consulting Engineers Tanzania (ACET) estimated that over 90 per cent of construction awards and about 70 per cent of consultancy assignments were secured through corruption.

Beginning 2007, the energy sector and the Bank of Tanzania have been under the media spotlight following implication in grand corruption scandals, including the grossly inflated and corruptly procured construction of BoT headquarters twin towers project, the misappropriation of $133million in the External Payment Arrears (EPA) Account and the corruptly procured emergency power service contract worth $175million Richmond scandal, among others.

The survey states that there have also been reports of high inefficiency and waste in HIV/AIDS programmes in Tanzania where it was not clear how funds for these programmes were spent.

Going by these revelations, the EABI 2010 survey shows that the judiciary and the police force in Tanzania are among the top 10 most corrupt institutions in the East African region.

The EABI adds new entries to the country's corrupt institutions as the Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA), Registration, Insolvency and Trusteeship Agency (Rita), Prisons Department and Department of Defence as highly corrupt institutions in the country.

The Aggregate Index for Tanzania had notable changes due to the first-time listing of some institutions, says the survey, adding that eight of the listed institutions were new entries with the Tanzania National Parks (Tanapa) being the only notable exit.

The survey mentions the 10 most corrupt institutions in Tanzania in descending order as the Police Force, Judiciary, TPA, Rita, Tanzania Revenue Authority, Prisons Department, Immigration Department, other unspecified organisations, Lands, Housing and Human Settlements ministry and hospitals.

Other institutions that have been mentioned as corrupt are the Tanzania Electric Supply Company Ltd (Tanesco), regional and local authorities, Ministry of Defence and National Service, Dar es Salaam Water and Sewerage Company (Dawasco), schools, banks, the private sector and other ministries.

In Tanzania, the survey recoded 15,071 interactions with both private and public institutions, showing that bribery was either expected or demanded during 40.9 per cent of these interactions and 64.9 per cent of the interactions were characterized by bribery payments.

It says a total of 1,714 respondents reported paying bribes in Tanzania--1,028 (60 per cent) were men while the women were 686 (40 per cent).

The respondents reported paying bribes for services (44.7 per cent), for law enforcement (22.2 per cent), for regulatory (12.2 per cent), for others (10.4 per cent), for employment (7.0 per cent) and for business (3.7 per cent).

The survey said the reportage of bribery incidents in Tanzania was very low with 92.9 per cent of the respondents who were asked for bribe did not report the incident to anyone in a position of authority.

The leading reason for not forwarding bribery-related complaints was the belief that no action would be taken following the report, says the survey.

"About 20 per cent feared intimidation that may follow such reporting," adds the survey the 76-page survey.

It says Burundi ranks at the top position with a corruption prevalence of 36.7 per cent while Rwanda is the least corrupt country in the region with a prevalence of 6.6 per cent.

It adds that Kenya, at third position, has registered a slight improvement in the prevalence of corruption, from a corruption prevalence rate of 45 per cent in 2009, to 31.9 per cent this year, Uganda comes second at 33 per cent while Tanzania is fourth with a corruption prevalence of 28.6 per cent.

Many Tanzanians have been complaining about the level of corruption in the country. Corruption has been associated with all manner of problems. One might be inclined to ask himself, if Tanzania, with all probpems linked to corruption is ranked as less corrupt, what kind of lives are Burundians leading in the country considered to be most corrupt in the region?

The survey mentions the Revenue Authority in Burundi as the most corrupt institution in the region, dislodging the Kenya police which topped the ranks in 2009.

The police force in Burundi comes second, followed by the Kenya police force, Uganda Revenue Authority and the Tanzania police force in that order.

Completing the list of the top 10 most corrupt institutions are the Uganda police force, Kenyan Ministry of State for Defence, the Nairobi City Council and the Judiciary in Kenya and Tanzania, says the EABI survey.

Kenya has relinquished its position as the most corrupt country in East Africa to Burundi, according to the survey that was expanded to Rwanda and Burundi this year.

In Uganda, there were minimal changes in the overall ranking compared to the 2009 Aggregate Index, observes the survey.

However, shows the survey, some institutions including public and private schools, public hospitals and state corporations made their first appearance in the index, adding that the Northern Uganda Social Action Fund, the Aids Support Organisation (TASO) and the Immigration Department left the index.

The EABI 2010 survey clearly shows that apart from Rwanda where incidents of bribery were found to be negligible, corruption is still an impediment to responsive public service delivery in the region.

"Key governance and enforcement institutions such as the police, judiciary, and defence featured prominently in the index, as did institutions offering key services like health, education, housing and finance," says the survey.

The survey was conducted among 10,505 respondents selected through random household sampling across all the administrative provinces in the five countries between January and March 2010.

Indeed, corruption is a dangerous vice which undermines governance, sustainable development, democratic process, and fair business practices.

And Transparency International warns that the level of corruption in East Africa threatens to hold back the recently launched common market's full potential.

While individual countries like Tanzania should fight the evil, the fight against corruption should be a regional battle.

Other EAC countries of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Burundi can also learn from Rwanda and create strong Ombudsman offices capable of regularly exposing cases of fraud, malpractice and corruption at the top, middle and bottom levels of the public sector.