81% say govt officials corrupt- Afro Barometer
Staff Writer | Monday March 30, 2015 16:42
Most Batswana believe that political institutions are involved in corruption, and over time this perception has increased. 81 percent of Batswana say that “some,” “most,” or “all” government officials are involved in corruption, followed by 77 percent with regard to MPs and local government councillors and 70 percent with regard to the president and officials in his office.
Increases in perceived corruption are most striking with regard to the office of the president, rising by 29 percentage points (from 41 percent to 70 percent ) between 2008 and 2014. An increase of 18 percentage points is observed with regard to MPs and local government councillors between 2008 and 2014, while perceived corruption among government officials rose by 13 percentage points.
The level of perceived corruption across all political institutions is higher among urban residents than among semi-urban and rural dwellers. Similarly majorities of Batswana believe that state institutions are involved in corruption.Perceived corruption is highest with regard to the police, possibly because public contact with the police is more frequent than with other state institutions. 81 percent of respondents say that “some,” “most,” or “all” of the police are corrupt. Two-thirds(68 percent ) say that the Botswana Unified Revenue Service (BURS) is corrupt, and 62 percent perceive corruption among judges and magistrates. Public perceptions of corruption among state institutions have been increasing since 2008, recording 20-percentage-point jumps with regard to the BURS and the judiciary. Perceived corruption in state institutions is highest among urban residents
Half (51 percent ) of Batswana say that the level of corruption has increased “a lot” or “somewhat” over the past year, while 23 percent say that it has decreased and 14 percent say it has stayed the same.
Accountability to Parliament
Most Batswana (84 percent ) want the president to justify his policies and procedures to Parliament, while a mere 6 percent disagree with the idea
Declaration of assets and liabilities
In terms of support for requiring ministers, MPs, and other senior government officials to publicly declare their assets and liabilities, 75 percent of Batswana “agree” or “strongly agree” with the introduction of such a law. Only 16 percent oppose such a law.
Holding Elected Officials Accountable
Only one-third (33 percent ) of Batswana see it as the responsibility of voters to ensure that, once elected, MPs do their job. This is a decrease of 9 percentage points from 2012. A larger proportion (38percent ) assign this responsibility to the president.Similarly, the proportion of respondents who say that it is voters’s responsibility to ensure that local councillors do their job declined from 44 percent in 2012 to 38 percent