Corruption in the public sector
IDENTIFY THE KEY FEATURES OF CORRUPTION. ESTABLISH WHY PUBLIC SECTOR CORRUPTION IS REGARDED AS A PROBLEM ESPECIALLY FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES.
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Corruption is regarded as a complex problem to solve or refer solutions to. Corruption may be taken to include those modes of employing money to attain private ends by political means which are criminal or at least illegal, because they induce persons charged with a public duty to transgress that duty and misuse the functions assigned to them (Heidenheimer, 1989). The aim of this paper is to identify the key features of corruption. It also establishes why public sector corruption is regarded as a problem especially for the developing countries. It is however necessary before identifying the major features of corruption, to have a lucid definition of it.
The UN’s Global Programme against Corruption defines corruption as “the abuse of power for private gain”, and it includes both the public and the private sector. Many different definitions or understandings of corruption, however, exist that generate debate among legal, academic and policy-maker circles.
Corruption could also be the inducement (as of a political official) by means of improper consideration to commit a violation of duty (Klitgaard, 1998).
While the issue is largely legal in nature, in many countries it also adopts a degree of political significance. There are different types of corruption namely; political, economic, social corruption. However the most commonly known or encountered forms of corruption are described below:
• Grand and Petty corruption: Grand corruption pervades the highest levels of a nation’s government, resulting in an erosion of confidence in good governance, the rule of law and economic and political stability. Petty corruption involves the exchange of very small amounts of money, the conceding of minor favours or the employment of friends and relatives in minor positions.
• Bribery: Bribery refers to the
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Corruption is regarded as a complex problem to solve or refer solutions to. Corruption may be taken to include those modes of employing money to attain private ends by political means which are criminal or at least illegal, because they induce persons charged with a public duty to transgress that duty and misuse the functions assigned to them (Heidenheimer, 1989). The aim of this paper is to identify the key features of corruption. It also establishes why public sector corruption is regarded as a problem especially for the developing countries. It is however necessary before identifying the major features of corruption, to have a lucid definition of it.
The UN’s Global Programme against Corruption defines corruption as “the abuse of power for private gain”, and it includes both the public and the private sector. Many different definitions or understandings of corruption, however, exist that generate debate among legal, academic and policy-maker circles.
Corruption could also be the inducement (as of a political official) by means of improper consideration to commit a violation of duty (Klitgaard, 1998).
While the issue is largely legal in nature, in many countries it also adopts a degree of political significance. There are different types of corruption namely; political, economic, social corruption. However the most commonly known or encountered forms of corruption are described below:
• Grand and Petty corruption: Grand corruption pervades the highest levels of a nation’s government, resulting in an erosion of confidence in good governance, the rule of law and economic and political stability. Petty corruption involves the exchange of very small amounts of money, the conceding of minor favours or the employment of friends and relatives in minor positions.
• Bribery: Bribery refers to the