In May, TI Kenya released a public opinion survey on the process of developing a new constitution. The survey covered citizen’s views on the devolution of executive power, land reform, regional government and religious courts. The main results of the survey show that 62 per cent of respondents believe that the committee of experts will be plagued by political interference and intrigues, and, as a result, 78 per cent of respondents do not think the new constitution will be ready within one year as planned. A slight majority of respondents (53 per cent) would like executive powers shared between a president and prime minister. The survey is based on a random sample of 1,402 respondents collected from rural and urban areas across the eight provinces of Kenya. More information here can be found here.

Transparency Maroc, the TI chapter in Morocco, presented a new publication looking at transparency in the access to public services. According to the report, the daily access to public services is hindered by the misuse of power by the administrators’, and this is further compounded by the difficult, complex procedures that deprive citizens of their fundamental rights, such as access to healthcare or education services.

The publication is the fifth edition in the series Transparency News, which focuses on one editorial issue as part of the chapter’s project Observatoire de la Corruption. The Corruption Observatory monitors national news stories on corruption to identify key areas where institutions critical for integrity fall short and makes recommendations on how corruption in different sectors can be tackled.

TI Niger has spoken out publicly against the prolonging of the President of the Republic’s mandate. Currently, according to the 1999 constitution, the president is elected for five-years with one possible re-election. The chapter calls on the president to reject propositions to run for a third term and support Niger’s Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) to organise transparent, free and peaceful elections in 2009.

Access to information laws in Guatemala and Chile

Chile and Guatemala are the latest countries in the region to adopt access-to-information laws.

In Chile, the law was passed on 20 April. Chile Transparente, the TI chapter in Chile, has created a section on its website to provide information and the necessary forms to request information from the public authorities.

In Guatemala, the law became effective on 21 April. With this new law, public authorities are obliged to be accountable on their budgets, public contracts for services and works, staff salaries, addresses and contact details of officials, as well as travel and travel allowances authorized within and outside the country. In order to comply with the new law, every office must have an information unit accessible to all citizens interested in obtaining this data.

Chile: Thousands participate in “A Chile free of corruption, get involved!” campaign

More than 35,000 people joined a campaign launched by Chile Transparente. Through the website www.diccionariodelcorrupto.cl, citizens submitted more than 800 corruption-related terms and daily expressions. These terms will be compiled in the “Dictionary of Corrupt Language” - a text that raises awareness among the general public about how corruption affects Chileans everyday.

Some of the most original and representative terms are the following:

“Administrative Day” - A day, generally a work day, where the directors or the managers stop their activities for purposes other than administration. Let’s call it sleeping, shopping, having a barbecue, etc.

“Falsificative” - False + Justificative. Generally a licence and/or medical certificate or some alternative “authorised communication”, memos, etc., to justify absences at work or school. Usually accompanied by a fake signature.

Since 2002, TI Colombia and the Colombian Association of NGOs for the Communication though Email (COLNODO in its Spanish abbreviation), have been working on an Internet for Accountability project. During 2009, thanks to the support of the German Agency for Cooperation GTZ, TI Columbia and COLNODO are developing a new component Woman and Gender Equality that will be part of more than 1,050 city councils’ websites supporting Internet for Accountability. The initiative aims to promote specific and relevant information for women within the local governments, according to gender equality criteria, and also enable mayors countrywide to be accountable for their management of these matters.

For further information, please contact Marcela Restrepo, Territorial Strategy and Citizen Control Area Coordinator, or Fernando Segura Restrepo, Area Researcher. emails: mrestrepo@transparenciacolombia.org.co, fsegura@transparenciacolombia.org.co .

In April, Australia’s export credit agency Export Finance and Insurance Corporation (EFIC) became a member of TI Australia. TI Australia will work together with EFIC to raise exporters’ awareness about the risk of corruption in overseas business. EFIC is also a member of the OECD's Export Credits Group, obliging it to observe the OECD Council Recommendation on Bribery and Officially Supported Export Credits on appropriate measures to deter bribery in international business transactions benefiting from official export credit agency support.

In May, TI Pakistan organised a debate competition on the theme Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely at the International Islamic University in Islamabad. A total of 16 students from eight institutions took part in the competition, which was held in English. Prizes were awarded to three winners and certificates to all the participants. The debate forms part of the chapter’s youth programme Youth in Governance (www.ying.edu.pk), which aims to create awareness of good governance among students, educate youth on the effects of corruption on society, and empower them to demand their rights.

The 2nd Baltic-Nordic conference on business ethics, Promoting Business Ethics: Baltic Challenges, Nordic Experiences, took place on 24 April. TI Estonia presented codes of ethics for pharmaceutical, construction and real-estate sectors to establish good business practices. This year’s conference, organised by TI Estonia in Tallinn, focused on best practice from Baltic and Nordic countries on the implementation of codes of ethics. In addition to private sector and business corporation representatives, participants included politicians, journalists, and TI chapter representatives from Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden.

The conference was organised with the support of the Nordic Council of Minister’s Office in Estonia as part of the project Against Corruption with Business Ethics. The project includes a series of Fair Business Environment seminars, carried out by the Ministry of Justice and the Estonian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

TI Georgia published a report on international aid agency commitments in Georgia. The aim of the study is to remind managers of relief and development organisations of their responsibility towards their beneficiaries – the citizens of Georgia. It also encourages aid recipients to demand agencies to fulfill these duties. The report gives recommendations to aid agencies, highlighting existing complaint mechanisms, and urges them to take swift action on promises made at the Accra High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in 2008.

In April, TI Hungary held a conference and workshop on campaign finance reform under the title, “Clean-up Politics”. The chapter calls on Hungary's new government to commit to transparent campaign financing, vital to eliminating the systemic causes of corruption. The conference focused on sharing reform practices from France and the UK, and looked at the creation of campaign accounting, shortening the campaigning period, regulating the relations between political parties and the media, examining the role of political party foundations, banning campaign activities of governmental organs, and strengthening independent controlling institutions.

Ahead of the European Parliament elections, TI Ireland calls on candidates and political parties contesting the European, local, and by-elections in 2009, to answer a series of questions related to the promotion of integrity in Irish and European public and corporate affairs. The questions are based on the chapter’s recently published National Integrity Systems Country Study and a consultation with TI chapters across Europe. Currently, 11 TI chapters are also conducting candidate policy surveys to measure political commitments to fighting corruption in the European Union. More information can be found here.

TI Romania has conducted an opinion poll on the government’s modification to the Civil Code, Criminal Code and the Codes of Civil and Criminal Procedures. The survey reports that the majority of the respondents do not know what the modifications of the Codes entail, and desire stronger citizen involvement in the decision-making process, including debates with their Minster of Parliament. Less than one per cent of respondents were aware of a debate organised by the Ministry of Justice. More information can be found here.