Georgia: Shortcomings threaten anti-corruption progress

Posted 26 October 2011

When the Rose Revolution swept across Georgia in 2003, the new leadership vowed to tackle the country’s endemic corruption. In the years that followed, the government enacted large-scale reform, resulting in an almost complete eradication of petty bribery. A report by Transparency International Georgia shows that the work is far from over.

While reforms have strengthened the executive and law enforcement agencies, the judiciary and legislature are lagging behind. As a result, rules are not being implemented in practice, and executive power is going unchecked. The weakness of the political party system does not help: the ruling party (the United National Movement) currently controls 80 per cent of parliament and dominates all governmental institutions.

The Georgia National Integrity System Assessment evaluates key actors and institutions in terms of their internal corruption risks and contributions to fighting corruption in society at large. For corruption to be kept at bay, all of these different components have to be functioning correctly. When individual institutions start to slip, accountability is weakened across the board. The report warns that transparency shortcomings in several sectors of Georgian society are a threat to the country’s overall progress on reform.

Tackling petty corruption

The report shows that the Georgian government has proven its commitment to cleaning up public administration. Its actions have at times been drastic – take, for example, the decision to disband the entire traffic police force – but the results are impressive. Through a series of prosecutions against those responsible for petty bribery, it has effectively tackled the former climate of impunity. By combining this with an increase in public sector salaries, it has made it possible for officials to work with integrity while still earning a decent living wage.

Similar resolve is now needed to prevent abuse in the top levels of power, says the assessment. In its research, Transparency International Georgia identified a number of key challenges and areas for improvement.

Strengthening the legislature

When parliament is so heavily dominated by the ruling party, the legislature isn’t likely to call the executive to account.

The weakness of the opposition parties is partly due to poor internal governance, but it’s also the result of a political playing field that’s stacked against them. With no clear division between the ruling party and the state, the United National Movement enjoys direct access to public resources.

When it comes to administering election campaigns, this gives the ruling party a clear advantage. The election management body lacks the legal powers to regulate political finance, warns the report.

Media and civil society are struggling

In theory, media and civil society organisations in Georgia are free from undue interference in their activities. In practice, they face significant challenges.

The report notes that civil society remains heavily dependent on foreign donor funding, enjoys little public support, and struggles to influence policies through advocacy. Media outlets, which struggle to secure money through advertising, often appear to show a pro-government bias. Rules on ownership transparency need to be enforced, and steps should be taken to foster investigative journalism.

Laws are not being (fairly) implemented

Georgia has adopted numerous important anti-corruption laws in recent years – including regulations on conflict of interest and public procurement – and created a supreme audit institution and internal audit system.

In reality, many of these provisions are hindered by the absence of proper implementation mechanisms. The assessment finds that in some cases, selected areas of the public sector are unjustifiably exempted from requirements.

Working for change

As it disseminates its findings, TI Georgia is working to address the weaknesses highlighted in the National Integrity System report. The organisation's activities include:

Explanatory videos and cartoons that make complex political proposals easier to understand (see a sample video on property privatisation below). TI Georgia takes these and other information tools on nationwide tours to increase citizen engagement in electoral reform. Other visualisations explain the fundamental rights of Georgian citizens, pointing out how these are regulated by Georgia's legislation
SMS alerts to inform citizens about draft laws and parliamentary discussions
Monitoring party finance and campaign administration to help ensure fair elections
Running anti-corruption legal advice centres to help citizens exercise their rights. Monitoring the caseload allows researchers to analyse systemic problems in the judiciary. TI Georgia is currently drawing up a system of standards for attaining information from courts. In the future, this will be used to measure judicial compliance.