tackling corruption in afghanistan: a report from kabul

Tackling Corruption in Afghanistan:

A Report from Kabul

Cheryl BenardElvira Loredo

May 21, 2010

Benard 2 5/10

Corruption Is a Major Issue of Concern for Afghans

• Rated second most corrupt country in world by Transparency International

• Corruption affects everything from small daily interactions to large government contracts, appointment of leading officials

• Public is strongly aware of issue

• Major topic of discussion in media and civil society

• It is undermining popular faith in international community, Karzai government, and prospect of progress in their lives

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RAND Conducted Three-Day Workshop in Kabul to Accomplish Three Objectives

• Assess strength and capacity of civil society activists in Afghanistan . . .

– Who are they?

– What are they currently doing?

– How much are they willing to do in the future?

• Identify those with potential and meet with them separately

• Encourage establishment of civil society network to focus on issue of corruption at a grassroots level

High CommissionMPs

Conventional & New Media

Nati’l/Intern’l;Issue-specific & issue-inclusive

Popular campaigns; Advocacy groups

Take Broad Core Sample ofAfghan Civil Society

Institutions & Officials

Media & Educators

NGO

Activists

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The Workshop Narrowed Focus Over Three Days Day 1

• 40 participants within anti-corruption community

• Intro on official Afghan gov stance and on extent of corruption in country

• Session 1: Surfaced corruption experiences

• Session 2: Identified broad set of possible approaches and programs

• Session 3: Discussed implementation of selected subset of above

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The Workshop Narrowed Focus Over Three Days Day 1 Day 2






• Follow-up meetings with individual activists and groups assessed as most promising during Day 1

• Meetings with additional activists identified during Day 1

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The Workshop Narrowed Focus Over Three Days Day 1 Day 2






Day 3

• Follow-up meetings with individual activists and groups assessed as most promising during Day 1

• Meetings with additional activists identified during Day 1

• Site visits to view existing civic engagement programs

• Continuation of meetings with additional activists

• Meetings with experts, institutional actors (MPs, presidential advisor, academics, business leaders)

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Summary of Key Findings

• Current level of corruption is beyond what anyone considers acceptable

• There is a lot of “finger-pointing” about blame for corruption, but some general obstacles underlie it

• Groups and individuals are springing up to tackle it, but there is no coordination among the groups

• There are possibilities for positive action

– Focus should be on mid-range and not the top for now

– International community must take lead on regulating its involvement

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Today’s Briefing Focuses on Answering Three Questions

• How bad is the corruption in Afghanistan?

• What accounts for that corruption?

• What is being done about addressing the corruption and how effective has it been?

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Workshop Participants Related Striking Experiences of Corruption

• Bribing tax agents before they will approve tax filings for businesses

• Paying several bribes to pay electric bill

• An Imam asking for a bribe before converting a non-Muslim bride to Islam

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This Extreme Level of Corruption Was Confirmed by UNODC Presentation

0 5 10 15 20 25 30

Police

Municipal,Provincial Officers

Judges

Prosecutors

Doctors

Members ofGovernment

NursesTax/Revenue

OfficersNGOs

Teachers

Customs Officers

Members ofParliament

Afghan Army

Percentage of Adult Population Who Paidat Least One Bribe During the Last 12 Months

by Type of Public Official Requesting Bribe

Bribes Are Rampant Throughout Public Administration

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This Extreme Level of Corruption Was Confirmed by UNODC Presentation

0 5 10 15 20 25 30

Police

Municipal,Provincial Officers

Judges

Prosecutors

Doctors

Members ofGovernment

NursesTax/Revenue

OfficersNGOs

Teachers

Customs Officers

Members ofParliament

Afghan Army

Percentage of Adult Population Who Paidat Least One Bribe During the Last 12 Months

by Type of Public Official Requesting Bribe

Bribes Are Rampant Throughout Public Administration

Bribes Amounted to Nearly1/4th of GDP

1. Number of PeoplePaying Money as Bribe

2. Mean Number of Bribes Paid/Yr

3. Mean Bribe Amount (U.S.$)

Total Money Paid as Bribes (1 x 2 x x 3) (U.S.$ millions)

