Citizens of six MENA nations say government corruption is worsening

Berlin, Germany-headquartered global non-governmental organization Transparency International on Monday released a report saying that 65 percent, or two in every three, citizens in six countries of North Africa and the Middle East opine that government corruption increased in the previous 12 months.

For the report, Global Corruption Barometer (GCB) — Middle East and North Africa, more than 6,600 citizens were surveyed in Sudan, Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon, Tunisia and Morocco.

The entire MENA region has also witnessed huge protest demonstrations against corruption this year.

According to the report, just 28 percent of the citizens think their government is doing a good job at fighting corruption.

Sixty-six percent of the citizens said they thought their government was performing badly.

The report reveals that more than one in five citizens, or 22 percent, who accessed public services, like education and health care, paid a bribe in 2018. This equals about 11 million citizens in the six polled countries.

Over a third of, or about 3.6 million, citizens of Lebanon, Palestine and Jordan, said they used their personal connections to get the services they needed.

The poll also, for the first time, asked respondents in Palestine, Lebanon and Jordan to share their experiences of sextortion, a type of corruption wherein sex is the currency of the bribe.

One in five citizens said they experienced sextortion when accessing a government service, or that they knew someone who had.

Transparency International chair Delia Ferreira Rubio said, “Corruption disproportionately affects the most vulnerable people, depriving them of free and equal access to public services.”

She added, “People taking to the streets to speak out against corruption is a sign that regular channels for demanding accountability and transparency are inadequate.”

Forty-four percent of the citizens surveyed said they opined that most or all government officials and parliamentarians were involved in corruption. This could be the reason why 60 percent of the people also said they were dissatisfied with how democracy worked in their country and why over 80 percent in Palestine, Jordan and Lebanon thought government corruption was a big problem.

The survey also found that political integrity was lacking, especially around elections, with almost one in three Jordanians, Lebanese and Palestinians surveyed saying they were offered bribes in exchange for votes.

One in two citizens said they believed that the common man could help stop corruption.

The Transparency International report can be read on the organization’s website, here.

Image credit - HdeK (CC BY-SA 3.0)