Designing Anti-corruption Strategies for Developing Countries: A Country Study of Eritrea
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Date
2004-08-09
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Abstract
The purpose of this research is to identify the anti-corruption strategies available for fighting corruption in developing countries and assess their relevance to the newly independent country of Eritrea by canvassing the opinions of Eritrean public officials. The anti-corruption strategies considered in the study are divided into four broad categories: Economic/Market Reforms, Administrative/Bureaucratic Reforms, Accountability/Transparency Enhancing Reforms, and Political Accountability Enhancing Reforms. Data are collected through the administration of questionnaires to a sample of 62 Eritrean public officials from 13 ministries of the Eritrean Government to assess their views regarding the extent, causes and remedies of corruption in Eritrea. The survey evidence indicates that the overwhelming majority (90 percent) of the respondents believe the issue of corruption in the context of Eritrean public administration is important. Moreover, an overwhelming majority (95 percent) of the respondents think that high emphasis should be given to preventing/fighting corruption at present. For the years 2000 and 2003 the majority (64.5 percent) of the respondents believe that corruption in Eritrea ranges between none to minimal while 35.5 percent think corruption in Eritrea ranges between moderate to prevalent. Two important differences are observed between respondents who perceive lower rates of corruption and those who perceive higher rates of corruption. The research indicates that respondents who have not received foreign education are more likely to perceive higher levels of corruption (38 percent) than respondents who received foreign education (18 percent). The research also indicates that respondents that are members of the party are more likely to perceive higher levels of corruption (40 percent) that the respondents who are members of the ruling party (18 percent).
The survey evidence also indicates that according to the respondents the top five leading causes of corruption in Eritrea are low salary of public officials, lack of accountable/transparent political process, lack of meritocratic personnel policy, lack of effective corruption reporting system, and self-serving attitudes of public officials. The survey evidence indicates that Eritrean public officials demonstrate weak preference for economic reforms, very strong preference for administrative reforms, strong preference for accountability reforms and moderate preference for political reforms.
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accountability, anti-corruotion, corruption, economic reforms, political reforms, eritrea
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Degree
PhD
Discipline
Public Administration
