Insight Magazine Nov/Dec 2016

Opinion
Sierra Leone
calls time on
petty corruption
Sierra Leone is launching a major citizen action campaign
against petty corruption in its public sector. The country’s new
Pay No Bribe process hinges on an online reporting platform
which makes it easier for people who are asked for a bribe by
a public servant, to report it to the country’s Anti-Corruption
Commission (ACC).
Pay No Bribe, is part of the President’s Recovery Priorities - Sierra Leone’s socio-economic recovery process
which is intended to address the effects of Ebola and the iron ore price slump. The Recovery Priorities take the
form of a coordinated series of development initiatives across education, energy, health, social protection, water,
the private sector and governance, to be delivered by June 2017.
Governance has the over-arching objective of improving delivery in all the priority areas and the inclusion of
Pay No Bribe recognises the extent to which corruption has rooted itself within Sierra Leone’s public sector.
Figures from Transparency International’s 2015 global corruption index reveal the scale of the problem - 48% of
respondents reported that either they or members of their households had paid a bribe to access medical and
health services, 62% to education and 57% to utilities.
Reducing corruption in these areas would represent a significant and direct benefit for a substantial number
of Sierra Leone’s people - more money in their pockets, improved access to services that are vital in the literal
sense of the word, and the satisfaction of knowing they can be part of the solution to the problem.
Less immediately obvious, are the benefits that reducing corruption would have on culture and society in Sierra
Leone. Kofi Annan, former UN Secretary General has said that: “Corruption is a key element in economic under
performance and a major obstacle to poverty alleviation and development.” The truth of this observation is
profoundly evident in Sierra Leone’s stunted development. Research also demonstrates that encounters with
corruption impair citizens’ confidence in government and public services, and promote dishonest practices in
people’s interactions with government. In effect, corruption begets corruption.
But despite the obvious benefits, Sierra Leoneans will still have to buy into Pay No Bribe for it to work. This
won’t be quite so straightforward. Corruption in Sierra Leone is a cunning, complex process. It most affects
society’s poorest and this is the very group who will be wary about reporting and put off by the technology
involved. A freephone number, the assurance of anonymity and a system or reporting for those with no
access to a phone or internet will go some way towards addressing these concerns. Nevertheless, building the
confidence to participate will be an ongoing process of reassurance.
For the affluent, the petty sums that oil creaky public service processes are deemed money well spent or are
small enough to be easily overlooked. On that subject, Ady Macauley, the Opinion Commissioner of the ACC is
unequivocal, saying that petty corruption means that “children do not get the education they need to build a
better future for themselves and our country; and the sick die because they are denied life-saving treatment or
vital medication ... It destabilises our society and contributes towards creating the conditions for conflict.”
Image: Christopher Dombres, Flicker Creative Commons
“definitions of corruption vary depending on location. Individuals in countries where there aren’t rigid structures
in place are not necessarily aware that they’re breaking the rules.”
Take for example, the issue of gifts. In Sierra Leone, like much of Africa, acts of giving are woven into social,
business and cultural life. Formal meetings with traditional leaders are preceded with the giving of a cash gift,
however nominal and ‘transport’ money is appropriate if they attend meetings outside their community, it. The
giving works both ways. I remember a chief explaining that he was expected to give his people food, when
he called community consultation meetings, “otherwise he would be considered a greedy chief, and his people
would refuse to attend.” Noticeably, the language of corruption reflects a bastardised version of these traditions,
with the public sector official as a quasi-authority figure, asking for transport, water or ‘chop’ money.
Sierra Leone is not unusual. Davide Torsello, of the University of Bergamo has written about the custom of
exchanging favours in Italy and Turkey, and informal economic transactions in Bosnia, Kosovo and Tanzania that
facilitate corruption without breaking social norms.
The very nature of corruption is to hide, adapt, minimise,
trivialise or normalise its deviance. The Pay No Bribe system
is an important step, but to successfully call time on petty
corruption, it it will need to be matched by clear results and
an ongoing process of engagement with the public to build
awareness of corruption, its causes, its guises and its truly
destructive effect on Sierra Leone’s development.
FT
Insight
15
Cultural nuances are another, often overlooked barrier to buy-in. As Isha Johansen, President of the Sierra
Leonean Football Association, says of her own campaign for good governance in Sierra Leone’s football industry,
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