Corruption in Public Administration

Abstract

The role of the public administration in the achievement of good governance should not be underestimated. This component of every nation is responsible for implementing and formulating policies that are meant to trigger development. In most parts of the world, governments have faced severe criticisms for failure to embrace integrity while allocating resources and playing their administrative roles. Corruption has created a gap between the expected role of the administration and the actual output in guiding the entire society to reach set public goals. This paper relies on a review of past review to demonstrate corruption as a major issue affecting public administration. Statistics showing its prevalence in the world are outlined to show the seriousness of this ethical problem. Possible solutions are discussed and a most workable way of alleviating levels of corruption recommended for governments’ adoption. The purpose of this study is to contribute to the literature by defining a model that can be relied on by governments and international organizations to address corruption as a social ill that has led to a number of negative consequences in the world today.

Keywords: Corruption, public administration, bribery, governance frameworks

Corruption in Public Administration

Corruption is a serious issue that has gained a lot of concern in the world given its associated adverse national outcomes. It is an old social phenomenon intrinsic to countries, both developing and developed, organizations, individuals, and governments. Despite the efforts of many international organizations and nations to curb it, this vice as a legal and ethical problem still exists. From hospitals, schools, policing and security, transportation to electricity, the government is relied on by the public for the delivery of basic services. In all nations, these administrations are also responsible for the provision of utilities, distribution of pensions and other benefits, regulation of the private sector, and management of national resources. These functions are vital to the effective running of a country and a slight mistake by the public sector may cause major problems. Even the slightest of the administration by the people leads to major issues and may even translate to political unrest. Good financial management and efficient delivery of services are dependent on institutions’ adherence on principles of broad participation and responsiveness, transparency and accountability, and integrity. The challenge of not meeting these requirements are present in all countries. The developing nations are commonly affected by this problem and, as a result, they undergo a set of other challenges due to their limited financial and human resources and lack of institutional capacity. Left unaddressed, this issue leads to degradation of the culture of public administration, constrains economic development, and limits the number of resources directed for vital services such as education and health. This paper aim at tackling the phenomena of corruption at both theoretical and practical level, while making attempts to model interventions for fighting the vice and improving responsibility by public servants.

Background of the Issue

Corruption is a universal issue that cuts across classes, races, cultures, and nations of people in both developing and underdeveloped regions. It is a multi-dimensional concept that has legal, religious, ethical, and moral connotations. Moreover, it can be considered to be a multifaceted phenomenon that has multiple effects and causes. Due to its complexity and its nature of taking multiple forms, it has the potential to confuse opinion leaders, policymakers, and scholars. The fact that most perception of the public is effectively used in measuring levels of corruption shows that most people are concerned about this problem. Jongen (2018) confirms that the perception of concerned persons matters in defining and characterizing corruption. Citizens expect a government, to which they pay tax, to have a fair plan for spending. The public raises a lot of concerns whenever cases of misappropriation of arises. To some people, this issue is a natural economic transition that cannot be controlled. This then poses as the largest barrier in solving the problem because society seems to accept the vice. Therefore, most people to feel that it is good to act corruptly and benefit themselves since everyone else is doing it. Clearly, this is a recipe for a fallen state. As such, people do not find it disturbing to pay bribery to get public services, which they are entitled to. Even the poor are willing to pay small amounts of bribes to get government favors. 

In a survey meant to determine the levels of corruption in the world, it was revealed that most people view political parties as the most political institutions (Ortiz-Ospina & Roser, 2016). The other institutions in the order of the least corrupt to most corrupt were arranged as NGOs, military, media, the private sector, civil servants, and police (Ortiz-Ospina & Roser, 2016). A study identifies a modern form of corruption that takes place at countries borders with the increased adoption of globalization (Jancsics, 2018). In a corrupt nation, the border control authorities, which are supposed to facilitate the circulation of people and goods across countries, may expose a nation to national insecurity by accepting bribes. Weak accountability, under-resourced services, and corruption make borders porous. Control of illegal activities such as organized crime, terrorism, weapon smuggling, and human and drug trafficking become very difficult.

Some of the tools used to determine levels of corruption include World Governance Indicators, Corruption Perceptions Index, and Ibrahim index (United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, 2016). However, the fact that this vice is usually conducted in secrecy makes it inherently hard to measure corruption. A survey relying on year’s perceptions index indicates that the majority of nations are doing very little to ending the vice (Survey, 2017). In these areas, public servants are not making substantial efforts to make sure that corrupt officials suffer the consequences set by law. Instead, it is the activists and journalists who are risking their lives to speak out about this unethical practice. In this study, Denmark and New Zealand ranked the best-performing nations in the levels of corruption (Survey, 2017). On the other hand, the most corrupt were found out to be Somalia, South Sudan, and Syria (Survey, 2017). The most affected nations as evident in this study are the ones located in developing continents. Also, these countries are victims of terrorism and other forms of political unrest.