Urban Rural

850,000 2,500,000

5.2 4.5

139 166

National

3,350,000

615.7 1,870.62,486.3or 23.3% of GDP

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Head of High Commission on Anti-CorruptionAddressed Reasons for Corruption

• In speech, Osmani argued for three reasons beyond government control

– Cultural decline causing corruption to seem acceptable

– External money pouring in without accountability

– Afghan government unable to act independently

• Some challenged his view and urged the Afghan government to take more responsibility

• Some ascribed blame to international community and high-level Afghan officials and to absence of any effective process

– Versus Taliban who were seen at least as decisive

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Other Participants Pointed the Blame for Corruption at Government

• Corruption is pervasive and has much “top-cover”

– Anti-corruption officials can’t achieve much EXCEPT with popular campaign or lobby that presses them so they can pass the pressure upward

• The High Commission of Osmani is seen as well-intentioned but weak

– Inherited most of staff from failed predecessor institution

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Other Participants Pointed the Blame for Corruption at Government

• Corruption is pervasive and has much “top-cover”

– Anti-corruption officials can’t achieve much EXCEPT with popular campaign or lobby that presses them so they can pass the pressure upward

• The High Commission of Osmani is seen as well-intentioned but weak

– Inherited most of staff from failed predecessor institution

• Consensus is that if he establishes a complaint mechanism, he can achieve some effect on mid- and lower-level corruption

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But We Also Identified Some General Obstacles to Civil Society Activism in Afghanistan

DependencyPortions of Afghan “civil society” have developed a strong dependency on donor ideas and donor funding

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Opportunism

Guns-for-hire matched by civic-activists-for-hire

Social and political entrepreneurs will sell their quasi-activism to foreigners but will cease the moment the funding stops

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Opportunism



Lack of Access

Grass root civil society has little access (barred by language and social status)

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Opportunism



Lack of Access

Grass root civil society has little access (barred by language and social status)

Cultural Attitudes

Hierarchical thinking (waiting for what “those up there” will do) takes the steam out of civil society

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There Is No Collaboration Now, But There Are Logical Opportunities for Collaborations

NGOsNGOs

ActivistsActivists

Media &Education

AdvocacyGroup

Reporting & Investigating

Institutions

AdvocacyGroup

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There Are Some Bright Spots

• Significant attention from independent media

• Serious engagement within Parliament on subject of corruption

• Strong interest and country-wide potential network from several key ministries [MRRD (CDCs) and Ministry of Culture and Youth]

• Individual positive programs of NGOs

– CIPE school curriculum against corruption

– WADAN Malik training that includes rudimentary legal training

Benard 23 5/10

There Are Some Bright Spots

• Significant attention from independent media

• Serious engagement within Parliament on subject of corruption

• Strong interest and country-wide potential network from several key ministries [MRRD (CDCs) and Ministry of Culture and Youth]

• Individual positive programs of NGOs

– CIPE school curriculum against corruption

– WADAN Malik training that includes rudimentary legal training

But activities need to be “streamed” into larger effort

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Addressing Corruption Requires Deploying Three Approaches in Conjunction

AddressingCorruption

Legal

Technical

Social/Cultural/Mindset & Attitudes

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Attempts Have Been Made on All Three, but Not with Sufficient Effect or Determination

• Legal is the most difficultLegal

Technical

Social/Cultural/Mindset & Attitudes

• Technical is promising and should be used much more—will face less resistance while still having a big effect

• Social is easiest to implement but must be coordinated with the others

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Recommendations

• Focus on the mid-range bureaucracy of government services and justice system

• Provide an index of technical approaches used elsewhere against corruption

• Develop and make available and “idea bank” of anti-corruption efforts in other countries

• Insist that international community review its role in setting conditions for corruption and waste

tackling corruption in afghanistan: a report from kabul

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