Fighting Out Corruption at a Campus and Country Level
ECSU's Ethics Liaison Office conducted an awareness deepening training on corruption for over 60 employees drawn from different administrative echelons and support units of the university on 13 May 2012.
The workshop was aimed at driving home the concept of corruption, its types, causes, faces, repercussions and ways of combating it. It as well set as a goal galvanizing participants towards contributing their share in the campaign lunched to fight out corrupt practices in the university as well as the country.
Presenting a paper Ethics Liaison Officer Ato Haile Abebe said
" knowing full well it is hardly possible to materialize a sustainable development that benefits the public, while tied down by an albatross of growth, the country has mounted on an anticorruption movement. "
He added combating corruption could hold water when citizens specially those charged with the responsibility of administering government resource shun this evil revolted by its attendant ills.
Corruption, he noted, entails bribery, fraud, embezzlement, theft, trickery, nepotism, procrastinating work and amassing fortune the source of which is shrouded in mystery.
Corruption, he further noted, is mainly two types namely petty corruption and grand corruption. Petty corruption otherwise called bureaucratic corruption is a malpractice perpetually perpetrated on a small scale in public and government offices, he said. He added actors in petty corruption consist of middle and low level government officials who receive bribe while rendering service or estimating tax. Those who tamper with recites too fall in this set.
He also said grand corruption or otherwise called a political corruption is a corruption done on a large scale. According to him, such type of corruption is done during the procurement of costly goods, equipment, arsenals, construction materials, pharmaceuticals and others.The main actors of such type of corruption, he said, are top government officials, senior political leaders, elites and the affluent.
Explaining the nature of corruption he noted this evil which is rooted in moral degradation, is manifested by greed, a bent for theft, the desire to get financially well-off overnight, addiction to 'Chat' or liquor, gambling and self-pity that arises from thinking oneself as one who leads life below others. He went on to say though the main cause of corruption is moral decadence, economical, political, social, cultural and institutional factors exacerbate it. He said the economic reason is highly prevalent in developing countries lagging behind in economic development.
The disparity between the ever increasing cost of living and their income force people to indulge in corruption, he noted. In such countries as the service rendering institutions are under the control of the government and as free market competition is not there service givers grease palms with oil.
He mentioned the absence of a strong parliamentary control and evaluation system, the slackening of the belief in the supremacy of law and failure to bring corrupters before the court of law as political reasons for corruption.
Taking corrupters that got up the political ladder by foul means as smart is what creates social and cultural reasons for corruption, he regretted.
An institutional reason for corruption lies in the absence of rules and regulations that could restrict the arbitrary and unchecked actions of corrupters, he hinted. Discussing about the sad episode corruption brings in its wake, he said,
" this stumbling block to economic growth allows a country's resource fall in the hands of few individuals and as such the mass will face adverse poverty while the country overwhelmed by crisis falls into the quagmire of widespread poverty."
This will strip off a government's acceptance in the eyes' of its citizens.Social problems such as unemployment, anarchy street life and prostitution could spring from corrupt practices, he noted.
He added the felling of trees and the smuggling of goods are also possible out comes of corruption. Commenting on ways of combating corruption he said there is a need to sensitize citizens on the adverse impacts of corruption and mobilizing them to get on board of anticorruption campaign. Crafting rules and regulations that clearly define accountability, letting people who busy themselves in corrupt practices appear before the court of law could also help in averting the malpractice, he added.
Given questions for group discussion, group representatives came up with their respective answers. The questions were: Do you believe there are corrupt practises in the university? Which of the faces of corruption do you commonly notice?If you notice one of the faces of corruption what measures do you suggest should be taken?
Group representatives indicated the presence of corrupt practises in the university,though in small scale.They mentioned using government resources for personal ends,bureacratic red tape, nepotism, wasting precious working hours and purchasing substandard goods as the corrupt practise manifeast in the university.
Head of the ethics and liason office Ato Gebre Tilahun said an inspection team is set up in the university that monitors the procurment of goods.
Explaning how ECSU's ethics and liason office managed to win appreciation from the Federal anticorruption and audit bureaus he said it is taking into account the support the liason office gave to whistle blowers,the preemptive measures his office took to fight out corrupt practises and the substantiation of its report with audit document the two government bodies recognized our work.
Responding to questions on the status of corruption in Ethiopia today, he noted ,reports indicate that corruption is made to stop at its current state adding it has neither increased nor decreased.