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Rural Water Supply Corruption in Ethiopia 127
Adding to the potential risks are the trends toward decentralization
and the adoption of sectorwide approaches with weaker project controls.
Many studies concentrate on bribery and direct consumer interactions
and neglect to account for the types of corruption that occur higher up
the value chain.
Causes of Water Sector Corruption
Klitgaard’s (1998) diagnostic of corruption risk (namely, Corruption =
Monopoly + Discretion − Accountability), provided in the context of
municipal service delivery in Bolivia, is relevant to an understanding of
the water and sanitation sector in developing countries because it highlights
the aggregate effect of monopoly and discretionary power. A number
of anticorruption advocates, including Klitgaard, identify four key
factors that engender opportunities for corruption: monopoly power,
wide discretion, weak accountability, and lack of transparency.
At the heart of the corruption problem in the water sector lies weak governance:
ineffective public sector management, little political accountability,
little private sector involvement, intentions to decentralize not borne
out in practice, and limited engagement by civil society or the media.
Diagnosing Corruption in Water Supply and Sanitation Services
Plummer and Cross (2007) have posited a useful diagnostic model to
establish a more comprehensive approach to understanding corruption in
the water and sanitation sector, highlighting corrupt interactions within
and between three broad stakeholders groups:
• Public-to-public interactions, ranging from public finance allocation distortions
that favor projects that come with kickbacks, to corruption in
public service management such as buying jobs or transfers
• Public-to-private interactions, including contract procurement and
marked-up pricing or fraud in construction
• Public-to-consumer interactions, including “speed” money (bribes to give
priority to repairs), illegal connections, or falsifying bills and meter
readings.
These interactions occur along a value chain, encompassing a comprehensive
framework of decisions and interactions—from high-level policy
making to household payments—that differentiate between types of corrupt
practice. The framework assists in identifying which corrupt practices
exist in different settings, who is involved, and at what stage of water