AFGHANISTAN

PUBLIC POLICY
POLICY
AFGHANISTAN
PUBLIC
RESEARCH
ORGANIZATION
RESEARCH
ORGANIZATION
www.appro.org.af

Policy Brief
October 2016

www.appro.org.af

Institutionalizing Good
Governance in Afghanistan

About APPRO:

Background

Afghanistan Public Policy Research

Organization (APPRO) is an independent social research organization with
a mandate to promote social and
policy learning to benefit development and reconstruction efforts in
Afghanistan and other less developed countries through conducting
applied research, monitoring and
evaluation, and training and mentoring. APPRO is registered with the
Ministry of Economy in Afghanistan
as a non-profit, non-government organization. APPRO is headquartered
in Kabul, Afghanistan, with offices in
Mazar-e Shrif (north), Herat (west),
Kandahar (south), Jalalabad (east),
and Bamyan (center). APPRO is also
the founding organization of APPROEurope, registered in Belgium.

Despite progress in the post-2001

period, the principles of good governance have been weak or missing in
Afghanistan. The persistent disconnect between policymaking bodies
and citizens has adversely affected the
legitimacy of representative institutions. The public has limited access
to reliable information about policymaking, which undermines its ability to
judge political performance. As a result,
the public perceives aloof politicians,
broken promises, and unchecked
corruption.

Contact us:
www.appro.org.af
Email: mail@appro.org.af
Tel: +93 700 053 081
www.appro-europe.net
Email: mail@appro-europe.net
Tel: +32 2 895 36 01
Fax: +32 2 895 36 02
This and other publications by APPRO
may be downloaded from:
http://appro.org.af/briefs/

roles played by the public, businesses,

and donors in perpetuating corrupt
practices.
Rather than focusing exclusively on
the most visible tip of the iceberg
of corruption, interventions need to
both drill down into the transactional
dynamics of corruption as well as reach
out to all those with a stake in eradicating it.

Recommendations

Taxation: Increased accountability

through a two-fold approach is needed
in the area of taxation. This can be
Trust in the democratic process and the accomplished through systems reform
in the taxpayer offices of the Ministry
purpose of voting has been damaged.
APPROs understanding of the status of of Finance. It can also be advanced
governance in the country is based on a through increasing awareness within
number of research projects examining civil society and the private sector
about taxation policy and procedures,
different aspects of governance from
thereby enhancing the publics ability
a good governance perspective,
consisting of the key pillars of account- to resist extortion.
ability, transparency, adherence to
Customs: It is estimated that half
rule of law, equitability, inclusiveness,
of the customs fees that are due
effectiveness, efficiency, and participa- to government are not collected
tion. Our experience consistently points because of an intricate system of bribe
to the need to intervene in several key payments by traders and bribe taking
areas.
by customs officials. These practices
continue despite the introduction of
To date, international donors and
the ASYCUDA system for tracking loads
the Government of Afghanistan have
focused efforts to end corruption solely of goods. Key challenges are to remove
cash payments from the system
on government units through legislation, regulatory reform, and the estab- through digitization and to break-up
the networks involved in customs
lishment of anti-corruption bodies.
bribery.
These interventions have proven inadequate in part because they neglect the

Public knowledge: Most of the public in

Afghanistan lacks knowledge about how to
use legal tools to challenge demands made
by corrupt government officials. Similarly,
interest groups and business associations
with a stake in eliminating corruption lack
capacity to advocate for or monitor anti-corruption reforms and legislative provisions.
Additional capacity building interventions
would empower the public to hold government accountable.
Increased legitimacy of sub-national governance: Efforts have been made since the
adoption of the new Constitution in 2004
to expand and improve sub-national governance. This includes the adoption of the
Sub-National Governance Policy in 2010.
However, weak rule of law and lack of coordination among funding and administrative
bodies have impeded the reform process.
A multitude of local government bodies
have emerged and have been layered upon
pre-existing traditional structures. The effect
has been a confusion of roles, functions,
and linkages, with unclear lines of authority
as well as inefficiencies, competition, and
lack of accountability. At the district level,
in particular, contending governance bodies
lack mandates and clear lines of authority,
and none have sufficient power or independence to hold executive government units
to account. Possible interventions to decentralization political authority to provincial
and district level bodies could prove useful,
especially if combined with capacity building
supports to ensure these bodies have the
knowledge and technical ability to respond
to the needs of citizens.
Protection of whistle-blowers: Legislation
and policies should be adopted to protect
victims and witnesses who step forward and
report crimes of corruption. This includes
articulation of clear definitions of what
constitutes a crime of corruption, guidance
on reporting procedures, and criteria to
assess disclosures. Mechanisms must be

developed to protect employees and victims

who report corruption from retaliation or
disciplinary action as well as to lower the
burden of proof for those who report retaliation.
Enhanced service delivery: Given the level
of corruption in state service provision,
focusing on government actors in anti-corruption efforts continues to be justified.
State corruption drains resources intended
for service delivery and undermines the
legitimacy of the state. Bribes are widely
used to secure access to services in health,
education, formal justice, and public utilities, including electricity, land titling, birth
certificates/taskaras, and passports. Prior
to designing interventions, a particular area
of service provision should be investigated
and analysed to tailor solutions to the
actual mechanisms of corrupt transactions.
Possible interventions in this area include
utilizing the recently passed Access to Information Law that obligates government units
to provide information about activities and
services to the public.
Civic technology and e-governance: The
unprecedented growth of information and
communication technology in Afghanistan
since 2001, particularly among youth, has
created opportunities to better address
the gap between the public and government. Technology based initiatives can be
harassed in order for the public to monitor
democratic processes and follow up on
the commitments made by their elected
representatives. Civic technology can
increase public engagement in political
deliberation and facilitate holding elected
bodies to account. Fact checking platforms,
for instance, have received wide acclaim
as successful means to check the truthfulness of politicians claims. E-governance
initiatives can augment service delivery by
increasing administrative efficiency and
accountability.