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Transparency Through
Government Initiatives: From
The Washington Consensus
To The African Experience
Sophal Ear
ADB Consultant
and UC Berkeley
August 22, 2001
sophal @alumni.princeton.edu
A Brief Outline
What is the so-called Washington
Consensus?
What are governance, key elements of good
governance, transparency, and corruption?
What can Cambodia learn from the African
experience?
As a post-conflict country, Cambodia faces
special problems which should be noted:
Low human development, missing institutions
Landmines, weapons, post-traumatic stress
Yet, none of this means that endemic
corruption is okay or excusable. It is not.
The Washington Consensus
Developed after the Latin American Debt
Crisis of the early 1980s, the Washington
Consensus still offers several sound policy
prescriptions.*
These include:
keeping budget deficits small and under control
focusing on health, education, and infrastructure
deregulation with appropriate supervision
protecting property rights
Protecting property rights holds at its core the
Rule of Law and good governance.
*J ohn Williamson (1990)
What Governance Means
According to the Asian Development Bank
(Operations Manual, Section 54, Issued on
13 January 1997), governance is the manner
in which power is exercised in the
management of a countrys economic and
social resources for development.
Good Governance is the normative version of
that definition, namely, the manner in which
power is exercised in the management of a
countrys economic and social resources for
sound development.
Four Key Elements of
Good Governance
The ADB has identified four basic elements
of good governance:
1. Accountability
2. Participation
3. Predictability
4. Transparency
These elements of good governance are
closely linked and mutually reinforcing. A
system of government or administration that
is transparent is also likely to be predictable
and accountable.*
*ADBOperational Manual, Section54, Issuedon13January1997
What Transparency Means
Transparency refers to:
1. Information being available to the general public
(as for instance economic and government data)
2. Government rules, regulations, and decisions being
clear
Rules and procedures that are transparent
prevent government officials from exercising
discretionary powers. They are also less
susceptible to different interpretations.
Thus, transparency complements and
reinforces predictability, reduces uncertainty,
and inhibits corruption among public officials.
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And It Goes Without Saying
Corruption, as defined by the ADB, is the
abuse of public and private office for personal
gain.
A more comprehensive definition is that
corruption involves behavior on the part of
officials in the public and private sectors, in
which they improperly and unlawfully enrich
themselves and/or those close to them, or
induce others to do so, by misusing the
position in which they are placed.
Examples: Tax evasion, kickbacks, receiving
or giving a bribe (either monetary or in-kind).
What Cambodia Can
Learn From Africa
Four countries* examined:
1. Somalia (An Extreme Case)
2. Nigeria (Natural Resources
and Corruption)
3. Botswana (Good Governance: Good
Results)
4. Uganda (Post-Conflict: Government
Initiatives)
*CoolidgeandRose-Ackerman(1997)
Somalia: An Extreme Case
In the 1980s, Somalia promised public sector
jobs to all secondary school (and higher)
graduates.
This was unsustainable. Public employment
grew faster than revenues.
As inflation increased, real wages fell.
Morale sank, and civil servants had to either
moonlight in the private sector or take
bribes They would also bid for jobs.
The story sounds familiar, except that things
really fell apart in the 1990s.
Nigeria: Natural Resources
and Corruption
The post-colonial State inherited by Nigerias
rulers lacked legitimacy.
This made it easy to justify rent-seeking at all
levels including the very top of government.
Each government that came to power,
whether elected or imposed by military force,
viewed its hold on power as precarious.
In conditions of uncertainty, the future is
short: grab-what-you-can-now. Oil was it.
Nigeria has laws against corruption, but they
have little impact. The Rule of Law has not
taken hold.
Botswana: Good Governance
Although organized democratically, one party
held power in Botswana for 30 years.
Following independence, the Botswana
Democratic Party delegated substantial
power to the bureaucracy, creating a
competent and efficient civil service.
Botswana invested the proceeds of its natural
resources (they account for over 50% of
GDP) in basic physical and social
infrastructure, including roads, water, schools
and clinics throughout the nation.
Botswana: Good Results
In 1997, rated as having the lowest political
risk (lower than even South Africa),
Botswana also had the highest per capita rate
of foreign direct investment in Africa.
Despite the ravages of AIDS, Botswana has
found innovative and new approaches to
combat the diseasepartnering with Western
pharmaceutical firms to provide medication to
all.
In so doing, Botswana is an example of
Washington Consensus-type policy reforms
working: investing in human capital.
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Uganda: Post-Conflict
Uganda emerged from Civil War in 1986. The
new Ugandan government under President
Yoweri Museveni inherited a weak,
underpaid, and over-staffed civil service
(including thousands of "ghost-workers").
For about a generation, corruption was a
survival strategy for civil servants.
President Museveni expressed a strong and
credible commitment to reduce corruption.
Uganda: Government
Initiatives
Cleaning up the civil service has been a long
term process, but Uganda made progress
using a multi-pronged strategy composed of:
1. Policy reform and deregulation to remove
unnecessary opportunities for rent -seeking
2. Civil service reform to streamline the civil service,
improve remuneration and provide training and a
code of ethics
3. A public relations campaign
4. Vigorous prosecution of corruption under the
authority of an Inspector General with extensive
powers of investigation and prosecution
A Word On Credibility
When people believe that something is credible,
then it becomes credible.
What makes a policy credible? Say for example
you create a supreme national audit authority or
an anti -corruption commission with the power to
investigate and prosecute anyoneand it does.
Thats credible.
Or you are the President of country X, and you
get impeached for some scandal involving an
intern.
Even the President of country X does not have
total immunity and cannot act with impunity.
Back to Cambodia
"Plus important: nous devons reconnatre que les guerres ont
dtruit l'essentiel des vertus, de lamoralit et de la conscience
des Khmers. La guerre semble tre devenue une manire de
vivredu peuple khmer. Les guerres ont fait d'un peuple honnte
et bien intentionnun peuplecruel, jalouxet haineux. O sont le
sens rel de l'amour , del'amitiet de la fraternit? O sont
parties notreconscience et notre moralit? Fondamentalement:
que nous est-il arriv? Les guerres ont aussi appris au peuple
mentir, voler, piller , se battre, etc. Les Khmers sont
devenus mfiants les uns vis--vis des autres. En fin decompte,
les guerres ont changle caractre du peuple khmer qui tait
gentil et gnreuxet qui est devenu cruel et cupide."
--Professor Chheng Phon
Director, Khmer Institute for Culture and Meditation
and Chairman, National Election Commission
Finally, Cambodia Is The
Same, And Yet It Is Different
Cambodias past influences its future, but it
would be wrong to say that Cambodias past
predicts its future.
Yes, a legacy of war and revolution has
destroyed both formal and informal
institutions.
Yes, the Khmer Rouge, millions of landmines,
and AIDS, have all taken their toll.
But just as you can predict the future by
making it, the future of Cambodia can
become predictable by taking credible,
incremental, steps today.