Transparancy International Says 75% Liberians Are Corrupt

A Belgium based international anti-corruption group, Transparency International (TI) recently released a major reports on 107 countries across the world. The group latest survey conducted ranked two neighboring countries in the Mano River Union Basin,

Liberia and Sierra Leone at the bottom, alleging that more than three in four of those surveyed in the two countries saying they had paid a bribe. The Transparency International finding which opened to debate makes a startling revelation disclosing that seventy-five percent of Liberians is corrupt, out of every four Liberians, three are corrupt. Besides Liberia, the report also indicates that More than one in four people around the world have paid a bribe in the past year.

According to a global survey conducted by Transparency International, our of one thousand Liberians who the survey covered, 750 alleged that they had to pay bribe upon the request of the receivers. Out of the 107 countries the survey covered, Sierra Leone is ranked first followed by Liberia in the second position with 75 percent.

At the other end of the spectrum, Australia, Belgium, Portugal, Malaysia, Finland, Denmark and Croatia were among the countries reporting a bribery rate of less than 5%. Somewhere between 5% and 9.9% of respondents in the United States and United Kingdom said they had paid a bribe. The surveys suggest that corruption cuts across societies and demographics. The report,

however, fall short to give detail statistical breakdown of the 75% Liberians; this has disproved those who believe that only public officials are corrupt. However, the TI’s survey report name the police as the most corrupt but others who spokes with the NEW VISON following the release of the TI’s report, again name the police and immigration officers as the most corrupt followed by classroom teachers (instructors and professors), bankers (Tellers), public officials, courts’

workers, (judges and lawyers), local journalists, politicians, NGO workers, marketers, taxi drivers, and religious institutions. The report asked: Have you recently paid a bribe to a local politician, judge or police officer? If so, you're not alone. A report released last Tuesday, the TI’s survey finds that corruption is a growing problem, with a majority of respondents saying that the situation has deteriorated in their country over the past two years.

The survey also shows that in many countries, people are losing trust in government institutions. Political parties are seen as the most corrupt class of organization in some 51 countries. Thirty-six countries name the police as the most corrupt, while another 20 countries say the judiciary is their biggest source of trouble. More than 50% of people think that their government is controlled by small groups and special interests. In Cyprus, Greece, Lebanon, Russia, Tanzania and Ukraine, that number jumps above 80%.

"The majority of people around the world believe that their government is ineffective at fighting corruption and corruption in their country is getting worse," Transparency International said in the report, which was based on a survey of 114,000 people in 107 countries. Certain countries are in more trouble than others.

Liberia and Sierra Leone rank at the bottom, with more than three in four of those surveyed saying they had paid a bribe in the past year. Bribery rates were over 50% in Cambodia, Senegal,

Cameroon, Ghana, India, Tanzania, Kenya, Libya, Mozambique, Uganda, Yemen and Zimbabwe. Some large, sophisticated economies have governments that are perceived to be under the control of a select few.

According to the survey results, Italy, Spain, Belgium and Israel fall into this category. So what's to be done? Transparency International says authorities must make sure corrupt officials do not escape punishment. "Impunity is anathema to the fight against corruption and, especially in the judiciary and law enforcement sectors, is a direct challenge to the rule of law," the group said.

Meanwhile, in Liberia corruption is not only in government but also institutionalized in the private sector, with dishonesty deteriorating and disturbing. But when people hear about corruption, they usually attributed it to public officials failing to understanding that the most corrupt people are those outside governmental circle, according to a survey.

According to several persons spoken with, the police in Liberia just like other under-developed countries are the most corrupt. In Liberia, police and immigration officers and teachers are the most corrupt; they are usually seemed taking bribe, while tellers of banking institutions and local journalists are rated as the second and third most corrupt people in the country.

The police and immigration officers usually leveled false charges against people and at the same time compromised cases in the interest of the high bribe, while tellers of banking institutions and teachers are rated the most dishonest people in the country. According to reports, 95 percent of customers regularly complained how they are always duped by tellers of banks.

Teachers are no exception; they are opened to bribery from their students as an inducement in exchange for passing grades. In order to compare a student to bribe a teachers, instructors or professors, the teachers habitually administered exams to students outside the lessons. Some teachers usually demand sex from female students in exchange for a passing grade. Another group of people involved in corrupt practices including public officers, medical workers, local journalists and judges, they frequently profited from dishonest practices directly or indirectly. In some instances, corruption is termed as embezzlement or misappropriation in public certain, but when a civil servant is arrested for corrupt act, he or she is usually accused and charge with stealing.

In one of its reports, the States Department alleged that journalists in Liberia usually compromised stories and that anyone who bribed determined which part of the newspaper their stories can be placed and when their stories can be aired. The report also said editorials and frontpage banners headlines stories are most often compromised or paid to have published, the report further name electronic media houses of being exception of corruption.

Another report released in 2010 by an international NGO also accused radio and television stations of treating bribery stories with prominent, attributing corruption in the media to low salary for journalists. Another situation that continues to hunt the local media is the One Hundred Thousand Dollars given for the construction of a new headquarters for the Press union of Liberia (PUL) which reports say has not been used for its intended purpose.

Besides, another reports name judges and counselors as another group of people who usually received bribe frequently to compromise cases in the interest of the high inducers, while on a largest scare medical officers (nurses) also usually request bribe from patients, this is commonly practices in Monrovia. Patients are often abandoned by nurses when the sick person has nothing substantive give as an inducement for proper treatment.

Occasionally, doctors frequently asked their patients to go to certain pharmacies to purchase their medications. Mostly those who received proper care from nurses are either public officials or those who offer bribe. In some hospitals, when tickets are being issued out for patients to meet doctor, tickets which numbers fall from one to ten are mostly given to people who bribed while those who usually leave their homes as early as 5am or 6am to go at the hospital to obtain a tickets are denied their rightful tickets, instead are given tickets that they do not desired.

Marketers and taxi cab drivers are another corrupt people in the Liberian society, as markets usually placed candle water in a cup to reduce the weight of the quantity of the rice, as a means of duping their customers. While taxi drivers usually over-charged commuters,

in some instances, whenever a commuter either forgot an item on a vehicle, the driver usually taking away their item into his personal use instead of report same to the nearby police which transparency International says are the most corrupt group in the country. Besides, politicians and NGO workers are no exception.

Corruption is institutionalized among political parties and NGOs. Majority of NGOs workers usually submitted false report to their donors or sponsors for their project to be approved or renewed, they are not transparent in their activities and operations. They have failed to make their financial reports published in the newspapers.