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CHAPTER 1
Overview
Janelle Plummer
Introduction
For decades, corruption in Ethiopia has been discussed only at the
margins. Perhaps because many have not experienced corruption as a
significant constraint to their lives and businesses, or perhaps because
a culture of circumspection has dampened open dialogue, Ethiopia has
seen neither the information flows nor the debate on corruption that
most other countries have seen in recent years.
To address this information gap, the World Bank agreed with the
government of Ethiopia and its Federal Ethics and Anti-Corruption
Commission (FEACC) to undertake research and produce an independent
overview of corruption, identify follow-up actions to these diagnostics,
and articulate the proposed approach in an Anti-Corruption
Strategy and Action Plan for Ethiopia (World Bank 2007).
Although this chapter results from studies completed by January 2010, the process of
checking, reviewing, and securing agreement for publication was finally brought to conclusion
only in late 2011. The chapter is therefore put forward with the caveat that while it
reflects the situation at the time of the study, some details will have understandably
changed.
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