April 2006
“The most important thing about these kinds of scandals is that they cause the general public to lose faith in their own institutions of democracy. It is even more damaging than the direct financial loss. As you know, Kenya is in the middle of a severe drought, and obviously people have said one of the connections that can be made is between the amount of money that may be being misappropriated and the drought and the way it is affecting Kenyans. However, I always assert that the biggest impact of these kinds of issues is usually on democratic institutions and causing people to lose faith in them.”

John Githongo, the former Kenyan anti-corruption tsar, on the opportunities Kenya has missed out on because of the Anglo Leasing scandal, estimated to have cost approximately US $700 million.

May 2006
“In my early days at the Canadian International Development Agency, I saw the effects of corruption first hand; I saw so much money being lost, being diverted from people who depended on it to improve their lives. Countries rich in natural resources were exploiting these resources and yet their people remained painfully poor, struggling to survive at the bottom of the poverty spectrum. So you know that money was going somewhere. When you see illness, death, a poor quality of life, you see that fighting corruption is vital to the future of these people.”

Huguette Labelle, Chair of Transparency International, on what inspired her to join the fight against corruption.

"Corruption most probably opened the door for the terrorists to come to Beslan. The border where they crossed into North Ossetia from Ingushetia is a well-known and well-observed smugglers’ transit road. Without having bribed police in the border region, they could not have gone unnoticed.”

Walter Mayr, Moscow Bureau Chief of the German newsmagazine Der Spiegel, on the role of corruption in the siege of the Beslan No1 School in Russia.

June 2006
“Corruption in sport is too often discussed only as a phenomenon of players and officials. It is much more. The really big cases have to do with big international crime - drug trafficking, money laundering, political corruption. Billions of dollars are lost to companies connected to the sport system. With the many competitions on the field, with the many bidding competitions for the organisation of prestigious events and lucrative marketing rights, with diplomatic status for officials and lack of border controls, the system promotes the opportunity to do dirty business.”

Jens Weinreich, journalist for the Berliner Zeitung and author of Corruption in Sport, on the prevalence of corruption in sport.

July 2006
"Companies involved in extractive industries are long-term players in the countries where they operate, and therefore the success of our business is very much tied to the success of the host country. The business case for EITI [Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative] is terribly important. It comes down to a simple matter of efficiency. It is very costly to operate in a corrupt regime, because everything takes longer – [Corruption] is a drag on the efficiency of moving goods and services, or of just doing business. Simply in terms of cost of operations, a country that is thriving is going to be a more efficient, safer place to operate. All of that equals greater profits – in the long term.”

Graham Baxter, Vice President, Corporate Responsibility, BP, on why business should implement the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI).

August 2006
“To me, the campaign against corruption is closely related to social movements for securing political freedom, equality, rule of law, opportunities for involvement in productive endeavours and social justice. Together they constitute what we call “development”. The ultimate sources of the challenge to anti-corruption are the same as those for all such agendas for change. The vestiges of the feudal social order get in the way, as do the difficulties in resolving the contradictions between the need for political financing and clean governance. In short, the battle against corruption is about inculcating new values in society and in politics.”

Devendra Raj Panday, member of the TI Board of Directors and former president of TI Nepal, on the challenges he faces in the daily fight against corruption.

September 2006
“My argument is that throwing good money at incompetent and corrupt politicians and bureaucrats is obviously not going to end poverty. Aid is a subsidy for African government corruption and incompetence. It is not so much that these countries don’t have resources; it is that they mismanage available resources. Giving them aid is an incentive for them to continue mismanaging.”

Andrew Mwenda, journalist at the Ugandan newspaper, The Monitor, on why Western governments should stop giving development aid to Africa.

October 2006
“Good governance reforms are important for the private sector generally, but will be particularly important for attracting investment from good international companies. Countries with high levels of corruption may still get investment, but are more likely to get investment from second- or third- rate companies or companies. The investment climate goes beyond the issue of corruption. The World Bank has a regular survey where one of the questions is: “How long does it take in this country to start a new business?” In Indonesia the process is very long, in Singapore it is really quick. I take that question as a proxy for bribery because if procedures are slow and cumbersome, that increases the temptation for business people to offer bribes, or for officials to create obstacles in order to solicit extra payments for removing them.

John Bray, policy specialist at the independent risk consultancy Control Risks, on the results of the International Business Attitudes to Corruption Survey 2006.

November 2006
“The institutional building process should be the rule and the strength of the institutions should be the norm rather than the exception. But I mostly aspire to inject this in the psyche and the conduct of people; to make it second nature. It changes with people. There was a generation where this was common practice, and it was condoned or maybe even encouraged, it wasn’t even an ethical question or a moral question. It was a way to do things; it was a way to get the contract. In other words, you got fired if you didn’t do it. Now, it is becoming obvious that this is maybe not an appropriate conduct. That is an improvement. Maybe the next step is to say this is undesirable, unbecoming conduct, and then more and more people around you will reject it. You have work on building political accountability on both sides.”

Angel Gurria, Secretary General of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), on what he would like to see being achieved in the fight against corruption by the end of his term.

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