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106 Diagnosing Corruption in Ethiopia
making facilitation payments to speed up the issue of licenses and permits
needed to meet contract commitments to time schedules. Although
not specifically related to this particular form of corruption, the dominant
view among public officials is that such malpractice is initiated by
the private entity. Sixty-five percent considered this to be the case, with
about 15 percent considering that such corruption is initiated by the
public official and 20 percent considering that both parties “know how
the system works.”
Defective construction, substandard materials, or overclaiming of quantities—
risk: medium. Construction quality issues are considered a significant
problem in the construction of educational facilities, particularly in the
case of small, remote facilities where high standards of construction
supervision can be difficult to achieve. For example, a toilet block in a
school collapsed a month after completion. The contractor responsible
for building the facility was not required to make the work good or repay
the amount paid, nor was the contractor sanctioned. The matter was not
investigated.
Such problems are a significant indicator of corrupt practices, particularly
when the contractor is not ultimately held to account for its failures.
Problems with quality can, however, also simply reflect low capacity on
the part of the contractor (for failing to construct properly), the consultant
or architect (for failing to supervise adequately), and the procurement
agency (for failing to manage the process).
Bribery to cover up failure to meet specifications or other nonperformance—
risk: low. This was not reported as a specific corruption risk, though the
fact that poor-quality construction practices appears to be tolerated in
some cases suggests either that there is either bribery to cover up failures,
favoritism to prevent action against the contractor, or incompetence by
those responsible for supervision. In the absence of any more specific
information, this risk is tentatively assessed as being low.
Extortion of facilitation payments to ensure payment of certificates—risk: low.
This was not reported as a specific corruption risk.
Summary of buildings and facilities risks. The overall perceived risk of corruption
in each of the three aspects of buildings and facilities is, as shown
in table 3.8, considered to be low to medium.