HARGEISA (Somalilandsun) – The national Good Governance and Anti Corruption Commission-GGACC has released findings of citizen’s perception on diverse governance issues and more specifically as pertains to corruption by state servants.
According to a press statement by the GGACC Director General the survey conducted by a qualified research consultant and with funding from the UNDP was undertaken in 5 regions of the country with the intention of addressing them.
Read below the full statement with comprehensive information on the results.
GOOD GOVERNANCE AND ANTICORRUPTION COMMISSION -(GGACC)
PRESS RELEASE
Venue: MAAN SOOR HOTEL
Date: 18/01/2014
Subject: Validation of Somaliland National Corruption Perception Survey, 2013
Somaliland Good Governance and Anti-Corruption Commission (GGACC), today, January 18th, 2014 held a workshop at Mansoor Hotel to validate and present the outcome of a National Corruption Survey, 2013.
The survey was the first of its kind to be conducted in Somaliland. It was funded by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in the GROL Program, with respect to the realization of activities by the Commission in the implementation of the Somaliland Institutional Development Project. Also it would not have been veracity without the participation of Somaliland citizens and without the support of the government.
The workshop was attended by senior officials from concerned ministries and government institutions including members of the House of Elders, House of the Representatives, the Ministries of Interior, Justice, Finance, Information, the Police Command and the Law Reform Commission.
This study was conducted among urban households aged 18 years and above. A total of 793 respondents were interviewed from 58 sampling points in five regions namely Maroodi-jeex, Awdal, Saahil, Togdheer and Sanaag urban areas. The respondents were 50.7% female and 49.3% male. Majority of the respondents 63.7 % were unemployed, 23.7% were employed of which 12.6% were formally employed.
The general perceptions of respondents on social, political and developmental issues shows that 89.5% perceived unemployment to be the main challenge to the development followed by corruption 42.5% and poverty 38.3%. The perception toward general political situation of the country was positive as 77.9% of the respondents rated the situation as either ‘very interested’ or ‘somewhat interested’. The residue 19.9% of the total respondents rated as ‘do not know’ or ‘not at all interested ‘about the political conditions in home.
As for the quality of life, 49% of the population think that the quality of life today have improved compared to the last year. Dissimilar to that 50.0% of the total population professed that the quality of life is either worse or remained the same. However, surveyed people were almost optimist about the quality of life of the forthcoming year as 82.7% perceived that, they hope, their life will be better one year ahead. Very few respondents were less optimistic.
Asked about the performance of the government in developmental issues the response was negative and the majority of the respondents believed that the government did nothing tangible in the development sector and failed to address unemployment, poverty, corruption, education.
The study investigates the perceived confidence level of the respondents regarding the government’s ability to tackle problems facing the Country. The result indicated that 50 % of the total respondents were confident of the government’s aptitude to solve the problems. Other 30.8 % were moderately confident. However, about 16.7% of the total respondents were pessimists about the government’s capacity and rated as ‘no confident at all’.
In determining the perception of corruption, high number of the respondents 76.6% believes that corruption is common or popular in public institutions. Almost a quarter 23.4% of the total people surveyed think corruption ‘does not exist in public institutions’.
According to the verdict, bribery is prevalent in public institutions mostly in the police stations, justice courts, and the traffic department. A high proportion, 74.6% among the service seekers who visited police stations, last year, reported that they were asked to pay bribes for any required services. The judiciary & Courts Services is ranked second to above with 65.7%, followed by the traffic department 49.1%, municipal registration office 40.6%, local governments 38.8%, customs 35.3% revenue and tax offices 34.2%, public health 23.9% and the water agency 15.3%.
A total of 242 respondents reported that they witnessed corruption in public offices. About 79.7% of the above did not report it of which 37.1% justify their silence since ‘they do not know where to report’. Another 31.7% believe that even if they report the act to the concerned officers that ‘no one will be booked or charged for the deeds’.
In relationship to the knowledge of the corruption, respondents confirmed that the Media is a known source of Information on Corruption. TV channels were rated as the best resource with 48.5%, followed by the Radio Stations 29.8%, News Papers 17.9%, Bill-boards and Posters 3.8%. HCTV private TV and SLNTV public TV are the most favorite stations among the respondents.
The Director General of the Commission, Mr. Hassan Horri quoted that, “Somaliland has long suffered the impact of corruption, pervasive at all levels of government and reaching into every aspect of society; hampering economic and democratic reform. The current ruling Kulmiye Party placed anti-corruption issues at the forefront of its agenda in its campaign rhetoric in the presidential elections.”
In August 2010, and in concurrence with its political agenda, the government nominated the Commission for Good Governance and Anti-Corruption (GGACC) to effectively work on institutionalizing Good Governance and combat corruption in Somaliland. On February 2013 the parliament passed critical legislation on approving the Act in the establishment of the Commission. The Commission looks forward in seeing both government agencies and civil society organizations to engage them in raising awareness about corruption and advocating for government transparency.
GGACC mandate is to promote and enforce good governance, and advice, design and formulate appropriate recommended policies and institutional arrangements and frameworks to the government for the achievement of good governance, prevention and investigation of corrupt practices to create an environment with zero tolerance on corruption as indicated by Good governance Parliament Act No 58 of 2012.
The acting Chairman, Director General of the Commission informed the participants that Somaliland lacks the required legislative mandates in dealing with corruption. The overall efforts to combat corruption are scattered and uncoordinated as systemic corruption in the country continues to impede democratic development and broader reform efforts.
The DG of the Commission further added that The Government of Somaliland has been engaged in public sector and civil service reforms for the last several years. As part of the efforts to streamline government operations, improve performance and efficiency the government expressed its interest in conducting a functional review and analysis of their respective ministries and agencies. GGACC is the focal point for the Government of Somaliland for this assignment.
“Therefore, GGACC with the assistance of UNDP will perform a functional review for four pilot ministries to ensure adherence to the adopted methodology, timely progress reports, effective communication with the governments and overall project implementation,” the DG said. ” The goal of the assignment is to provide the government with recommendations on the structure, functions, scope of responsibilities, chain of command, as well as draft administrative regulations for selected government ministries. This will be followed by implementing the same by all public ministries and institutions.”
As a result of the assignment, the selected government ministries would have an improved organizational structure, clearer chain of command, and draft administrative regulations prescribing administrative functions and operations,” he added.
Finally, Mr. Hassan Horri expressed his appreciation to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), for their financial and technical support for ongoing and forthcoming projects intended for the overall public sector Reform. He, as well, would like to disburse sincere gratitude to all stakeholders who spared no effort to assist GGACC in carrying out this study. END
The workshop pulled all of its participants from various government departments and Parastatals