Despite the global and national efforts to eliminate corruption, it is still clear that people from different regions continue to suffer the harsh consequences. For instance, 2018 marked the 15th anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) (UNODC, 2018). The UNCAC is a plain indication that efforts to fight corrupt governments started decades ago. In this year, the convention had reached near –universal ratification, having a total of 186 parties as of September 2018 (UNODC, 2018). This organ provides international standards to member states for guiding reform. Additionally, it covers a wide range of corruption offenses. Despite this global progress, most nations across the universe have a recorded high prevalence of corruption. The process of preventing and tackling this issue at national or organizational level has proven to be a complex challenge. There exists a huge knowledge gap in measuring and understanding corruption. Also, it interacts and affects numerous cultural, social, economic, and political factors which make it even harder to measure or address. 

Importance of the Issue

Corruption limits the chances of achieving sustainable development in Africa (United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, 2016; UNODC, 2018). The cost corruption ends up being higher than merely the diversion of resources to cater to the rightful intentions. The significance of learning how to address this issue is also gleaned to the fact as a vice, it corrodes social fabric of society, creates conducive environment for violent extremism, terrorism, and organized crime to flourish, erodes people’s quality of life, undermines trust in the government, and weakens the rule of law. The adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was a vital breakthrough which required member states to explicitly recognize the importance of integrity, accountability, and transparency for this form of national growth to experienced (UNODC, 2018). The 16th goal of this declaration specifically targets ensuring representative, participatory, inclusive, and responsive decision-making (UNODC, 2018). These provisions are meant to promote a global war against corruption which has caused major harm to society. Moreover, this goal advocate for the formulation of transparent, accountable, and effective institutions. Therefore, eliminating corruption is not only necessary for boosting sustainable development but also for strengthening access to information and building inclusive, peaceful, and just societies.  

In countries where corruption is rampant, the poor are further oppressed. To people from this economic class, paying even the least amount of bribes takes a toll on them. First, it becomes very hard for them to be treated fairly since they do not afford the costs of these services. On the other hand, their inability to pay bribes for basic services such as police, health, and education further worsens their conditions. These individuals are impoverished by these retrogressive ways of governance. The bribes act as retrogressive taxes since the burden falls disproportionately to the poor. In the evaluation of bribe cost as a share of households’ income, the low-income classes are seen to pay up to 4.5% while the high-income households pay just 1.5% (Ortiz-Ospina & Roser, 2016).

Fig 1: Estimates of the Cost of Bribes Relative to Income

(Ortiz-Ospina & Roser, 2016)

Above graph shows that, relative to their incomes, in corrupt nations, the poor lose more money paid as bribes compared with the rich. Therefore, such nations are also faced with the challenge of inequality and unfairness in the delivery of public services. Some people might lead lives of complete poverty with no access to national resources. OECD (2016) supports this graph by indicating that corruption is responsible for perpetuating poverty and inequality. The poor suffer from this vice in the form of deficient social programs that are poorly managed or underfunded.

Additionally, the significance of addressing corruption is also linked to the fact that this issue reduces the productivity of the private sector. The act of doing businesses in nations with corrupt systems is faced with the challenge of raised costs due to bribes and drawn-out negotiations to bargain. According to a survey by the OECD, bribes add up to 34.5% of profits and 10.9% of the value of the transaction (OECD, 2016). These businesses also face the risk of collapse due to uncertainties caused by the ability of one firm to offer higher bribes for favoritism by the government. On the other hand, investment is distorted as thee institutions seek to use their resources in unproductive activities like corruption-specific know-how and rent-seeking activities in order to be part of the exclusive market of insiders. This vice also causes waste of public resources hence lowering administrations’ effectiveness and efficiency. Corrupt officials lobby for projects that guarantee the best prospects for personal enrichment as opposed to prioritizing the ones that benefit the entire community sustainably.      

Addressing corruption will facilitate peace and democracy (OECD, 2016). Democratic systems of balances and checks are impaired when regulations and rules are circumvented by bribes. The media, political critics, and activists are silenced with bribes as public budget control is undermined by an illicit flow of money. This practice is also the tool for controlling political processes like financing of parties and elections hence tampering with democracy.

Possible Solutions

One of the possible solutions in combating corruption is stepping making foreign bribery a crime. This approach sends a message to the citizens and the global community that a country is committed to fighting the vice (OECD, 2018). Nevertheless, this approach has limited influence in terminating corruption because it targets just bribery of the public officials in international investments and trade. This method is advocated for by the 44 parties to the Anti-Bribery Convention (OECD, 2018; Chapter 7, n.d.). It is based on a belief that no one government can effectively remain productive and fully functional if its ran by corrupt politicians and officials. Therefore, projects that seek foreign aid in developing countries such as ones in the areas of electricity, medicine, water infrastructure, and read construction must not be issued on the basis of bribes. The World Bank agrees with this approach by suggesting that corruption is a global issue that requires international interventions to resolve (The World Bank, 2018). This international institution has monitored cases of corruption in countries who benefit from its financial aids. However, some of the developing nations that have been funded by this organization still fall victims of corrupt officials. This intervention must, therefore, only be relied on as a compliment for already existing and successful local measures for addressing the issue.

