Many people do not report corruption because they believe that their complaint will not change anything. Citizens still have no confidence in the system and our institutions that they will do something after they receive their complaints, said Ivana Korajlic from the Transparency International in BiH.
You presented the results of the Center for free legal assistance in combating corruption for the year of 2017. You discussed the corrupt practices that our citizens are facing with, as well as examples of the most common complaints. What are the most common examples of abuse?
Citizens mostly report corruption in the process of employment, and they are mostly complaining about irregularities in the procedures of employment of civil servants, as well as the employment in public companies. That is the most common problem that our citizens are facing with. We did not receive adequate response from the government that could improve transparency and procedures that are related to employment. Citizens complain that it is usually known in advance who will get the job. Public calls are not implemented in accordance with the law, etc. This problem of irregularity and corruption in the employment procedures is the most common problem of our citizens.
More than 1,500 citizens contacted Transparency International in BiH through a free line 0800 55555, and TI BiH acted in more than 270 cases of reports made by citizens, journalists, activists and NGOs as well as in cases that were started in 2017. Is this a real number that reflects the real situation of those who would like to report the corruption?
We have an increasing number of filed complaints and cases that we are dealing with from year to year. On the other side, there is an increasing dissatisfaction of our citizens as well. Many of them do not report corruption because they do not believe that it will change anything. Citizens still have no confidence in our institutions and the system. They are aware that it takes a very long time when institutions are handling the case. It is encouraging that we have an increasing number of ‘whistleblowers’, i.e. people who are reporting corruption from the institutions.
(Source: N1)
