Learning Objectives

What do politics have to do with corruption?

After studying this unit, you should be able to:

• Understand the function and structure of an anticorruption commission;

• Understand the role of parliament in fighting corruption;

• Recognize what is meant by public money for the public good.

Introduction

Diagnosis, direction, stakeholder participation, education, and prevention are all very important steps in corruption prevention, as we have learned in the earlier units of this module. A national commitment by parliamentarians and other political organizations to the corruption problem is also needed to overcome corruption. This unit looks at options for parliamentarians and political bodies’ to become involved and the extent of external participation in the process.

With each country comes a unique culture, values, traditions, economy, history and political structure. As a result, there is not one corruption fighting action plan that works for all countries. Action plans need to establish different priorities, sequences and timing for fighting corruption reflecting each country’s problems and opportunities.

Nonetheless, action plans draw from the same general pool of anticorruption reforms including economic reforms, institutional arrangements administrative reforms for promoting incentives for public officials and awareness raising campaigns that encourage citizens to resist corruption. As this unit will explain, these tend to include public spending patterns, the development of an ACC, citizen involvement, and a well functioning transparent, accountable and involved parliament.