Another possible approach is giving prosecutions and investigations the priority they deserve. The act of criminalizing corruption is not adequate. This approach is seen as a means through active enforcement ends and deters bribery. In most cases, persons who have been found guilty of engaging in corrupt activities do not suffer legal consequences. This proves the existence of policy-implementation gaps. They are either released on bond or pressurized to refund a given amount of the public funds. Governments must consider strict enforcement of anti-bribery laws. To achieve this, this component of the government should be empowered by combating its challenge of inadequacy in capacity for law enforcement and declining resources. 

Finally, there is an option of protecting and empowering whistleblowers. This approach seeks to protect and empower the media, activists, and other persons with a willingness to raise their concerns regarding integrity problems. In most cases, as discussed earlier, these individuals risk their lives to speak out. A majority, fearing for their lives, choose to go silent. Therefore, setting up protection frameworks will help continue with their work without fear. However, this method is not very reliable considering the fact that these individuals seek to criticize a system for which they are outsiders. Therefore, most of the cases of corruption may go unnoticed. Having reviewed all these options, the most appropriate model for sustainably addressing corruption is having in place solid governance frameworks by individual governments.

Recommended Intervention

The best recommendation for fighting corruption would be setting up solid governance frameworks that help in the elimination of the vice. This method is appropriate because it is a comprehensive approach that targets all levels of government hence ease of ensuring that the entire administration does not engage in corrupt deals. It starts with setting up integrity and safeguards frameworks. However, a government must focus on corruption high-risk areas such as public procurement. This facet should be handled with the utmost accountability and transparency to reveal that taxpayers’ money is not used to benefit a few people. Other areas to consider while seating the framework include the financing of electoral campaigns and political parties to prevent undue policy capture and influence by narrow private interests. These accountable, strong, and transparent government frameworks are critical in the prevention of corruption in all counties, regardless of the developmental status, and at all levels of public administration.

One of the steps for achieving this intervention would be to build a public integrity strategy (OECD, 2016). This can be achieved by formulating clear institutional responsibilities and risk-based integrity standards and values to be followed by public officials. On the other hand, this component requires policymakers to foster a culture of integrity through a whole-society-method. They should invest in an open organizational culture, a merit-based public sector, and integrity leadership that is responsive to public concerns. Active participation of the civil society in public decision-making enables effective accountability through regulatory oversight and internal control. This intervention also calls for a focus high-cost, high-impact, and high-prestige governments (OECD, 2016). Moreover, the measures for the prevention of capture of policies, which make these regulations benefit just a few people, are an indispensable part of this framework.

Finally, the framework is set up in a manner that ensures that all companies play by the rules. There have to be repercussions to be faced by institutions and individuals who dismiss the anti-corruption policies. Private institutions, big, medium, or small, must put into place strong governance frameworks in promoting a culture of integrity. They have a responsibility to detect and report corruption issues, as well as keep away from engaging the state officials in these unwanted activities. Self-reporting of these corrupt activities taking place within an organization makes sure that there is an overall transformation of a country.  

In conclusion, it is understandable that corruption is a leading challenge in the public administration. It becomes extremely to offer the best public services if the officials are corrupt. This challenge is not only experienced in the developing countries but also the industrialized ones. The reason why this issue is of significance is because it disrupts democracy, causes inequalities, leads to oppression of the poor, causes conflicts and political tension, and a reduction of performance of the public sector. Some of the options for addressing this challenge include making foreign bribes illegal, protecting and empowering whistleblowers, and giving prosecutions and investigations the priority they deserve. Nevertheless, this report recommends setting up solid governance frameworks by individual governments as the most appropriate intervention.

References

Chapter 7: Is foreign bribery an attractive investment in some countries. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.oecd.org/daf/anti-bribery/BFO-2016-Ch7-Bribery.pdf

Jancsics, D., S., J. (2018). Corruption at the Borders. Retrieved from https://www.u4.no/publications/corruption-at-borders.pdf 

Jongen, H. (2018). The authority of peer reviews among states in the global governance of corruption. Review of International Political Economy, 25(6), 909-935.

OECD. (2018). Fighting the crime of foreign bribery: The Anti-Bribery Convention and the OECD working group on bribery. https://www.oecd.org/corruption/Fighting-the-crime-of-foreign-bribery.pdf

OECD. (2016) Putting an end to corruption. Retrieved from https://www.oecd.org/corruption/putting-an-end-to-corruption.pdf

Ortiz-Ospina, E. & Roser, M. (2016). Corruption. Retrieved from https://ourworldindata.org/corruption

Survey: Corruption perceptions index 2017. (2017). Retrieved from https://www.transparency.org/news/feature/corruption_perceptions_index_2017  

The World Bank. (2018). Combating Corruption. Retrieved from http://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/governance/brief/anti-corruption

United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. (2016). African governance report IV: Measuring corruption in Africa – The international dimension matters. Retrieved from https://www.uneca.org/sites/default/files/PublicationFiles/agr4_eng_fin_web_11april.pdf

UNODC: Manual on corruption surveys – Methodological guidelines on the measurement of bribery and other forms of corruption through sample surveys (2018). Retrieved from https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/Crime-statistics/CorruptionManual_2018_web.pdf