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FUNDS ESSENTIAL TO ALBANIA'S CORRUPTION FIGHT
Proper funding is key to the success of the government's efforts to implement its anti-corruption strategy, the Albanian branch of Transparency International says. "Costing is very important; it's the only way we can pass from words on paper to actions," the head of Transparency International in Albania, TIA, Lufti Dervishi, told Balkan Insight on Monday during the presentation of a TIA project to monitor public spending on anti-corruption efforts. "Without an idea of the costs we can have very good strategies on paper but we won't obtain results in practice," he added. Albania adopted an anti-corruption strategy four years ago. A report released in January by two leading NGOs on the implementation of the strategy for 2010 says ministries and agencies failed to act on their own measures. The report, drafted by the Open Society Foundation in Albania and the Institute for Democracy and Mediation, says that in 2010 the institutions that were monitored implemented only 59 per cent of the measures in the anti-corruption strategy. The report covers implementation of anti-corruption measures in the Economy, Health, and Justice Ministries and the State Police. The police have the highest implementation rate with 80 per cent of planned measures having been fully applied, while the Ministry of Justice has the poorest rate, with only 40 per cent of anti-corruption measures being addressed. Helena Papa, a coordinator in the Council of Ministers for various agencies involved in the implementations of the strategy, admitted that "budgeting was a key issue". According to the corruption index published by Transparency International on December 1st 2011, Albanians perceive corruption as widespread, reaching the highest echelons of officialdom. The index puts Albania in 95th place with a score of 3.1 out of 183 countries in the report. This year's ranking is eight places behind its position in the index in 2010, when Albania ranked 87th with a score of 3.3. Balkan Insight 14/02/2012 |
