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Justice Sector Corruption in Ethiopia 231
5. Some sources (Mariam 2002) trace the origins of the social courts to far
earlier practices. Currently, these government-appointed bodies operate at
the level of the kebele (the lowest administrative unit). They are composed
of lay members who are supposed to operate based on a combination of
local values and formal law, although for the most part they have little
training in the latter (Mariam 2002; NJI 2008). Despite many criticisms of
their operations (including corruption linked to favoritism and political
influences), it seems unlikely that they can be eliminated quickly (NJI
2008, 183–84) and thus the current strategy seems to be to restrict their
jurisdiction (removing some highly controversial areas including land) and
train their members.
6. Accurate figures were elusive, but the authorities interviewed guessed that
police staffing is currently under 60,000 (with 70,000 as a new goal)—
providing a police-population ratio of about 75 to 100,000. Such a ratio is
possibly usual for Africa (figures are unattainable elsewhere as well) but far
below the standard recommendation of 300 police per 100,000 of population.
However, the 60,000 total figure seems low, especially because the
Federal Police (which provided it) claims to have a 30,000 staffing level and
because other sources note that the Amhara region has another 15,000
(Bourassa 2009).
7. The extreme cases are nations where corrupt institutions have become
predatory in their relations with citizens or have been fully captured by elites
for the principal purpose of eliminating opposition.
8. Frequent risk reduction tactics including hiring private security, inflating costs
(to compensate for the difficulty of collecting payments), and relying exclusively
on known suppliers and contractors (see World Bank 2009 for comments
on the latter practice in Ethiopia). The authors do not cite corruption
but rather delays and inefficiency as the motivating factors.
9. As Zook (2009) and others have noted, Singapore’s reputed success depends
on factors not common to less-developed countries: sufficient resources to
establish a complex internal mentoring system (and to pay extremely high
salaries) and the country’s small size. If this is, as some writers hold, “the Asian
model,” its application in countries such as China has proved a far less successful
check on corruption, especially at the local level.
10. The prosecutors have also tried to argue that provisionally closed cases should
not be counted, but unfortunately this is the international practice. If not
counted, their conviction rates would be in the 80 percent range, according to
Ministry of Justice interviews.
11. “Minor” is a relative term, and as Bourassa (2009) notes, in some regions,
cases with up to 15 years’ imprisonment as a penalty are handled in these
courts.