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NICARAGUA:
Despite Efforts, Corruption Still a Problem
By José Adán Silva
MANAGUA (IPS) - Two national surveys and the
latest report on perceptions of corruption
by Transparency International support the
view that a culture of graft continues to
undermine the foundations of Nicaraguan
society, in spite of efforts to fight the
problem in the last few years.
In the latest report by global
anti-corruption watchdog Transparency
International, published Tuesday in Berlin,
Nicaragua did not improve on last year's
ranking in the Corruption Perceptions Index.
Based on six surveys carried out in the
country, Nicaragua's 2009 score is 2.5 on a
scale of zero (perceived to be highly
corrupt) to 10 (perceived to have low levels
of corruption). This is the third worst
score in Latin America, above only
Venezuela, with 1.9 points, and Haiti, with
1.8 points.
"Throughout Latin America, which makes up
the bulk of low-scoring countries in the
(Americas) region, weak institutions, poor
governance practices and the excessive
influence of private interests continue to
undermine best efforts to promote equitable
and sustainable development," the report
says.
But in Nicaragua, the results of two
national studies are a particular cause for
alarm.
The Joint Donor Anti-Corruption Trust Fund
in Nicaragua - made up of the Swiss Agency
for Development and Cooperation, the
Norwegian and Dutch governments through
their embassies and the United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP) - presented two
studies last week on perceptions of the
problem in this Central American country.
A study titled Diagnosis of Corruption in
Nicaragua was "based on 60 interviews in a
range of sectors, including the government,"
said Chilean researcher Miguel Peñailillo,
who conducted the study.
One out of four interviewees said they had
personally given bribes to expedite public
and private red tape. And at least three out
of 10 citizens said they had been asked for
kickbacks at public institutions between
2006 and 2009.
All the evidence "indicates that corruption
has not disappeared, but has simply changed
form," Peñailillo told IPS.
Prior to 1990, the chief form was
politically-motivated appropriation and
confiscation of assets belonging to
opponents of the leftwing regime of the
Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN),
which came to power in 1979 after defeating
the Somoza family dynasty that had ruled
Nicaragua for over 40 years.
During the government of President Violeta
Chamorro (1990-1997), corruption was seen in
the process of the privatisation of public
assets, and through compensation payments
for confiscations carried out under the
Sandinista administration.
Under the government of President Arnoldo
Alemán (1997-2002), of the rightwing Liberal
Constitutionalist Party (PLC), money from
the public treasury was openly squandered
and misused, with flagrant displays of
luxury and distribution of backhanders to
civil servants and members of the governing
party, the study says.
The administration of President Enrique
Bolaños (2002-2007), also of the PLC, was
characterised by influence peddling in
favour of members of the business community,
and tax exemptions for economic groups
linked to public officials, according to the
authors of the Diagnosis.
More than 2.5 billion dollars apparently
vanished from government coffers during the
prior administrations, the authors say.
The study says that the present government
of Sandinista President Daniel Ortega has
failed to enforce anti-corruption and
transparency measures in public programmes.
It also points to favouritism towards
companies and deals linked to FSLN officials
or party members, political control of the
judicial branch and oversight agencies, and
the discretionary handling of huge funds
from the oil agreement reached with the
government of Venezuelan President Hugo
Chávez, for which public accounts have not
been given.
In Peñailillo's view, institutionalised
corruption has affected not only the
resources of this country of 5.7 million
people, 48 percent of whom are poor, but has
also corroded social standards that are
needed for progress.
"The study indicates that one of the worst
social effects of corruption going
unpunished is that it creates the perception
that corruption is more lucrative than
honesty," the researcher said.
"One's word used to be sacred in Nicaraguan
culture, but it has lost value. In the past,
your given word used to be enough to close a
deal or seal an agreement, but now no one
trusts anyone else's word any more," he
said.
The second study is an updated version of a
social audit that has been carried out four
times since 1998, on Perception of
Corruption in Local Public Services for
2009. It was based on 6,050 household
interviews around the country, Jorge
Aróstegui, the head of the survey team, told
IPS.
This report paints a picture of permanent,
generalised demands for kickbacks from
ordinary people whenever they want access to
public services provided by municipal
governments, health centres, schools, local
courts and police stations.
The practice goes on at the highest levels
of all branches of government, and also in
social services involving middle and lower
ranking civil servants, according to the
studies.
Both reports, carried out in collaboration
between the Joint Donors Anti-Corruption
Trust Fund and the Ortega administration,
provide a scientific basis for the country
to "determine strategic priorities in the
fight against corruption," the Norwegian
ambassador to Nicaragua, Tom Tyrihjell, told
IPS.
This country needs the state to take on a
leading role in the fight against
corruption, setting an example by
strengthening democracy through public
transparency, said the diplomat, speaking on
behalf of the donor agencies.
Over the past decade, Nicaragua has taken
some steps to reduce corruption, which have
improved the transfer of funds from the
central government's budget to local
governments, but there is still room for
improving democratic control of the budget
and public administration, he said.
Despite its efforts, Nicaragua still has one
of the worst corruption perception indices
in the region, the ambassador said.
The Nicaraguan authorities took a positive
view of the results of the studies.
According to Attorney General Hernán
Estrada, in spite of the profound crisis in
social values that the country has
experienced since 1997, the situation has
been improving under the FSLN, which was
returned to power in 2007, and which
launched a zero tolerance campaign against
corruption.
"The country still has its weaknesses, but
these are mostly to be found in the other
branches of state, rather than in the
government of President Ortega and its
public institutions," Estrada told IPS.
The dean of the Faculty of Legal Studies at
the Jesuit-run Central American University,
Manuel Aráuz, said one of the main causes of
corruption today is that institutions have
become politicised.
"Justice officials do not apply the legal
instruments that exist for punishing
corruption. Instead they protect members of
their own parties who are accused of
misdeeds," he said.
"There is a perceptible feeling that the
rule of law is not respected. The country
has good laws, but they are not strictly
enforced," said Aráuz, the author of several
studies on corruption and regulations in
Nicaragua.
In the social audit presented by the donor
agencies, the judicial branch, especially
the local courts, are highlighted as one of
the public services most prone to the
practice of bribery by 32 out of every 100
households surveyed, Aráuz said. |
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