Transparency and Accountability to Fight Corruption

“The key message of the report is that corruption is a serious problem but not an insurmountable problem. Real accountability and transparency are the modern institutions needed for Vietnam's next phase of development,” said Ms Victoria Kwakwa, World Bank Country Director for Vietnam, at the press conference on “Corruption from the Perspectives of Citizens, Enterprises and Public Officials” Survey held by the Government Inspectorate of Vietnam and the World Bank (WB) in Hanoi.

 

According to the report, four sectors judged to be involved in corruption most are traffic police, land management, customs and construction. Over 75 per cent of respondents said that corruption is a serious problem in these sectors.

 

The survey studied on feedbacks of 5,460 respondents, including 2,601 citizens, 1,058 entrepreneurs and 1,801 public officers in 10 provinces and five ministries. Ten participatory provinces have the population accounting for 30 per cent of the country's population and contributing to 65 per cent of the country’s GDP.

 

The survey results show that corruption is one of three most-concerned issues of the public beside cost of living and food safety. Up to 82 per cent of respondents said that corruption is common or very common in the country. Over 75 per cent of respondents said that corruption is a serious problem, 45 per cent of civil servants witnessed acts of corruption, and 44 per cent of enterprises and 28 per cent of citizens paid unofficial fees.

 

Specifically, 63 per cent of the surveyed enterprises said public officials intentionally delay solving their requests until they receive bribes, 22 per cent of officials said they witnessed other officials intentionally delaying their duties in order to elicit bribes and 29 per cent of citizens were forced to pay bribes due to such tactics. Besides, 59 per cent of firms and 37 per cent of citizens paid bribes immediately to get things done. 63 per cent of enterprises said unofficial costs create "underground mechanisms to help resolve their business quickly" and more than 58 per cent said unofficial costs get things done.

 

However, the survey also recorded that 52 per cent of businesses have anti-corruption activities, 43 per cent of citizens will denounce corruption and 85 per cent of public officers said the perception of corruption has been raised.

Up to 90 per cent of respondents believed that acts of corruption have not incurred appropriate punishment, 80 per cent said that Vietnam does not focus on cleaning up public officials while anticorruption measures still spread and lack of focus and competent officials fall short of determinations against corruption. People have severe reactions as they believe that there are acts of protection among public officials.

 

Deputy Chief Inspector of the Government Inspectorate Tran Duc Luong said corruption in a country is always a difficult, complicated task because corruption is an act of highly concealed law violations.

 

In reality, corruption exists in many places and many fields. However, the drop in corruption discoveries does not mean that corruption is reduced but corruption gets more sophisticated, harder to be discovered and concealed with new guises. This is complicating the fight against corruption, affecting the effort of raising awareness and responsibility of citizens, enterprises and public officials in the fight against corruption.

 

However, he said that the survey results do not represent the overall opinion of people, businesses and public servants of Vietnam and also not the assessment of state agencies. But this survey is useful for agencies, organizations and individuals who involve in making policies on anti-corruption to prevent and gradually push back corruption in Vietnam.

 

Ms Victoria Kwakwa said the report by the Government Inspectorate and the World Bank said it shines a light on corruption. The system of corruption is fed by both the demand and supply sides, creating a vicious circle of bureaucratic problems and the unofficial payments that are demanded or offered to solve those problems. More often than not, those payments are initiated by the supply side.

 

“This is not about blaming or pointing a finger, it is rather about being honest about the problem and then thinking creatively about solutions. When the problem of corruption is generated in part by the supply side, the need to change societal attitudes is even clearer. Firms and citizens need to know that they have alternatives to bribery; and where no alternatives exist, Vietnam’s leaders need to create them. The surveys also show that firms that seek out alternatives to bribery actually perform better,” she added.