Passage of RTI Bill will help curb corruption - Devarajan

Accra, March 15, GNA - A Chief Economist of World Bank's Africa Regi= on, on Monday said the passage of the Right to Information (RTI) Bill togethe= r with media support could help curb "quiet corruption" in the country. Mr. Shantayanan Devarajan, Principal Economist and Research Manager for Public Economics in the Development Research Group of the World Bank, sai= d quiet corruption occurred when public servants failed to deliver services= or inputs that had been paid for by governments.

He was interacting with selected journalists in Accra from Washingto= n, DC, USA, in a video conference in which several countries participated. The event was to launch the Africa Development Indicators (ADI) 2010=

report which focuses on how quiet corruption leads to an increasingly negative expectation of service delivery system such as absentee teachers= in public schools, absentee doctors in primary clinics, drugs being stolen f= rom public clinics and sold on the open market as well as subsidised fertiliz= er being diluted before it reaches farmers.

Mr. Devarajan observed that quiet corruption, though pervasive and widespread in Africa, did not make the headlines the way bribery scandals=

did adding the act had long term negative repercussions that undermined development in Africa.

"Tackling quiet corruption would require a combination of strong and=

committed leadership, policies and institutions at the sectoral level, an= d most importantly, increased accountability and participation by citizens"= , he said. He conceded that though the 2010 report did not take into account t= he cultural nuances of the countries studied such as Ghana where teachers an= d doctors in public institutions could absent themselves from duty for soci= al reasons such as funerals, he stressed that their counterparts in the priv= ate sector were operating in the same cultural dispensation but comparatively=

productive because of proper incentives and better conditions of service.

Mr. Devarajan said the report showed economic indicators and explanations into why quiet corruption was a hindrance to achieving long and short term development goals and offered solutions to the challenge as we= ll. "Although there is no 'one size fits all' recommendation that appli= es to every sector, this essay advocates the need for strong and highly motivated leadership in the fight against corruption, commitment and capacity of the national anti-corruption units to pursue operationally effective responses at the sector level, and adequate policies and institutions", he said.

He said successful implementation of anti-corruption reforms requir= ed that the preferences and interests of all those involved be aligned with achieving the objectives of the reform adding, the act involved better working conditions. Mr. Sebastien Dessus, a Lead Economist at the World Bank, Ghana Office, said it was difficult accessing information and gathering data on=

government's public expenditure at the basic level.

He lauded the initiative of the World Bank Group in spearheading the=

submission of the Right to Information Bill to the floor of Parliament an= d expressed the hope it would be adequately debated and effectively implemented. Mr. Dessus called for the empowerment of poor people to build pressu= re on public institutions and government to improve the quality of service delivery they offered and to disseminate information or published reports= or surveys to promote transparency to stem the tide on corruption. The ADI 2010 report provides detailed collection of data on Africa available in a volume. It contains over 450 macroeconomic, sectoral and social indicators covering 53 African countries.

It is designed to provide all those interested in Africa with a focu= sed and convenient set of data to monitor development programmes and aid flow= s in the region with an invaluable reference tool for analysts and policymakers who want a better understanding of economic and social developments in Africa. The ADI report states that the debate on quiet corruption will bring=

about the recognition that government spending on social services alone i= s not sufficient and that the quantity and quality of public services requi= re the development of a third generation of indicators that measure quality of services and the performance of service providers.