Corruption Cost In Afghanistan Rise To Nearly Double Government Revenue: UN
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Afghan citizens handed out roughly $3.9 billion in bribes last year, claimed a study by the United Nations on Thursday, with nearly half of Afghans surveyed claiming that they had to bribe a public official, while nearly 30 percent paid to bribe for a private sector service.
Afghan citizens handed out roughly $3.9 billion in bribes last year, claimed a study by the United Nations on Thursday, with nearly half of Afghans surveyed claiming that they had to bribe a public official, while nearly 30 percent paid to bribe for a private sector service.
The survey, produced by the High Office for Oversight and Anticorruption and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), showed that while fewer Afghans were paying bribes to public officials as compared to 2009 (59 percent), the frequency of bribery had increased from 4.7 bribes to 5.6 bribes per bribe-payer and the average cost of a bribe had risen by 29 percent from $158 to $214.
[quote]“The bribes that Afghan citizens paid in 2012 equals double Afghanistan’s domestic revenue or one fourth of the Tokyo pledge,” said UNODC Regional Representative, Jean Luc Lemahieu. [/quote]Lemahieu was referring to an international donors’ conference held in Japan last July, where $16 billion was pledged for Afghanistan’s economic development over the next four years – on the condition that the Afghan government reduce corruption.
“Nobody doubts the seriousness of the issue, the art is to design the correct strategy to remedy the situation,” Lemahieu added.
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Despite ongoing efforts to tackle the problem, corruption has become deeply rooted into the Afghan culture. The UN found that 68 percent of Afghans believed it was acceptable for a civil servant to top up a low salary by accepting small bribes from service users (compared to 42 percent in 2009), while a further 67 percent were fine with a civil servant being hired on the basis of family ties and friendship networks (up from 42 per cent in 2009).
Among the most troubling findings, the survey’s authors said, was that education had become one of the government sectors most plagued by corruption. 51 percent of survey respondents said they paid a bribe to a teacher in 2012, up from 16 percent in 2009.
In September last year, Afghan President Hamid Karzai Karzai sacked five provincial governors and made changes to almost a third of the country’s 34 provinces to sooth foreign donors’ fears. However, Afghanistan remains bottom of Transparency International’s annual corruption index, alongside North Korea and Somalia.
Related: World Corruption Special Report
Related: Rampant Capital Flight Saw $4.6 Billion Leave Afghanistan In 2011
The UN says that bribes are often paid to obtain better or faster services and to influence deliberations and actions such as police activities and judicial decisions.
[quote]“Afghans know that corruption is eating at the fabric of their society,” Lemahieu said. But, “the solution is not only to be found within the Government but also within the wider community.”[/quote]
