Fighting corruption is a must

Fighting corruption in developing countries.  One Good governance can not be imposed from outside, it must also be imposed from inside with the help of donors.

Corruption is endemic in the developing world and is so prevalent it often goes unnoticed. Some of the corruption that is going unrecognised every day is the corruption that hits people. For instance, 50% of drugs in Nigeria are useless and in Uganda, 27% of teachers do not turn up. There was a call for more transparency to fight corruption that can be achieved easily and at low cost.

What need to be done is to get these governments to push the button, put the information up on the Internet and make the information available to citizens.

Good governance cannot be imposed from outside, it has to be imposed from inside with the help of donors. One can devise the most sophisticated systems to track money but if the political will does not exist inside the government, it is not going to work. 

The European Investment Bank is using simple technology including SMS messages from people on the ground so that it can get feedback about aid arriving.

Published on 1 March 2011